Prizewinners at St Colms with Mairtin 0 Muilleoir guest speaker and Imelda Jordan Principal.	Mairtian 0 Muilleoir, guest speaker, with Imelda Jordan, Principal, Father Murray, Chair St Colms High School with winner of Monsignor Bartley Award Patricia Neilson, who attained top marks in 6 GCSEs.

ST Colms High School's celebration of achievement took place recently with over 120 different awards recognising academic excellence, pastoral and sporting achievement.

The awards had a special poignancy this year following the death of the school's mentor, Monsignor Thomas Bartley, who was the Chairman of the Schools Board of Governors for over 13 years. His unique contribution to the school was recognised with the award of the Monsignor Thomas Bartley perpetual trophy for the student with the best GCSE results. The first winner of the award was Patricia Neilson who gained the top GCSE marks in DA Science, Mathematics, Irish and R Ed.

The top A' Level Student Award was jointly shared between Pauline Spence, Lindsay Hardy and Laura Hamilton.

Ms Imelda Jordan with Special Endeavour award winner Natasha Doyle	Mairtin 0 Muilleoir with Ashling Branney, Daniel Quinn, Sean Paul Ferguson and Carla Doherty.	Winner of 4 GCSE awards Carla Doherty

The outstanding achievement award for the first time ever went to last year's Year 12 Soccer Team who won the Maxol Senior Cup bringing great pride to the Twinbrook School. There was also a special award to Lonny Flynn in recognition of his sporting achievement in appearing on a number of occasions for the Northern Ireland Under 19 team.

Other student recipients worthy of mention were Peter Brady who won the U17 European Boxing Championship and Natasha Doyle who won the Colin Neighbourhood Partnership award for attitude through adversity.

School Principal Ms Imelda Jordan said: "The Celebration of Achievement Awards are growing year on year. Over 120 awards have been presented this year to the students and this is a testament to the dedication and commitment of the staff. We had the best GCSE results ever. Every single one of our Post 16 students have gone on to University or into employment and we have the highest ever number of students returning to start our highest ever number of post 16 courses. Both the students and the staff are living proof of the schools motto 'To be the Best that we can Be' and I look forward with anticipation to next year's presentation of Awards."

Ulster Star
18/01/2008