Royal School, Armagh

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“When a pregnant mother suffering from Glaucoma asks if she will ever see her own children: that provides a powerful motivation”

The Royal celebrates a wonderful year at the annual prize- distribution evening
And welcomes back inspirational former Head Boy, Professor Martin as their Guest Speaker

The Royal School hosted its annual prize-giving on the evening of Thursday 22nd September at St Mark’s Church. Archbishop Harper, Chairman of the Board of Governors, was Master of Ceremonies.

The Guest Speaker, Professor Keith Martin who attended the school 1980-1987 and was Head Boy 1986-7. Professor Martin was recently elected as the first Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Cambridge, becoming the youngest medical professor in the university. He is also Clinical Director for Ophthalmology at the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

After A levels at the Royal School, Professor Martin won a place at St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge. He graduated with a ‘triple first in medical science and neuro-science and then transferred to oxford University where he was awarded a Clinical Medical Scholarship before qualifying as a doctor in 1993. This was followed by further medical training in Oxford and London, eye surgery training in Cambridge, then three years of research and clinical fellowship training in the UISA at Moorfields Eye Hospital and the Institute of Ophthalmology in London. He established the Glaucoma Research Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in 2005, aiming to develop new treatments for eye disease using stem cells, gene therapy and other techniques. In 2010, Professor Martin was presented with the ARVO Foundation for Eye Research Award. This International Award is given to a researcher from any country who under the age of 50 years whose research is judged to have the greatest potential to lead to major breakthroughs in the treatment of eye disease. Clinically, Professor Martin specialises in the medical and surgical management of complex Glaucoma in adults and children. In short he has dedicated his career to improving the treatment of the leading cause of blindness worldwide. “When a pregnant mother suffering from Glaucoma asks if she will ever see her own children: that provides a powerful motivation” Professor Martin told a captivated audience.

In his inspirational and humorous message, Professor Martin shared personal school and career experiences with the pupils whom he exhorted to remember their roots, always know that their own opinion matters and remember that, without even knowing it, the Royal School had already given them many of the tools they needed to succeed in life.

Their rounded success had been strongly evidenced in the Headmaster’s message about academic success only being part of the picture and other qualities such as drive, resilience, empathy and compassion were equally important for happiness and success.

The Headmaster gave his Annual Report, pointing out that over 6 in every 10 GCSE results were at A or A*. Nearly 9 in every 10 results were at A*, A or B! The top achievers with full A* profiles were Ellen Barnard, Joanna Singleton and Victoria Livingstone with several others coming very close to that perfect profile. Ellen Barnard and Rebecca Agnew were amongst the top performers in the UK with full marks in their GCSE Spanish.

Nearly 70% of the grades at AS level were at grades A or B. Top achievers were James Heatley and Aubrey Kendrick with 5 grade As each. An excellent platform for final A level results next August had been built.

Through the Armagh Learning Community, whose current chair, Mr Turkington attended the evening, the Royal now offered three subjects in collaboration with other schools at Sixth Form Level. These are: Construction and The Built Environment (St Patrick’s Grammar School), Health, Social Care (City of Armagh High School) and Drama (St Catherine’s College). Similarly, the Royal School offered A level Home Economics and Physical Education to the pupils in the community, The school is grateful to the schools mentioned for their role in contributing to the above results.

Of the 88 students who were leaving having completed A2 level, 60% of them, had gained a University Admission points score equivalent to 3 grade As or more. The average A2 equivalent grades were 358 pts which is 2 points short of AAA across the year group. 88% of them were now moving on to university. Mr Crute pointed out how touching and gratifying it was to see that a strong number of leavers had absented themselves from “fresher’s week” to attend this evening.

Mr Crute paid tribute to the school team of year, the junior girls’ hockey team which won the Ulster School’ Junior Hockey Cup.

Congratulation were given to Joanne Orr and Leah Ewart who were selected to represent the Ulster U18 team which won a silver medal in the UK games. They also represented Ireland U18s in the European Championships in Holland where they finished 4th. This year former pupil, Alex Speers, gained her 100th cap as captain of the Ireland’s ladies senior hockey team.

The rugby season had been absorbing. The First XV was young, and inexperienced yet exceeded all expectations. A successful tour to Rome and the retention of the Wilson and McCall Cups had set expectations alight. A narrow win against the fancied cup holders Ballymena at home made a massive statement and fuelled hopes further for great cup success. In the quarter final, Inst salvaged a draw in Armagh and a similar encounter in Belfast resulted in a narrow victory for Inst.

The seconds had a very successful season only losing narrowly at the quarter final stage to Ballymena Academy. The Thirds, Fourths and Fifths continued to play entertaining rugby and confirmed all the school’s reasons, both sporting and pastoral, for investing so heavily in schools rugby.

Congratulations were given to Stuart Hooks who had represented Ireland and to Neil Faloon, Robert Magowan, Harry Boyd and Michael Hoey who had represented Ulster Schools.

Mr Crute reported on the excellent opportunities that exist in Modern Dance, Netball, Music, Drama and Debating at the school. Debaters had excelled themselves in the prestigious Pfizer Institute of Ideas Competition, to go through to the regional finals in Edinburgh were they were defeated finalists. In the Northern Ireland Schools’ Debating Competition, James Heatley won through to the Best Individual Speaker final at Stormont and The Royal School Armagh won the Team of the Year Award, best embodying the spirit of debate in N. Ireland, The school production of ‘Annie’ had been simply brilliant as had been the Spring Concert in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh.

Outward Bound activity reached new heights, A record 42 completed the Gold Expedition in the The Lake District in England in June. The Combined Cadet Force continues to flourish and provide enviable opportunities for many pupils. Highlights had included the Annual Camp in July to Barry Buddon in Scotland which proved to be a great success and was attended by 47 cadets. Ashleigh Crawford had won a Staff Cadet place on The Challenge course in The Rocky Mountains, Alberta, Canada. She was also made Lord Lieutenant’s cadet for County Armagh. Megan Doran had won a place on the British Schools Exploration Society’s expedition to The Amazon on which she had acquitted herself really well during the summer. Several cadets had attended leadership courses at Nescliffe in Shropshire and at the National Cadet Training centre at Frimley Park in Surrey.

Eight deserving cadets had been chosen to meet Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Philip at Hillsborough castle in October. Ashleigh Crawford, Sally Todd and Nick Lennon had also won places on the Northern Venturer expedition to Kwazulu, Natal for next year.

Service to the community was also a strong feature of the Duke of Edinburgh Award. Such important opportunities had also exist in The Scripture Union which has over 200 members, The Talking Newspaper and the Charity efforts both in and out of school, as well as the peer-tutoring initiative offered by the school.

Mr Crute reported that former boarder, Charlene Barr, who suffered from cystic fibrosis, sadly passed away last October at the tender age of 20. She had founded Charlene’s Project which was dedicated to the funding and building of the Hidden Treasure School in Uganda. What had started off as a dream for Charlene, became a firm vision and with her determination and that of her family, a reality. The Hidden Treasure School had opened to 230 pupils at the beginning of the month. The school which is changing lives for those who attend it and thos in the local community, stands as a rich legacy of Charlene’s short life. Mr Simon Cardwell, her Housemaster, had instigated, through the school’s Charity Committee, led by Miss Hamilton, an Art Project which raised over £5000 and had added to previous donations. Mr Cardwell had also contributed to the Ulster TV documentary as part of Charlene’s posthumous, successful bid to win The Spirit of Northern Ireland Award.

Mr Tom Galbraith, President of the Old Armachian Society presented an Old Armachian Medallion to Professor Martin for his ongoing contributions to the field of Medicine.

The Award of Prizes was conducted by Mr Millar (Deputy Headmaster), Mr Aitken (Vice Principal) and Mr Hooks (Senior Teacher), Dr Downing (Senior Teacher) and Dr Addis (Senior Teacher) also assisted. Details of major prizes are listed.

The Head Girl, Lydia McGowan, closed with a vote of thanks and a presentation to Professor Martin.