Video: Top marks for Edmund Rice College boys

Edmund Rice College GCSE students Rory McFadden and Cillin Gilmour with principal Peter Friel. INNT 35-500CON

Principal Peter Friel said he was “delighted” with the grades achieved by the 80 boys who sat GCSE exams at the Hightown Road school.

“The results have excelled my expectations,” he commented. “For the third year in a row we have achieved the highest results the school has ever achieved at GCSE. Almost 80 per cent of the boys in the school achieved five A*s to C at GCSE, and none of the boys left without any GCSE qualifications.”

Mr Friel praised pupils, parents and staff for their role in the college’s continuing success.

“It’s very much a relationship between the home and the school - the hard work of the teachers coupled with the hard work of the children, the motivation of the children and the motivation of their parents to do well,” he said.

The principal was particularly pleased with the college’s improved performance in English and Maths, but expressed his disappointment that the OFMDFM Signature Project, aimed at improving standards of literacy and numeracy, has been removed from schools.

• See more GCSE results coverage in next week’s Times (on sale August 26)