Jones House

Housemaster - DJS Wilson, BA, PGCE

JONES HOUSE

In 1950, Jones House was founded.  Robert Jones was a pupil at Inst between 1876 and 1879. He attended QUB and studied Modern Languages and Classics. After university he began a teaching career in England, he then moved to Foyle College in Londonderry and later became Headmaster of Larne Grammar School.

He joined the Inst staff as Principal in 1898 and at that time the school was not in a good financial state and some of the buildings were in poor repair. He quickly set about trying to help the fortunes of Inst. The Technical College was built on the school grounds in 1900 and this released some money to the school. In 1903, Osborne Park was bought by the school for playing fields and in 1917 Inchmarlo was established.

As Principal of the school and also as a teacher, RM Jones was a strict disciplinarian and he once described the ethos of Inst as "A world of which order is the first law and regular industry, the prevailing characteristic". He had an excellent relationship with both staff and pupils. In 1925 at 64 years of age, he decided to retire and he enjoyed a long and happy retirement and he kept close ties with the school until his death in 1939.

In 1952 a biography of his life was written by one of his former pupils, JC Arnold. I conclude with a brief extract from the preface of the biography, which is available in the school library:

"For seven and twenty years, 1898-1925, Robert Millar Jones was Inst and Inst was Robert Millar Jones. He found the school languishing and weak, held up by nothing but the momentum of its own past. He left it strong and upstanding, more than doubled in numbers, well equipped with new buildings and classrooms, provided with splendid athletic grounds, forging ahead in both scholarship and games and once again occupying the proud position which it had held in Ulster and Ireland. Yet throughout it all he remained primarily what he was in the beginning, a great and inspiring teacher - that was his main role"

House News

Following the success of the initiative last year, we continued with a rota in House assembly whereby once a month each House group would take it in turns to lead the weekly assembly. Pupils from Year 8 to U6 took the opportunity to speak to the House about many interesting and varied topics. At the end of assembly we also continued with our weekly charity collection and particular mention must be made of Mr Leathley’s group (10J) who raised over £800 in the course of the year- a truly remarkable achievement and congratulations to all concerned!

It is my pleasure to report that after another keenly contested House Championship, Jones were crowned House Champions for the year! We last won the House Championship in 2005/06 and after finishing very close runners-up in each of the last two years, the staff and pupils of the House are delighted to once again be champions. We got off to an excellent start last September in the Corry and Pirrie Cup rugby competitions and with strong performances in swimming, water polo, senior cross country, football, debating, cricket and athletics, it all came down to the last event of the year, the House Rowing, on the penultimate day of the summer term. The rowers did us proud and the title was ours! This achievement was only secured by the organisational skills, commitment and motivation of the huge number of pupils who took part and also the House tutors who pushed the boys to realise their potential. Congratulations to everyone on what was a fantastic team effort!

Last year saw a high standard of academic achievement in external examinations and I would like to highlight some particular successes:

At A2 Level Richard Morrison and Richard Stewart performed exceptionally well, achieving 4A’s, whilst a further three boys-Stephen Carr, Chris Harvey and John Olver- all attained 3A’s.

AS results were equally impressive. Alastair Andress, George Clarke, Philip Coulter and Andrew Salmon each produced 3A’s or more, whilst both Alistair Irwin and Jonathan Solomon achieved 5A’s.

Members of the Year 12 also scored highly. Luke Clugston, David Hamilton, Peter Johnston, Luke Kerr, Alex Magowan, Dean Molyneux and Blane Scott all produced 8 A’s or more, with Alex achieving an excellent 6 A*’s and 5 A’s.

However, success was not just confined to the classroom. In keeping with the ethos of the school, boys from Jones House participated in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Their active involvement in various clubs and societies is duly reflected in the vast number of achievements and experiences they enjoyed in the past year. Well done to all concerned!