{"id":24411,"date":"2024-05-14T12:36:44","date_gmt":"2024-05-14T12:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessexcellence.org\/?page_id=24411"},"modified":"2024-07-29T14:55:29","modified_gmt":"2024-07-29T14:55:29","slug":"excellence-hall-of-fame-marie-lindsay","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/businessexcellence.org\/home\/excellence-hall-of-fame\/excellence-hall-of-fame-marie-lindsay\/","title":{"rendered":"Excellence Hall of Fame \u2013 Marie Lindsay"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Excellence Hall of Fame\n<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Marie Lindsay<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Marie\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Nominated by<\/strong>:\u00a0Matt Fisher<\/p><\/div><\/div>

Seconded by<\/strong>:\u00a0SciFest (Shelia & George Porter)\u00a0\u00a0and\u00a0Patr\u00edcia Carvalho<\/p><\/div><\/div>

\u201cDear Marie, it was with great pleasure that I learned you will be inducted to join the Excellence Hall of Fame. It has for me been very inspiring to work together with you in the board of EFQM. You always showed great commitment to excellence and fairness. I am very pleased that you now receive this honor\u2026. you really deserve it! Congratulations!\u201d
Lars Aagaard<\/strong>\u00a0Board Member, Grundfos A\/S<\/p>

\u201cI am delighted to have this opportunity to express my sincere congratulations to Marie on her achievements. Her leadership has had a powerful and dramatic effect on fundamentally improving college performance with tangible outcomes for students, parents and the educational establishment. Marie\u2019s leadership in achieving breakthrough performance improvement through Excellence has been recognized across Europe and her induction to the Excellence Hall of Fame is a fitting endorsement of her success.\u201d
Bob Barbour<\/strong>\u00a0CEO of Centre for Competitiveness<\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Bio<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Marie is a leader whose actions speak for her louder than words can. Originally from Muff, Donegal, which is to the north of Derry \/ Londonderry in Northern Ireland, she has dedicated her working life to education. She studied science, graduating from the University of Ulster in Coleraine BSc in Biochemistry before doing an MSc in Education Management. In 1985, she went to Belfast to study for a Post Graduate Certificate in Education at St Mary\u2019s College in Belfast and in 1995 she was awarded a Professional Qualification for Headship (PQH).<\/p>

In 1985, Marie started her career teaching science at St. Mary\u2019s College in Derry. St Mary\u2019s College was founded in September 1959 by the Sisters of Mercy and was Derry\u2019s first all-girls secondary school in Creggan, a large working class housing estate with high levels of social deprivation and unemployment. The school catered for almost 900 girls aged 11 to 15 who were deemed unsuitable for a grammar school \u2013 in other words \u201cacademic\u201d \u2013 education.<\/p>

Although there have been many changes over the years, and the school relocated to a brand new premises in 2010, St Mary\u2019s still largely serves children from disadvantaged areas and around 60% of the pupils are entitled to free school meals, an indicator that their families are living below the poverty line. (According to a 2017 British government report, the Foyle region \u2013 named after the river that flows through the city \u2013 has the third highest school lunch claimant rate in the UK.) In addition, almost 30% of pupils at St Mary\u2019s College are on the Special Education Needs register and are identified as requiring additional educational support.<\/p>

Many pupils\u2019 families face incredibly complex barriers to learning due to the poor economic conditions and, in part, the challenges of rebuilding a society after 30 years of conflict. In 2015, Derry and Strabane District Council had the highest rate of unemployment (claimant count) in Northern Ireland at 8%. Seven of the wards in the school\u2019s catchment area have rates of unemployment in excess of 14%. In some cases, parents and grandparents never had employment. So, while many families value education as a path to a brighter future for others, education is not a priority and large efforts are required to persuading pupils to attend class regularly and to complete GCSEs and A level exams.<\/p>

Marie was appointed Staff Development Co-ordinator in 1994. In that role, she led the school to numerous Staff Development accolades obtaining the Investors in People (IIP) standard in 1995 \u2013 making St. Mary\u2019s the first organization in Northern Ireland and the first public sector organization in the UK to achieve it \u2013 and UK Millennium Excellence Award for Excellence in Professional Development (2000). It has since won the Irish News \u2018Workplace Excellence\u2019 Award which on 3 occasions (2013, 2014 and 2017) and has has retained its IIP status for 22 years \u2013 in 2016 it was re-accredited Investors in People \u201cGold status\u201d for a record 8th time.<\/p>

Marie joined the Senior Management Team at St Mary\u2019s in 1998 with responsibility for Quality Assurance. The Principal at the time, Dame Geraldine Keegan, knew Marie was sceptical about the implementation of \u201cindustrial practices\u201d within education but knew that, if she could convince a sceptic of the benefits, the other staff would also embrace the change.<\/p>

When Dame Keegan retired as Principal in 2006, Marie was appointed her successor. To say Marie was successful in the role would be something of an understatement. Despite the high levels of deprivation, drastic budget cuts and the ever increasing social pressures young people face, St Mary\u2019s has enjoyed year on year improvement in examination performance over a 25 year period. Since Marie\u2019s appointment in 2006, the examination performance at 5+GCSEs Grades A*-C has increased from 56% (in 2007) to 95% (in 2017) and the percentage achieving 5+ Grades A*-C in 5 subjects including English and Maths has increased from 25% (in 2007) to 60% (in 2016-17). The improvement at 3 + grades A*-C at A\u2019 level is equally impressive increasing from 21% (in 2007) to 72% (in 2017).<\/p>

Under Maire\u2019s guidance, St Mary\u2019s has also gone on to be one of the most highly recognised entities within the European business excellence community, winning the Northern Ireland Quality Award 4 times (1998, 2001, 2006 and 2012), the inaugural Ireland Excellence Award in 2013, the British Quality Award in 2000, and the EFQM Excellence Award (European Quality Award) in 2001 and 2006.<\/p>

Business excellence awards recognise the achievement of sustained, outstanding results. In order to achieve such results \u2013 and as a by-product to have any chance of winning an excellence award \u2013 you must first achieve excellence in every aspect of how you manage your organization. Since she was appointed Principal, Marie has ensured that St Mary\u2019s indisputable track record of success in both turning strategy into action and bringing about continuous improvement has been sustained.<\/p>

In 2006, St Mary\u2019s became one of only two schools in Northern Ireland to be named by the British Department of Education as a Specialist School for Science along with top ranking grammar school, Lumen Christi College. In the years that followed, the number of girls following STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) pathways increased dramatically and, for the first time, St Mary\u2019s girls were going off to study Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computing, Architecture and a range of courses allied to the medical profession.<\/p>

In 2007, St Mary\u2019s pupil earned a place in the UK\u2019s top five students in Applied Science in A Level exams (the UK\u2019s advanced school leaving exams) and another pupil was ranked in the top 5 students for GCSE Mathematics (the equivalent to the former O levels, the UK\u2019s school leaving exam). In 2008, a pupil earned the top result in Northern Ireland for Applied Business Studies in her GCSE and another pupil ranked in the top three in Northern Ireland in GCSE Engineering. The following year, two pupils shared joint top marks in the UK\u2019s Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment\u2019s CCEA Applied Double Art Award, the UK\u2019s school leaving exam.<\/p>

In 2013, St Mary\u2019s won an EFQM Excellence award for Sustaining Excellent Results. The results of its pupils have also been sustained and 2013 also saw the first pupil from the school to earn a place to study pharmacy in university (at Queen\u2019s University College, Belfast) while another pupil became first to secure a place at Oxford University, where she studied English Literature.<\/p>

The success of St Mary\u2019s students has continued to the present day with a pupil achieving 2nd highest in Northern Ireland in A-level Applied Business Studies and a Year 12 pupil achieving 4th in GCSE Applied Business Studies in 2017, while two pupils achieved full marks in their GCSE English Literature exams and two pupils also achieved full marks in their GCSE Art. Another A level pupil had her exam pieces selected for the True Colours Art exhibition in the Ulster Museum, a showcase of \u2018the best of the best\u2019 exam pieces. (2017 was the 5th year in a row that pupils\u2019 work was selected). While it is not possible for every pupil to win accolades, the number and consistency with which St Mary\u2019s pupils achieve these is testament to the calibre of their cohorts.<\/p>

St Marys was the top performing \u201call ability\u201d urban school in Northern Ireland based on GCSE exam results, and in 2015 and 2016, was the top performing \u201call ability\u201d all-girls School Northern Ireland.<\/p>

The school has been the focus of numerous best practice studies by the UK Department of Education and also by a cross-border \u201call island\u201d studies including one in 2015 which looked at St. Mary\u2019s approach to improving Literacy. It has also welcomed educationalists and businesses from all over Ireland, the UK, Europe, North America, and beyond to look at their approach to raising standards and improving outcomes for young people.<\/p>

Apart from academic success for its students in examinations. St Mary\u2019s has a formidable record in terms of Music and Art. Marie introduced a \u201dMusic Promise\u201d in 2006 a program under which every pupil that shows any flair or talent for music is provided with an instrument and tuition or voice coaching free of charge. As a result, St Mary\u2019s now has a full orchestra, a popular traditional music group, and a choir that has enjoyed success at local, regional and national level. In 2014, the choir was invited to support English jazz-pop singer Jamie Cullum when he headlined the Jazz Festival in Derry that year. The school\u2019s most recent innovation, that has attracted interest at regional and national level, was the introduction in 2015 of a Tri-Swim Academy, the first school on the island of Ireland to do this.<\/p>

A key principle of business excellence is building win-win partnerships. As far back as 1993, St Mary\u2019s College worked in partnership with another local secondary school, Lisneal College, through extra-curricular activities including Saturday School and Summer school. Marie\u2019s appointment as Principal in 2006 coincided with the first formal Shared Education Programme (SEP1) where the St Mary\u2019s \u2013 Lisneal partnership developed to include shared timetabled classes for Junior classes. The partnership with Lisneal continues to the present day and has been extended to include a third school, St Cecilia\u2019s College.<\/p>

2006 also saw the introduction of the Foyle Learning Communities \u2013 a partnership with 10 post-primary schools the North West Regional College and the Verba Arts Centre \u2013 designed to give pupils access to a greater range of course options and share expertise between institutions. It enables pupils in St Mary\u2019s to take one their courses in a nearby school and pupils from other schools can to take a course in St Mary\u2019s. The Shared Education partnership, supported by Queens University, now includes partnerships with schools in Los Angeles and Jerusalem.<\/p>

Since 2014, St Mary\u2019s has been a Microsoft Showcase School \u2013 one of a global community of schools engaged in digital transformation to improve teaching and learning \u2013 having become a Pathfinder School in 2010, and Mentor School in 2011. It is one of only 3 Showcase Schools on the island of Ireland.<\/p>

The success of St Mary\u2019s has obviously not gone unnoticed within the education sector and Marie has been actively involved in a number of groups working to further improve standards and share the insights and knowledge she has gained. She represented the Post Primary Principals on the local Higher Education working group in Northern Ireland and was a member of the Sir Graeme Davies Steering Committee for the review of the Higher Education Strategy for Northern Ireland (2010-2012), contributing to the new strategy \u201cGraduating to Success\u201d.<\/p>

Marie was a board member of EFQM (in Brussels) and participated in the development of the EFQM 2010 and 2013 Excellence Models, representing the public sector. She is currently Chair of the Foyle Learning Community and a board member of the Northern Ireland\u2019s Shared Education Learning Forum (SELF), of School Employer Connections (SEC), and a Trustee of the Walled City Music Trust. Marie is also a member of Derry and Strabane District Council\u2019s Education and Skills Group.<\/p>

In 2016, Marie was named as Principal of the Year at the Foyle Blackboard Awards Ceremony. Over the years she has gained the trust and respect of her colleagues, peers, pupils and their parents. But, more importantly, she has made an outstanding contribution to her community, unlocking the potential in thousands of young people and giving them a chance to make a real difference themselves.<\/p>

Marie married Collie Lindsay in 1991 and they have five children who are now fully grown.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Excellence Hall of Fame Marie Lindsay Nominated by:\u00a0Matt Fisher Seconded by:\u00a0SciFest (Shelia & George Porter)\u00a0\u00a0and\u00a0Patr\u00edcia Carvalho \u201cDear Marie, it was with great pleasure that I learned you will be inducted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":24326,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"page-builder","ast-site-content-layout":"full-width-container","site-content-style":"unboxed","site-sidebar-style":"unboxed","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"enabled","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-24411","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessexcellence.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessexcellence.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessexcellence.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessexcellence.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessexcellence.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businessexcellence.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24411\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessexcellence.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessexcellence.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}