Portadown College

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Location
Portadown College
Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland
Information
Headteacher	Mrs Deborah O'Hare
Students	800
Teaching staff	approx 55
Type	Co-Educational Grammar School
Motto	Fortiter Et Humaniter ((With Courage and Courtesy))
School Colour(s)	Black, Blue
Established	1924
Email	office@portadowncollege.com
Homepage	www.portadowncollege.com

Portadown College (often shortened to 'The College' or 'PC') is a Grammar School in Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It has approximately 800 male and female students and its premises are currently on the Killicomaine Road in Portadown. Rated one of the top 3 grammar schools in Northern Ireland and in the top 5% in the UK, students achieve well above the UK average in both GCSE and A Level examinations.

The school has an average intake of over 76% of students entering university education, with an additional 13% going onto another type of Higher Education, which is well above Uk and Northern Ireland averages.

Academic achievements and awards are not uncommon. One such award went to Clara Boyd in 2001 and Esther Irwin in 2004 for the A Star comptetion, having both the highest A Level ICT mark in the country. This made the school the only educational institution in the UK to have a pupil win the A Star competition twice for the top female ICT student at A Level. - .^[1]

1 History
2 Sport
3 School Facilities
4 Academic Selection
5 Notable Alumni
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

Portadown College is known locally as the 'College' or 'PC'. It has provided a first class grammar school education for generations of young men and women in Portadown since 1924.

The school was established initially in Edenderry House on the banks of the River Bann, adjacent to the main road bridge of the time. In 1962 the school moved to a new, purpose-built site, on the Killicomaine Road.

Over the years Portadown College has seen many major changes in education. Originally established as a fee-paying voluntary grammar school, it embraced the changes of the 1947 Education Act and, subsequently, has made a major contribution to the present 'two tier' system of secondary education in the Craigavon area. That the school has coped so well is a worthy testament to its pupils, staff and governors alike.

Mr W J Warren (1924 - 1946)
Mr W J Woodman MBE (1946 - 1973)
Mr Neil Armstrong (1973 - 1993)
Mr T W F Flannagan (1993 - 2006)
Mrs D O'Hare 2006 (incumbent)

The School Song dates back to the schools inception, and aims to highlight the spiritual morals of the school -

Lord, help us to acknowledge In everything Thy sway; To take my breath away. Be with us here in College Our guide in work and play. To kindness and to courtesy, To championship of truth, To courage and tenacity, Inspire the zeal of youth.

May School the wide arena Of ardent, friendly strife, Endow us with a keener And finer zest for life, To heights unscaled inspire us, Unruly passions cool, To selfless service fires us Through pride and love of school.

Still onward, as the river That once flowed by our gate, Our years are moving ever Towards life’s mature estate. Add to our book-learnt knowledge Wisdom and charity, That they who leave this College May still walk on with Thee

[edit] Sport

Portadown College has been officially recognised in the field of sporting excellence, and has been awarded the honour of a Sportsmark School. The school has several Rugby pitches, including an up and coming state of the art multiplex stadium, capable of holding over 1000 people, two all weather pitches, 2 outdoor Basketball courts, 2 Tennis Courts, a Cricket pitch, Running Track, and 2 long jump sand pits. Students use the swimming facilities of the local public swimming pool. Representative teams participate in Rugby, Boys and Girls Hockey, Netball, Football, Volleyball, Tennis and Athletics.

The School Rugby team compete annually in the Ulster Schools Cup whilst hockey teams enjoy success in the Belfast Telegraph Ulster Senior Schoolgirls Cup and McDowell Cup competitions. Portadown College hockey teams have won the Senior Schools Cup on 3 occasions, the most recent being in 1996.

The Under 18 Boys Volleyball team are current Northern Ireland and All Ireland Champions. Also, the Under 18 Boys Hockey Team are the current Great British Champions after beating RBAI 2nd XI 4-3 in the final.

[edit] School Facilities

Other subjects such as Geography, Home Economics, ICT and Aromatherapy have miscellaneous classrooms throughout the school. There are over 20 subjects taught at the school, which are served by approximately 50 classrooms, subject study rooms and technicians. The schools science department is one of the largest, and best funded science departments in Northern Ireland. It is compulsory for students to study French until GCSE. Other modern language subjects include Spanish and German. Latin, although an ancient language was abolished many years ago as a taught language in the school.

Sports Facilities include, 3 Rugby pitches, two all weather pitches, 2 outdoor Basketball courts, 2 Tennis Courts, a Cricket pitch, Running Track, and 2 long jump sand pits. As well as a dedicated Sports Hall with Gym and a second indoor sports hall and a seven pin bowling alley.

Although sport plays a key role in the schools extra circular activities, there are also a number of other societies. These include Drama,Debating, ATC, Flying Experience, Swinging, Duke Of Edinburgh Award Expedition, and Fishing.

[edit] Academic Selection

As with many Grammar schools in Northern Ireland academic selection is at the heart of admission to Portadown College. Entry to Portadown College is defined by a system called the Dixon Plan whereby internal entry exams are set to students within each of its feeder schools. The Dixon plan is in some regard an analogue of the 11+ although given students sit internal entrance exams at 14 is not a direct replacement. From the scrapping of the 11+ in Northern Ireland the Dixon Plan emerges as a clear ‘model’ to replace the now obsolete 11+ albeit for students at the age of 11.

[edit] Notable Alumni

Henry Uprichard. Presbyterian Church Moderator
Dame Mary Peters. Olympic Gold Medallist
Gloria Hunniford. BBC Television Personality
Rory Best. Ulster and Ireland Rugby Union Player
Simon Best. Ulster and Ireland Rugby Union Player
Waldo Maguire OBE. BBC Northern Ireland Controller
Adrian Mole. Celebrated Novelist, winner of the 2008 Whitbread Award.
The Very Reverend John Paterson. Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.
Nigel Williams. Northern Ireland's first Children's Commissioner
Jack Nelson. Accomplished public speaker and golfing personality.
Sammy Stewart (Northern Irish footballer). Professional football player for Aberdeen FC