St. Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh

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St. Patrick's Grammar School
Motto Fratas in Unum
Established 1890
Type Grammar
Principal Rev. Kevin Donaghy
Students 823
Location Armagh, Northern Ireland
Colours Green, red and white
Website http://www.stpatricksarmagh.org

St. Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh, is a Catholic boys voluntary grammar school in the city of Armagh, Northern Ireland. The present-day school was officially opened on Thursday 27 October 1988 by the late Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich, the then Chairman of the Board of Governors, and was the result of the amalgamation of two of Northern Ireland's oldest grammar schools, Christian Brothers' Grammar School (CBS) and St. Patrick's College, both of which had illustrious traditions stretching back as far as the 1830's. The current Chairman of the Board of Governors is The Most Rev. Cardinal Dr. Seán P. Brady, J.C.D., D.D., Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh. The school's current senior management consists of headmaster Rev. Kevin Donaghy, vice-principals Mr. Frank Corvan and Mr. James Heron. The school is situated in the vicinity of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral and the official residence of the Roman Catholic Primate of All Ireland.

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[edit] History

[edit] St. Patrick's College

St. Patrick's College, Armagh, had been established as a junior seminary on Armagh's Sandy Hill by Archbishop Crolly and was under the direction of diocesan priests until 1861, when the Vincentian Order was invited to take charge of the school. The Vincentians continued their apostolate in Armagh until the amalgamation.

[edit] Christian Brothers' Grammar School

The Irish Christian Brothers arrived in Armagh in 1851 at the invitation of Archbishop Cullen, who was later to be Ireland's first Cardinal. Within a few years the Christian Brothers acquired the Greenpark site and primary and secondary schools were established. Christian Brothers' Grammar School, Greenpark, built up a strong academic and sporting tradition. When the Vincentian Order signified their intention to withdraw from Armagh, the late Cardinal Tomas O' Fiaich requested the Irish Christian Brothers to become joint trustees of the new amalgamated school. The work in education started by Archbishop Crolly in 1838 was to continue on Sandy Hill. Cardinal O' Fiaich was succeeded as Chairman of the Board of Governors by Cardinal Daly in 1991 and by Cardinal Brady in 1997.

[edit] Strategic Development Plan

A number of years ago, the school made an announcement entitled "Preparing the Way: Developing for the 21st Century", which set out its plans for a new music and technology block for the school, and massive investment in classroom technology and new sports facilities. The sports development was awarded the largest sum of public money ever given to a grammar school in Northern Ireland. With the £380 million school building programme, announced in 2006 by Angela Evans Smith, the then Minister of Education, St. Patrick's received the largest sum - £18.2 million - for refurbishment and development. The fruits of the school's state of the art music facilities are already in evidence with former pupil Martin Raferty of ignition band having been recently been nominated for a 2008 Meteor Music Awards.[citation needed]

[edit] Innovations

In recent years, St. Patrick’s has introduced many new concepts. In 2003, the schools finance department launched a cashless card system, used for buying stationery and food in the school, which was intended to reduce queuing times. After initial student protests including a walkout and one week boycott[citation needed] the transition has slowly proved successful. Furthermore, in 2005, the school was among the first in Northern Ireland to host Class Room 2000 (C2K) technologies, and now every classroom contains an interactive Promethean whiteboard, a data projector, with television and DVD capabilities, and a PC, complete with access to the Internet, e-mail and assorted educational software. The facilities for lunch-time soccer in the school have been the centre of debate since September 2007. The Oval (bus turning circle) was used for recreational soccer until mid October when it was discovered that the Tennis Courts aka 'Windsor'[citation needed] offered a better playing surface. Windsor was chosen as the preferred venue due to its increased capacity (estimated at 80-85) and fencing around the actual pitch.[citation needed]

[edit] Academic Achievements

St. Patrick's students have consistently achieved exemplar public examination results for many years, with pupils often attaining recognition for top grades across Northern Ireland. Since Mr. Gerard Cullen began teaching Economics at St. Patrick's, pupils of the school have on four occasions managed to attain the best GCSE scores in the subject in Northern Ireland along with a second and third at GCSE, a first, third and sixth at A-Level, and a litany of other related awards.[citation needed] Similar achievements propagate many of the other departments of the school, including Mathematics and Art. During the Summer 2006 exam season students at St. Patrick's achieved exemplary results in their GCSE and A-Level subjects, making it the top all boys grammar school in Northern Ireland and fifth overall.[citation needed]

[edit] Landmark Occasions

In recognition of being the top fund raising school in Northern Ireland for Mencap’s Spellathon 2006/2007 competition St. Patrick’s was visited on Tuesday 11th September 2007 by James and Oliver Phelps,[1] better known as the actors who play the Weasley twins in the Harry Potter films. Over £1,300 were raised by the school for the learning disability charity through the sponsored spelling test. Mrs. Shauna Clements, literacy co-ordinator at St Patrick’s commented: “The children are all huge Harry Potter fans, so the Phelps’ visit was a real treat! The children decorated our assembly hall for our special assembly with Harry Potter themed pictures so that the Twins would feel especially welcome. The pupils particularly enjoyed getting the chance to quiz the Phelps on their roles as Fred and George Weasley. I thoroughly recommend Spellathon to all schools. We have taken part for the past three years and it is a great teaching tool, not only in terms of pupils' spelling but also for educating our students with learning disabilities. I am delighted that we have raised funds for Mencap’s projects in Northern Ireland and look forward to introducing more pupils to Mencap and Spellathon!” [2]

[edit] Alumni

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mencap - St Patrick's Grammar Armagh Receives a Magical Visit from Harry Potter Weasley Twins!
  2. ^ Weasley Twins cast a wizard spell for school's charity work - Education - News - Belfast Telegraph