St Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh

St Patrick's Grammar School Scoil Ghramadaí Naomh Pádraig
Address
Cathedral Road Armagh , County Armagh , BT617QZ Northern Ireland
Information
Type	Non-selective Voluntary grammar school
Motto	Fratres in Unum
Religious affiliation(s)	Roman Catholic
Established	1838
Chairman of Board of Governors	Desmond Oliver
Principal	Dominic Clarke
Staff	100+
Gender	All-male
Age	11 to 18
Enrollment	889 (2021-22)[1]
Colour(s)	Red, green
Website	School Website

St Patrick's Grammar School (Irish: Scoil Ghramadaí Naomh Pádraig), Armagh, is a Roman Catholic boys' non-selective 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 and St. Patrick's College, both of which had traditions stretching back as far as the 1830s.

The school once again went through an expansion in 2014-2015, this time with the closure of St. Brigid's High School. The school moved away from academic selection with immediate effect, leaving St Patrick's the last Catholic Grammar School to abandon academic selection in the Armagh and Craigavon area, after St Michael's Lurgan ended academic selection after amalgamating with two other schools in Lurgan.

Enrollment at St. Patrick's was expanded to 1250 to facilitate the closure and a £3 million site renovations began in October 2015 to enhance facilities. Construction concluded in June 2017. St Patrick's is to undergo further expansion as part of the School Enhancement Programme.

History of St. Patrick's

St Patrick's College

St Patrick's College, Armagh, was 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.

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, by Cardinal Brady in 1997 and by Mr. Frank Corvan.

St. Patrick's Grammar School

In 1988, St Patrick's Grammar School was established after St Patrick's College and Christian Brothers Greenpark amalgamated to form the new school. Br. L. Kelly, Headmaster of St. Mary's Grammar School Belfast, was appointed as the first Headmaster of the new school. He was ably assisted by James McKeown, Damien Woods, Paul McAvinchey, Seamus Savage and Frank Corvan.Br. Kelly retired in 1999 and took up a teaching post with an American university. In 1999 the long boarding tradition in St Patrick's ended after the Vincentian Order left Armagh. In 2016, Fr. Kevin Donaghy announced his retirement as Headmaster of St. Patrick's after 17 years in the post. He is the last Catholic Priest Headmaster in Northern Ireland and the last priest on staff in St Patrick's. Fr. Donaghy oversaw many changes at St Patrick's including overseeing the last St Patrick's team to win the MacRory Cup in 1999/2000, the new music and technology block being added in 2003, the renovation work carried out in 2015-2017 and more recently the amalgamation with St Brigid's High School in 2015. Mr. Dominic Clarke of the Sacred Heart College in Omagh and past pupil was appointed the first lay Headmaster in the 180-year history of St Patrick's for the 2016/2017 academic year. Fr. Peter Clarke was appointed the first school chaplain in 17 years for the academic year of 2016/17.

Site renovation

The school was awarded £4 million for site renovation in October 2013 ^[2] to include an extension to the school canteen and school meals kitchen, new home economics classrooms, an extension to facilitate a relocated staff room and refurbishment of classrooms, PE departments and general schools buildings as well as permission for 4 mobile classrooms.^[3] The contract was awarded to GEDA construction and they began work on site in October 2015 with work finishing in June 2017. St Patrick's again received funding for additional renovation work in May 2018.

Life at St. Patrick's

Languages

At St. Patrick's all students from years 8-10 study languages and most students will go on to study languages at GCSE and A-level. There are two languages offered at St. Patrick's,

• Irish
• French

In years 8-10 all students study French and Irish. Students will have up to two hours a week for each language. At GCSE, most students go on to study at least one language with some students availing of the opportunity to take more than one. Also, at A-level some students choose to continue studying a language further. These students usually have eight classes per week, alongside two conversation classes with the school's language assistants. Students from St Catherine's College study French at St Patrick's. Every language at St. Patrick's has a fluent language assistant.

Students who speak a first language other than English are often entered for a GCSE in their first language in order to maximise the number of GCSEs they achieve.

Extra-curricular activities

Some extra-curricular societies of the school include the debating society, St. Vincent De Paul and groups of the music department.

Extra-curricular groups in the music department include the school orchestra, steel band, traditional group, and choir, each of which has a day allocated for practice for one hour after school. The department takes part in the new 'Soundstart Project.' Every year 8 and year 9 class are part of this. For one class every week they learn an orchestral instrument from all sections of the orchestra, as well as African drums. They are taken by professional tutors, assuring that every pupil can leave year 9 able to play an instrument and read music.

The music groups play an annual spring concert in the Market Place Theatre, along all the groups from Soundstart. The main music groups also tour around the country. The steel band has performed in places like the Waterfront Hall as well as playing on radio shows. The band has participated in competitions in Jamaica and Spain. The orchestra and traditional group have also toured in Spain. The choir sings regularly in mass services and competitions.

• Sports department

Sports include basketball, cross-country running, Gaelic football, golf, handball, hurling, squash and swimming. The school hosts an annual sports day towards the end of each academic year.

In 1923 the headmaster of St Patricks and St Macartans Monaghan held a Gaelic match between the two schools and where later joined by St Patrick's Cavan, St Columb's Derry, St Malachy's Belfast, and St Colman's Newry. The Macrory Cup was originally open to boarding schools, but in 1954, Abbey CBS became the first day school to win the cup. St Patricks dominated the Cup in the earlier years winning the cup from 1923–29, 1931, 1944–47 and 1953. After a 47-year wait, St Patricks won the cup in 2000. St Patricks have won the Macrory Cup 14 times second only to St Colman's Newry. In 2007, 2012 and 2017 the school reached the semi-final stage of the MacRory Cup. In 1934, 1936, 1938, 1943, 1950–1952, 1957, 1967, 1994 and 1997 the school reached the final of the Gaelic football competition. The school was the first winner of the All-Ireland Colleges competition the Hogan Cup.

Excursions

It has been traditional for first year students to attend a residential retreat (typically Killowen, Carlingford or Todd's Leap) at the beginning of their academic life at St. Patrick's. At the end of a student's seven years at St. Patrick's they are invited to attend a religious retreat and the school's annual formal.

The school's language department has developed links with European countries to facilitate exchange programs. The school's Irish department promotes Gaeltachts to the Irish language students throughout KS3, GCSE and A Level.

The Physical Education department took a group of students to Canada.

School Aid Romania (SAR)

School Aid Romania was set up in 1990 with two main aims: to assist children in need in Romania and to bring together pupils from schools and communities in Northern Ireland. School Aid Romania's objectives are to contribute to the development of community relations and mutual understanding between young people in Northern Ireland and to secure, by joint ventures, material assistance to relieve poverty and improve the well-being of young people in Romania. The staff who accompany students to Romania are Mrs U. Lennon and Mr N. King. Irish TV visited the school in January 2016 to interview Year 14 students who visited Romania in 2015.

St. Patrick's Grammar has been involved in SAR since 1993 and travels to Brasov with Cookstown High School. The school has hosted visitors from schools, hospitals, orphanages and the Inspectorate in Brasov. The SAR group in St. Patrick's has arranged for physiotherapists and teachers of special needs to travel to Brasov and work with children in Timis.

Amalgamation with St Brigid's

It was announced in March 2014 that St. Patrick's was to merge with St Brigid's High School Armagh as the Armagh school was set for closure. This allowed all Catholic boys to attend St. Patrick's, which from September 2014 no longer used academic selection.^[4] St. Patrick's is now an all-ability school which accepts all young boys from Armagh and surrounding areas regardless of academic ability. This is to provide students with the best possible education and increase opportunities to study a range of subjects at GCSE to meet the qualification reforms for Northern Ireland.^[5]

Academic achievements

During 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.

Summer 2008 heralded further success for St. Patrick's with twenty-seven of its students attaining straight As in three or more A-Levels. Five students achieved four grade As, whilst one student attained five.

In 2016 St. Patrick's Grammar School was named the top all boys Grammar school in the North according to A level results.

The history department has also garnered recent successes. In the 2016 results one pupil Eamon Livingstone, gained third in A-Level history in Northern Ireland, student of Mrs Julianne Denvir and Mrs Elaine Murphy. The same academic year, the journalism department also had successes. Conor Finn gained 2nd in A-Level journalism in Northern Ireland, pupil of Mrs Shauna Clements and Mrs Maria Rafferty.

Notable alumni

See also: Category:People educated at St Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh

Patrick Magee, actor

Seamus Mallon, politician

Cillian Vallely, musician

Name	Born	Died	Description
Alexander Blane	1850	1917	politician; Member of Parliament for South Armagh, 1885–1892
Joseph Cardinal MacRory	1861	1945	Roman Catholic prelate; Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, 1928–1945
Tomás Ó Fiaich	1923	1990	Roman Catholic prelate; Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, 1977–1990
Patrick Magee	1922	1982	Actor
Richard McCullen CM	1926	2015	Superior General of the Vincentians, 1980–1992
John Montague	1929	2016	Poet
Denis Faul	1932	2006	Monsignor in the Catholic Church; President of St Patrick's Academy, Dungannon
Seamus Mallon	1936	2020	Footballer, politician; Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland
Paul Muldoon	1951		Poet
Seamus McGarvey	1967		Cinematographer
Cillian Vallely	1969		Traditional Irish musician
Joe Brolly	1969		Derry Gaelic footballer and barrister
Niall Vallely	1970		Traditional Irish musician
Oisín McConville	1975		Armagh Gaelic footballer
Cormac McAnallen	1980	2004	Tyrone Gaelic footballer
Rónán Clarke	1982		Armagh Gaelic footballer
Seán Cavanagh	1983		Tyrone Gaelic footballer
Colm Cavanagh	1986		Tyrone Gaelic footballer
Charlie Vernon	1987		Armagh Gaelic footballer
Conor McKenna	1996		Tyrone Gaelic footballer, (All Ireland Finalist); former Australian rules footballer for Essendon, Australia

References

1. "Post-primary schools data 2021-2022". Department of Education Northern Ireland. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
2. [1]^{[dead link]}
3. "Contractors sought for £3 million St Patrick's Grammar works". 9 April 2015. Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
4. "10 March 2014 - O'Dowd approves decision to end academic selection in changes to Armagh post-primary education | Northern Ireland Executive". www.northernireland.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 10 March 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
5. "April 2009" (PDF). Retrieved 27 February 2020.