Our Lady and St Patrick's College, Knock

Our Lady and St. Patrick's College
Type Grammar School
Religion Roman Catholic
Principal Deborah McLaughlin[1]
Location Belfast,
Northern Ireland
Students 1230 (approx)
Gender Coeducational
Ages 11–18
Colours         
Website www.knock.co.uk

Our Lady and Saint Patrick's College (Irish: Coláiste Mhuire agus Naomh Pádraig, An Cnoc) is a Roman Catholic diocesan grammar school in Knock, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The school enrolment in the academic year 2016/17 was 1281 pupils with a staff of 76 full-time teachers.[2]

Foundation

The school opened as St Patrick's College on Monday, 4 September 1967 on a 20-acre (81,000 m2) site at Gortgrib in the Cherryvalley area of east Belfast with Fr. Joseph Conway as President. A sister college of St. Malachy's College and St MacNissi's College, Garron Tower.

By the previous April, the need for a new boys' grammar school catering for the North Down and East Belfast area had become urgent. There was no provision for Catholic grammar education east of the Lagan and it was clear, given the trends of the time, that there would be no capacity in the existing two Belfast grammar schools for boys (St. Malachy's and St. Mary's, Christian Brothers) for the September 1967 intake. Three priests from St. Malachy's – Head of English, Fr Joseph Conway, with Fr John O'Sullivan and Fr Albert McNally were appointed by Bishop William Philbin to found the new diocesan college.

The site for the new school was Providence Farm at Cherryvalley. The property had been in the hands of the Diocese of Down and Connor since the middle of the 19th century.

The College motto, chosen by Bishop William Philbin, was In omnibus gratias agite ('give thanks in all circumstances') (I Thess, 5:18)

Amalgamation

In 1984 the College Trustees, chaired by Bishop Cahal Daly proposed that from September 1985 the College should become co-educational and remain on the Knock site through amalgamation with the Sacred Heart of Mary Grammar School in Holywood, County Down. This new foundation became known as Our Lady and St. Patrick's College, Knock with an enrolment of almost nine hundred pupils, and the motto Gratias Agamus (Let Us Give Thanks).[3]

Fr. Joseph Conway remained as President of the amalgamated school until 1987 when he was succeeded by Fr. Patrick McKenna, who had had a distinguished teaching career in St MacNissi's College, Garron Tower. Fr McKenna served as President for twelve years until 1999 when he left teaching for full-time ministry. Mr. John Allen OBE took over as principal of the school, the first lay person appointed to this position.

Mr Allen was replaced in the 2008/09 academic year by Mr. Dermot G Mullan a former history teacher at the college who had left to be principal at St Patrick's Grammar School, Downpatrick.

The New College

The original buildings were designed for approximately 800 pupils, but with an average enrolment of 1250 from the late 90s onwards it was clearly over-stretched. There were approximately 30 mobile classrooms in the form of 15 double-room mobiles.

In March 2011 all teaching transferred to the new £25 Million building, constructed on the existing 18 acre site.[4]

The current (2018) Chair of the Governors is Leo O'Reilly, Permanent Secretary of Department for Communities in the Northern Ireland Civil Service.

In June 2018 it was announced that the new principal,effective August 27, 2018, would be Deborah McLaughlin, the College's existing Vice-Principal.[1]

Awards

The College was awarded The Sunday Times Northern Ireland secondary school of the year, an award based on a survey of parents, in November 2015.[5]

In 2018, it was ranked joint first in Northern Ireland for its GCSE performance with 100% of its entrants receiving five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C, including the core subjects English and Maths.[6] It was also ranked 6th out of 192 secondary schools in Northern Ireland for its A-level exam performance with over 89.3% of its entrants being awarded A*-C in that exam.[7]

Former staff

Bishop Donal McKeown was on the College staff from 1978 to 1983, along with several other priests of the Diocese of Down and Connor, including founders Fr Joseph Conway, Fr John O'Sullivan and Fr Albert McNally; also Fr Patrick McKenna, Fr John Forsyth, Fr Patrick Foy and Fr David Delargy (member of The Priests). Lay staff included the BBC broadcaster Seamus McKee, and the widely acknowledged Irish poet Medbh McGuckian, both teachers in the academically and creatively strong English department.

Alumni

References

  1. 1 2 https://twitter.com/olspck/status/1011239956440928257?lang=bg
  2. ↑ http://www.knock.co.uk/Portals/6825aa72-7208-49a8-a1a9-35fd6785550a/Final%20Annual%20Report%2016.17%20approved%20by%20BoG.pdf
  3. ↑ Our Lady & St Patrick's College, Knock – College Motto
  4. ↑ http://www.knock.co.uk/Portals/be33ff24-4d60-4ce7-b962-11f2780556ca/Offical%20Opening%20Booklet.pdf
  5. ↑ Knock named NI School of the Year by the Sunday Times – BBC News School Report, 2015-12-15, retrieved 2018-09-04
  6. ↑ "Belfast Telegraph GCSE 2018". Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  7. ↑ "Belfast Telegraph A-Level: Northern Ireland School League Tables 2018". Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  • "Knock". knock.co.uk. Retrieved 26 November 2009.
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