Portadown College is an academically selective,

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

post-14

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...

County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

History

Preparatory Department

Portadown College Preparatory Department was founded in 1921 as the Carleton Collegiate School in the former St Mark's Parochial Hall in Carleton Street, Portadown. The founding headmaster, Mr W.J. Warren, was previously the joint principal of Banbridge Academy before serving in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in 1914-18. The Prep was located in Bann House until 1949, when it moved to a second and larger site on the Killicomain Road. The Preparatory Department closed in 2006 and the old building now houses the Art department of the college.

Bann House (1924 - 1962)

The new school grew rapidly and required larger premises. In October 1924, a house on the Edenderry bank of the

River Bann The River Bann (from , meaning "the goddess"; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Bann Wattèr'') is the longest rivers, river in Northern Ireland, its length, Upper and Lower Bann combined, being 129 km (80 mi). The total length ...

was purchased by a group of prominent local citizens (for a sum of £4,400) and made available to Mr Warren to establish Portadown College. Edenderry House was much extended during this time, a cloistered courtyard and assembly hall block was added in 1927, and finally a large new classroom and laboratory wing added in 1936. When the college moved further out, the site was first used as a Technical College and now as Bann House - the area headquarters for the musical activities of the Southern Education and Library Board. The remains of the original old house burned down in 1981.

Killicomain Road (1962 - Present)

In 1962 the college moved to a new purpose-built site on the Killicomain Road, beside the Preparatory Department. The college has made a major contribution to the current 'two-tier' system of secondary education in the

Craigavon Craigavon ( ) is a town in north County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It was a planned settlement, begun in 1965, and named after the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland: James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon. It was intended to be the heart of ...

area, known as the Dickson Plan.

Head teachers

House system

The school's pupils are divided into historical houses. The three houses are Shillington, Seale, and MacCallum (yellow). The house structure provides the basis for a wide range of inter-house competitions, including sports, music and debating. The houses are named after the following: *MacCallum is named after RAF Gp Capt John Evelyn Matier MacCallum, a former pupil and rugby captain. He was

killed in action Killed in action (KIA) is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their personnel at the hands of enemy or hostile forces at the moment of action. The United States Department of Defense, for example, ...

in 1943, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. *Seale is named after brothers RAF Sqn Ldr W. T. C. Seale and Lt. Theophilus John Seale of the

Royal Irish Fusiliers The Royal Irish Fusiliers (Princess Victoria's) was an Irish line infantry (later changed to light infantry) regiment of the British Army, formed by the amalgamation of the 87th (Prince of Wales's Irish) Regiment of Foot and the 89th (Princess ...

. The two brothers were killed in action during World War II in 1941 and 1944 respectively. *Shillington is named after three individuals. They are Ulster Unionist politician

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

David Graham Shillington, Tom Shillington and Lt. Geoffrey St. George Shillington Cather VC. The latter was killed during the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (; ), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 Nove ...

in the

Great War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in 1916.

Sport

Portadown College has been officially recognised in the field of sporting excellence and has been awarded the status of a Sportsmark School. Representative teams participate in Rugby, Boys and Girls Hockey, Netball, Football, Volleyball, Golf, Tennis, Cricket, Rowing and Athletics. The School Rugby teams compete annually in the Ulster Schools Cup, with the best performance the reaching of the semi-finals. The Subsidiary Shield has been won three times in 1973, 1990 and 1997. In 2010 the 1st XV Rugby Team won the Ulster Schools Trophy. Girls'

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

teams enjoy success in the Belfast Telegraph Ulster Schools Cup and McDowell Cup competitions. Portadown College hockey teams have won the trophy on four occasions in 1963, 1964, 1996 and the most recent win in 2025 against The Royal School, Armagh. The Under 18 Boys Volleyball team are current Northern Ireland and All Ireland Champions and the under 16 Boys Volleyball team are current Northern Ireland and All Ireland Champions. The Under 18 Boys Hockey Team are the current Great British Champions after beating RBAI 2nd XI 4–3 in the final.

School facilities

Subjects such as geography, home economics and ICT 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 school's science department is one of the largest and best-funded science departments in Northern Ireland.

Modern language A modern language is any human language that is currently in use as a native language. The term is used in language education to distinguish between languages which are used for day-to-day communication (such as French and German) and dead clas ...

subjects on offer include, French and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

. The school discontinued its teaching of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

as a GCSE in 2017 and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

was removed from the school curriculum many years ago Sports facilities include three rugby pitches, two all-weather pitches, two outdoor basketball courts, two tennis courts, a synthetic cricket pitch, two long jump sand pits and a concrete throwing circle for discus and shot put events. There is also a dedicated sports hall with gym and a second indoor sports hall. Although sport plays a key role in the school's extracurricular activities, there are a number of other societies that include: drama, debating, Duke Of Edinburgh Award expedition and charity group. Until Late 2019, 814 (Portadown College) Squadron of NI Wing, Air Training Corps was Headquartered at the school. The 814 No. Remains in service in the town with the new 814 (Portadown) Squadron.

Academic selection

Like many grammar schools in Northern Ireland, academic selection is at the heart of admission to Portadown College. The college became a selective grammar school in 1969, accepting students to the Senior School at 14 after transferring from local Junior High Schools. The school usually accepts 200 students to study GCSEs each year. After this, students who achieve at least 5 B-grades and 3 C-grades at GCSE are accepted to study A-levels. Portadown College consistently produces GCSE results above Northern Ireland averages. In 2017 93.7% of GCSE results from the school were A*-C grades, compared to a Northern Ireland average of 80.9% in the same year. The school also has one of the largest Sixth Forms in Northern Ireland.

Notable former pupils

* Rory Best, Ulster and Ireland

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player and captain * Simon Best, Ulster and Ireland

player *

Dame ''Dame'' is a traditionally British honorific title given to women who have been admitted to certain orders of chivalry. It is the female equivalent of ''Sir'', the title used by knights. Baronet, Baronetesses Suo jure, in their own right also u ...

Mary Peters MBE,

Lord Lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ov ...

of Belfast and Olympic Gold Medallist *

Gloria Hunniford Mary Winifred Gloria Hunniford, OBE (born 10 April 1940) is a television and radio presenter, broadcaster and singer from Northern Ireland. She is known for presenting programmes on the BBC and ITV, such as '' Rip Off Britain'', and her regula ...

, BBC Television Personality * Newton Emerson, political commentator and

satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Early satirical authors *Aes ...

who founded the Portadown News * Waldo Maguire, BBC broadcaster, WW2 codebreaker *

Tom McGurk Tom McGurk () (born 20 December 1946) is an Irish poet, journalist, radio presenter and sportscaster from Brockagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He attended Portadown College. He studied English and Philosophy at Queen's University Bel ...

Journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces or hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. It is common for people ...

* Ernest Nicholson,

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

Biblical scholar Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible, with ''Bible'' referring to the books of the canonical Hebrew Bible in mainstream Jewish usage and the Christian Bible including the can ...

and Provost of

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is Colleges of the University of Oxford, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title for ...

* Mark Russell, Chief Executive of The Children’s Society * Colin Turkington, Auto Racer *

Emma Little-Pengelly Emma Little-Pengelly ( Little; born 31 December 1979) is a Northern Irish barrister and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician serving as the First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, deputy First Minister of Northern ...

, deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland * Major General Colin Weir DSO MBE, Senior

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

Officer

References

Feeder Schools

Clounagh Junior High School Clounagh Junior High School is a controlled school on the Brownstown Road, Portadown, Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. I ...

* Killicomaine Junior High School * Tandragee Junior High School

External links

Official WebsitePortadown College Alumni Association
{{authority control Grammar schools in County Armagh Secondary schools in County Armagh Portadown