Saint Patrick's Grammar School was a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

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 ...

located in

Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Down Cathedral, Its cathedral is sai ...

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, Northern Ireland. It is currently owned by the

De La Salle Brothers The De La Salle Brothers, officially named the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (; ; ) abbreviated FSC, is a Catholic lay religious congregation of pontifical right for men founded in France by Jean-Baptiste de La Salle ( ...

. It has an enrolment of around 725 students, with girls admitted at 6th form level. Pupils come from all over the East Down area. Working to support the ideals of this Lasallian School is a staff of 75 lay teachers. Recently, the school has been awarded the Investor in People award, and has been named a specialist school in humanities by the Department of Education. The school reopened as part of a merger with St Mary's High and De La Salle in 2024 as Lecale Trinity Grammar School.

History

Saint Patrick's Grammar School was founded in 1934 and moved to its present site in 1937. In 2009, the school celebrated its 75th anniversary. A new school building was built and opened in April 2011. The new building contains improved modern facilities including a large music department and enhanced Physical Education amenities. The PE department includes a modern gym, two indoor sports halls and two floodlit outdoor pitches. A controversial merger was proposed between St Patrick's and non-selective schools St Mary's High and De La Salle. The resulting institution would be named Lecale Trinity Grammar and open in September 2024.

School and community

The school and its students are linked with the local community. Extra-curricular organisations such as the St. Vincent de Paul School Conference operate within Saint Patrick's Grammar School to raise funds for worthy causes as well as out in the community, conducting regular visitations to the Lecale Lodge Nursing Home which is operated by

Four Seasons Health Care Four Seasons Health Care is a British provider of health and social care services. It also owns The Huntercombe Group, a provider of inpatient mental healthcare and brain injury rehabilitation as well as care home operator brighterkind. Four Se ...

. In the area of Performing Arts, the school has brought a number of productions to fruition over the years, the most recent being ''

Philadelphia, Here I Come! ''Philadelphia, Here I Come!'' is a 1964 play by Irish dramatist Brian Friel. Set in the fictional town of Ballybeg, County Donegal, the play launched Friel onto the international stage. The play was first staged at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin on ...

'' , ''

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'' and ''

Oliver! ''Oliver!'' is a stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens. It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre, southwest London in 1960 before opening in the W ...

''. The school is involved in many local, county and national leagues in sports such as

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hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

. Its sports teams have achieved a number of county and province-wide titles under the guidance of the P.E. Department.

School houses

Upon admission into the school, students are placed into one of four houses (classes). These are: * Down * Killard * Lecale * Quoile * Saul (''In Year 13/14 only and in practical classes ie. Technology, music and art'') The Saul house is used as a separate class for Creative and Expressive studies in the junior school.

School building

The school once sat on Irish Street where it meets Stream Street in the town centre of

. It later moved to its current site accessible via a Saul Street. The site is shared by another De La Salle Brother's school known as De La Salle High School. The construction of a new school building commenced in the summer of 2009. The school was constructed on the "junior" playing fields, which can be seen on the Downpatrick skyline. When completed, the previous school building was demolished and the site was converted into all-weather playing fields and tennis courts. The new school campus opened on 1 April 2011.

Notable former students and staff

Patrick Kielty Patrick Kielty (born 31 January 1971) is a comedian, presenter and actor from Northern Ireland. He is the host of '' The Late Late Show'' on RTÉ One and presents a Saturday morning programme on BBC Radio 5 Live. His television credits include ...

(born 1971) - Presenter of

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

's Late Late Show. *

Maurice Hayes Maurice Hayes (8 July 1927 – 23 December 2017) was an Irish public servant and, late in life, an independent member of both the 21st and 22nd Seanad. Hayes was nominated by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, in 1997 and re-nominated in 2002. He ...

(1927-2017) - former Northern Ireland Ombudsman, Chairman of the Ireland Funds and Taoiseach-appointed Senator in

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, he served as town clerk of Downpatrick in the 1960s and was awarded European Person of the Year 2003. Later, he returned to Saint Patrick's to teach. *

Eddie McGrady Edward Kevin McGrady (3 June 1935 – 11 November 2013) was an Irish nationalist politician of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Down from 1987 to 2010. McGrady was also a Member ...

(1935-2013) - former

Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP; ) is a social democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland Assembly ( MLAs) and two members of Parliament (M ...

MP and MLA, who first won his seat in 1987 defeating the Conservative Party candidate

Enoch Powell John Enoch Powell (16 June 19128 February 1998) was a British politician, scholar and writer. He served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South West for the Conservative Party (UK), Conserv ...

Rigsy Rigsy (born 6 December 1978) is a presenter from Newcastle, Northern Ireland, currently living in East Belfast. He attended St Patrick's Grammar School, Downpatrick is a graduate of Queen's University Belfast. Broadcast career Rigsy has presente ...

, (real name David O'Reilly) (born 1978) - TV and radio broadcaster with the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

presenting on '' Across The Line'' and

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since 2002 *

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TV and radio broadcaster formerly at UTV and now with

* Ian Mitchell from the bands

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and

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* Members of the band

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* Members of the rock band The Answer * Margaret Ritchie (born 1958) - former MP for South Down, former

leader, MLA and Minister for Social Development, who taught in the school for a short period. *

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, singer songwriter that has toured with

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* Conor Hazard (born 1998) - goalkeeper for

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. * David Morgan (footballer) (born 1994) -

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

formerly of

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* Colin Murphy (born 1968) - comedian and broadcaster. Best known as a panellist on

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. BBC Northern Ireland is one of the four BB ...

's hit show The Blame Game. *

Kieran Deeny Kieran Deeny (born 12 October 1954) is a Northern Irish politician, footballer, and doctor. Deeny was a Designated Other Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for West Tyrone (MLA) from 2003 to 2011, having run on a single issue ticket of re ...

(born 1954) -

medical doctor A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...

and politician

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Patrick's Grammar School, Downpatrick Grammar schools in County Down Secondary schools in County Down Educational institutions established in 1934 Downpatrick * 1934 establishments in Northern Ireland Catholic secondary schools in Northern Ireland