St Patrick's College is a Catholic maintained co-educational school located in

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 31,205 people at the 2021 United Kingdom census, making it the List of localities in Northern Ireland by population, seven ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

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

The school was opened on 8 September 1959 by Dr Daniel Mageean, Bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Down and Connor The Diocese of Down and Connor, (; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Northern Ireland. It is one of eight suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Armag ...

. It was known then as ''St Patrick's Voluntary Secondary Intermediate School''. As the school grew in size and pupils stayed on post-16, it changed its name to ''St. Patrick's College'' offering a broader range of courses.

College Motto

On the college badge are the letters A.M.D.G.. This is an abbreviation of ''Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam'' which can be translated as ''For the greater glory of God''.

Academics

A full range of subjects is offered at GCSE, A-Level and BTEC. At GCSE A-level, the students can choose courses from Applied Art & Design, English, Applied Health & Social Care, History, ICT, Performing Arts, Polish and Religious Studies. As part of the ''Ballymena Learning Together'' consortium of schools students can access optional courses in Applied Business, Chemistry, Environmental Technology, Government & Politics, Engineering, Moving Image Arts, Psychology, Physics, Business Studies, Drama, Geography, Mathematics, Music, and Sociology. They can also access several BTEC courses. With the arrival of the children of immigrants from Eastern Europe, the school has appointed Polish teachers and Czech, Romanian and Bulgarian teaching assistants. Students are now able to take GCSE courses in Polish.

Sports

The students have the opportunity of participating in such sports as badminton, volleyball, Gaelic football, soccer, camogie, and hurling.

Principals

* 1959 - 1981 Mr Seamus McCracken * 1981 - 1986 Mr P O'Hagan * 1986 - 1989 Mr M McCrory * 1989 - 1993 Mr D Gillan * 1993 - 2004 Mr L Raven * 2004 - 2017 Mrs Catherine Magee * 2017 – 2023 Dr Martin Knox. * 2023 - Present Mr P Fitzpatrick

Notable alumni

Liam Neeson William John Neeson (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Liam Neeson, several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, BAFT ...

- actor *

Brendan Rodgers Brendan Rodgers (born 26 January 1973) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who is manager of Scottish Premiership club Celtic. Rodgers began his career as a defender at Ballymena United, where he stayed until h ...

- footballer and football manager

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Patrick's College 1966 establishments in Northern Ireland Belfast Educational institutions established in 1966 Catholic secondary schools in Northern Ireland