St Patrick's Grammar School, Downpatrick

St. Patrick's Grammar School
Address
Saul Street Downpatrick , Co. Down , BT30 6NJ Northern Ireland
Information
Type	Grammar
Motto	[Signum Fidei] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) ("Sign of faith")
Established	1934
Headmaster	Sean
Enrollment	725
Colour(s)	Maroon, yellow
Publication	Pulse
Website	http://www.spgs.org.uk

St. Patrick's Grammar School (known locally as 'The Red High') is located in Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is a grammar school owned by the De La Salle Brothers. It has an enrollment of around 725 students, with girls admitted at sixth 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 . Mr Seán Sloan has become principal of the school from January 2009.

History

St Patrick's Grammar School was founded in 1934 and moved to its present site in 1937. St Patrick's is owned by the De La Salle Brothers. A new building is due to be built in the coming years to replace the old building.The new school campus will contain many new features, including many playing fields for the school's Gaelic Football and Hurling teams, as the school currently shares a Soccer and Gaelic Football pitch with the neighbouring De La Salle High School.

During the period of 2001-2008, the school was ruled with an iron fist by Mr Dermot Mullan. His reign of terror eventually came to an end in 2008 when, after months of speculation, a student uprising occurred. At approximately 11.54pm on 3rd June 2008, students broke through the fencing surrounding his fortress and carryed him of into the night. Rumoured has it he was hung, drawn and quartered on Gallos hill, but this cannot be confirmed at this time.

School and community

The school and its students are closely involved in the local community with events such as the Advent Appeal, where both students and staff raise money and collect Christmas hampers for the local charity, St. Vincent de Paul. There is also a Lenten appeal which is normally for a specific project in India and other Third World countries.

The school is involved in many local, county, and national leagues in sports such as football, gaelic football, hurling and athletics.

The school is also a specialist humanity's school in English subjects.

The school had an incident of kids supposedly smashed up some toilets, further investigation is needed

The school also had an incident of who took the dump in the library book?, further investigation is also needed

School Houses

Upon entry to the school, students are placed in one of four houses. These are:

• Down (D)
• Killard(K)
• Lecale(L)
• Quoile(Q)

(Saul was a house, however it has been abolished in the junior school as a form class. Saul is now used as a class for Creative & Expressive Studies in the junior school, and as the GCSE Performing Arts class in the senior school.)

Notable alumni

• Patrick Kielty, comedian
• Maurice Hayes, European Person of the Year 2003
• Colin Murphy, comedian
• Rigsy, broadcaster/DJ
• everybody Knows That One Guy That One Time

External links

• Official site