St Patrick's Classical School

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St Patrick's Classical School Scoil Clásicach Naomh Pádraig
Location
Moatlands, Navan, County Meath
Information
Motto	In Christo Confido Latin for "I believe in Christ"
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Established	1930
Principal	Colm O'Rourke
Chaplain	Mark Donelly
Faculty	c. 75
Gender	Boys
Number of students	c. 908[1]
Colour(s)	Black, gold
Patron	Thomas Deenihan, Bishop of Meath
Website	www.stpatscs.com/

St Patrick's Classical School (Irish: Gréasáin Scoil Chlasaiceach Naomh Pádraig) is a Roman Catholic-run school for boys in Navan, County Meath. It has produced a number of politicians, journalists, Irish sports personalities, broadcasters and two winners of the famous Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Fringe.

History[]

St Patrick's Classical School was founded in 1930 when the Diocese of Meath's seminary, St. Finian's College, which had previously been the main provider of denominational education for boys locally, moved from Navan to the new diocesan capital, Mullingar in County Westmeath. The school's patron is the Roman Catholic Bishop of Meath. The school was previously located in a small architecturally distinctive building on Academy Street in the centre of the town, but in 1970 it moved to a new campus at the outskirts of the town.^[2]

As its name indicated, it placed an emphasis on the teaching of the classics, Latin and Greek, rather than vocational subjects. Until the granting of "free education" by the Irish Minister for Education, Brian Lenihan, (his predecessor who proposed free education, Donogh O'Malley died before he could implement the plan) the school operated as a fee-paying school. Its education is now free. Though predominantly Roman Catholic, the school also attracts pupils from other religions and none. It particularly attracts members of the local Islamic community.^{[citation needed]}

Although the Roman Catholic Bishop of Meath remains the school patron, the school has long been under lay control and the last member of the clergy that was principal of the school was Fr Michael Sheerin in 1988. Following the decline in numbers of people entering the priesthood in Ireland, the school no longer has any priest on its teaching staff.

On 27 November 2009, the then President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, visited the school.

In March 2013, the Irish Independent newspaper published a "lifestyle" article in which the writer described St Patrick's Classical School as the town's "most prestigious" secondary school, which runs a waiting list of more than 200 students.^[3]

In 2015, the school completed the construction of several new classrooms and an additional storey. These rooms were designed to accommodate science, woodwork, and music classes.

Notable staff[]

• Kevin Mallon, Gaelic games radio and television commentator
• Colm O'Rourke, former member of the Meath county football team and one of the main panelists on Gaelic games coverage on RTÉ^[4]
• Shane O'Rourke, footballer son of Colm, physical education
• Ronan Moore, writer, politician

Notable past pupils[]

The school has produced many politicians, business people, and media and comedy personalities. Among its ex-pupils are James Tully, the Labour Party Deputy Leader and Irish government minister in the 1970s and early 1980s; Jim Fitzsimons, a longtime Fianna Fáil Member of the European Parliament; Jim Duffy, a journalist; Simon Cumbers, a broadcast journalist killed by al-Qaeda in 2004; David Beggy, a Gaelic football star turned rugby player; David Gough, that sport's first openly gay elite referee; Dylan Moran and Tommy Tiernan,^[5] both winners of the international Perrier Award for Comedy at the Edinburgh Festival who had award-winning comedy shows on British television; sketch comedian Matthew Dinneen (Michael Fry);^[6] London West End star Willy Byrne; Irish radio and television presenter Hector Ó hEochagáin. The school was also attended by the trance DJ and producer John O'Callaghan.

Ham Sandwich members, Brian Darcy and John Moore, met while attending the school.^[7]

Sporting activities[]

Sporting facilities at the school include two full sized Gaelic football pitches, one full size astro-turf pitch, a sports arena, a sports hall, a table tennis room, and a weights gym.^{[citation needed]}

Sport has been played at St Patrick's since the foundation of the school.^[2]

Gaelic football[]

The Senior Gaelic football team has won the Hogan Cup (All Ireland Schools "A" competition) three times, in 2000, 2001 and 2004. The current coaches include Colm O'Rourke. The Juvenile Football team won the North Leinster Juvenile Championship 2011 against St Mary's School in Mullingar, and the Junior team also won a "Leinster Junior A Title" in 2011/2012.

In the 2012/2013 season the Senior team won the Leinster final and in the All-Ireland Final in April 2013 in lost to St Patrick's of Maghera.^[8]

Rugby[]

In 2010, the Junior Rugby team won the Junior Duff Cup against Skerries Community School. In 2012, The Junior Rugby team won the Division A league and Junior Duff cup for the first time.

Basketball[]

The U-19s and U-16s basketball teams both made it to the north-east regional finals in 2011/2012. The U-19s won their final but were knocked out in the qualifiers for the All-Ireland. The U-16s lost their final but were able to advance to All-Ireland qualifiers but were knocked out.

Charity work[]

In 2014, five students from 5th year raised €1300 for the Donal Walsh #LiveLife Foundation by selling wristbands in honour of Kerry teenager Donal Walsh who had terminal cancer.^[9]

In 2019 they also organised a sleep put to raise money for Focus Ireland.^[10]

See also[]

• Education in the Republic of Ireland

References[]