St. Patrick's Classical School
| St. Patrick's Classical School Scoil Clásicach Naomh Pádraig |
|
|---|---|
In Christo Confido
Latin for "I trust in Christ" |
|
| Location | |
| Moatlands, Navan, County Meath | |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Established | 1930 |
| Principal | Mr. Colm O'Rourke |
| Chaplain | Fr. Dywane Gavin |
| Faculty | c. 75 |
| Gender | Boys |
| Number of students | c. 879 |
| Colour(s) | Black, Amber |
| Nickname | The Mighty St. Pats |
| Patron | The Most Reverend, Dr. Michael Smith, Bishop of Meath |
| Website | www.stpatscs.com/ |
St. Patrick's Classical School is a prominent Roman Catholic-run school for boys in Navan, County Meath. It has produced a number of prominent politicians, journalists, Irish sports personalities, broadcasters and two winners of the famous Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Fringe.
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.
As its name indicated, it placed heavy 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 attracts many pupils from other religions and none. It particularly attracts members of the local Islamic community.
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, President of Ireland, Her Excellency Mary McAleese visited the school.
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Wikipedia