St. Patrick's College, Knock
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| Type | Grammar School |
|---|---|
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Principal | Dermot G. Mullan |
| Location |
Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Local authority | South Eastern Education and Library Board |
| Students | 1265 (approx) |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Colours | |
| Website | www |
Our Lady and Saint Patrick's College (Irish: Coláiste Mhuire agus Naomh Pádraig, An Cnoc) is a Roman Catholic diocesan grammar school in Knock, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The school opened as St Patrick's College on Monday, 4 September 1967 on a 20-acre (81,000 m2) site at Gortgrib in the Cherryvalley area of east Belfast with Fr. Joseph Conway as President. A sister college of St. Malachy's College and St MacNissi’s College, Garron Tower.
By the previous April, the need for a new boys' grammar school catering for the North Down and East Belfast area had become urgent. There was no provision for Catholic grammar education east of the Lagan and it was clear, given the trends of the time, that there would be no capacity in the existing two Belfast grammar schools for boys (St. Malachy's and St. Mary's, Christian Brothers) for the September 1967 intake. Three priests from St. Malachy's - Head of English, Fr Joseph Conway, with Fr John O'Sullivan and Fr Albert McNally were appointed by Bishop William Philbin to found the new diocesan college.
The site for the new school was Providence Farm at Cherryvalley. The property had been in the hands of the Diocese of Down and Connor since the middle of the 19th century.
The College motto, chosen by Bishop William Philbin, was In omnibus gratias agite ('give thanks in all circumstances') (I Thess, 5:18)
The College had originally been planned for an enrolment of over 800 pupils. In the event the civil disturbances of the early 1970s had a profound effect on the development of the College. The Catholic population of the intake area was subjected to intimidation and serious movement of population resulted. Very many families of the students left the areas, especially in east Belfast, and the College buildings were themselves subjected to frequent sectarian attacks.
Permanent buildings were planned from 1970 and were completed by 1979, by which time the enrolment had stabilised at about 500 pupils. Throughout this period almost all the pupils were bused into school in the morning and home again straight after class in the afternoon. Through an agreement with Translink the school has had late buses running on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for after school extra curricular activities since the early 1980s.
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