Down High School is a controlled co-educational

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

located in

Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Its cathedral is said to be the bu ...

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. The school has students from the ages of eleven to eighteen in the senior school — of which there are approximately 970 pupils. On 21 July 2014,

John O'Dowd John Fitzgerald O'Dowd (born 10 May 1967) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician. He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Upper Bann since 2003. He was previously the Minister for Infrastructure from May to October 2022 and the Mini ...

, the education minister, approved a development proposal to close the preparatory department of Down High School and it closed on 30 June 2014. There are roughly 250 pupils engaged in A-level study in the sixth form. In July 2015, some £20 million was granted by the education minister to begin the new build project in 2017.

History

The gate house and stone walls surrounding the school were originally part of the county gaol. The stone walls were lowered to the deck when the school was established. It was argued that removing the walls completely would allow fog from the nearby

River Quoile The Quoile (; ) is a river in County Down, Northern Ireland. Course The river begins its life as the Ballynahinch River which flows from west of the town of Ballynahinch to Annacloy where it is known as the Annacloy River. This then becomes t ...

to rise into school grounds. There were tunnels, now sealed off, beneath the school and grounds which were used to transport prisoners to and from the court house on English Street. Convicts sentenced to death would often be hanged in the main gateway in front of the school. The large granite gatehouse is a prominent feature of the Mount Crescent area and is unused. Many of the classes are taught in temporary classrooms.

School crest

The school's crest, designed by the late RWH Blackhood of Loughinisland near

, is a reminder of another link with the past, dating back to the 12th century. The design itself is based upon the supposed badge of John De Courcy, the Norman soldier who captured Downpatrick in 1177 and established himself as the ruler of the north east of Ireland. The colours of the crest are taken from the arms of the Anglo-Irish aristocrat, Lady Elizabeth Cromwell (1674–1709), the daughter of the 4th Earl of Ardglass, and owner of the Downpatrick estate. Lady Elizabeth was wife of the Rt Hon Edward Southwell, MP for Kinsale, and principal secretary of state for Ireland in the reigns of

William III William III or William the Third may refer to: Kings * William III of Sicily (c. 1186–c. 1198) * William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702) * William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg ...

and

Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

. Southwell was a well known benefactor of the town. The school's motto, ''Floreat Dunum, Absque Labore Nihil'', means "May Down Flourish, nothing is achieved without effort". ''Floreat Dunum'' appears on the blazer badge of the school. Previous pupils are known as " Old Dunumians".

School houses

Students, upon entry into the secondary school, are placed one of five houses: * Down (house colour: purple) * Lecale (house colour: blue) * Rathkeltair (house colour: red) * Mourne (house colour: green) * Strangford (house colour: white)

Notable alumni

* The members of the band

Ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

* Ashleigh Baxter, Irish women's rugby player *

Dermot Nesbitt Dermot Nesbitt (born 14 August 1947) is a former Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician from Northern Ireland who was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for South Down from 1998 to 2007. Nesbitt was educated at Down High School and la ...

, Northern Irish minister for the environment and MLA for South Down from 1998 to 2007 *

Denise McBride Dame Denise Anne McBride, , styled The Hon Madam Justice McBride, is a Northern Irish judge and former barrister specialising in chancery, family, civil and international law. In October 2015, she was appointed the first female judge of the Hi ...

, joint-first female judge of the High Court of Northern Ireland *

Alister McGrath Alister Edgar McGrath (; born 1953) is a Northern Irish theologian, Anglican priest, intellectual historian, scientist, Christian apologist, and public intellectual. He currently holds the Andreas Idreos Professorship in Science and Religion in ...

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

Historical Theology Historical theology is the study of the history of Christian doctrine. Stanley Grenz, Grenz, Guretzki and Nordling describe it as, "The division of the theological discipline that seeks to understand and delineate how the church interpreted Scri ...

at the University of Oxford and co-author of ''

The Dawkins Delusion? ''The Dawkins Delusion? Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine'' is a book by the theologian Alister McGrath and the psychologist Joanna Collicutt McGrath. It is written from a Christian perspective as a response to arguments put f ...

'' * The 28th Lord de Ros, Northern Irish aristocrat, who attended Down High School before going to boarding school in the Republic of Ireland * Jim Patterson, first-class cricketer * Gareth Russell, historian and bestselling author of ''Young and Damned and Fair'' *

Tommy Seymour Thomas Samuel Fenwick Seymour (born 1 July 1988) is a Scottish former professional rugby union player. He made 55 international appearances for the Scotland national rugby union team 2013–2019, scoring 20 tries which placed him fourth-top try ...

, rugby payer - Glasgow Warriors winger, 36 caps for Scotland scoring 16 tries, British and Irish Lion touring New Zealand in 2017

Staff

The current headteacher is Mrs M. Perry, the deputy headteacher is K. Dawson. The vice-principals are G. McKillen and R. Daniells.

References

External links

* {{authority control Grammar schools in County Down Downpatrick *