Portadown College is an academically selective,

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

post-14

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, ...

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has ...

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. North ...

History

Preparatory Department

Portadown College Preparatory Department was founded in 1921 as the Carleton Collegiate School in St Mark's former Parochial Hall in Carleton Street, Portadown. The founding headmaster, Mr W J Warren, was previously the joint principal of Banbridge Academy before serving in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

in 1914-18. The Prep was located in Bann House until 1949, when it moved to a second and larger site on the Killicomain Road. The Preparatory Department closed in 2006 and the old building now houses the Art department of the college.

Bann House (1924 - 1962)

The new school grew rapidly and required larger premises. In October 1924, a house on the Edenderry bank of the

River Bann The River Bann (from ga, An Bhanna, meaning "the goddess"; Ulster-Scots: ''Bann Wattèr'') is one of the longest rivers in Northern Ireland, its length, Upper and Lower Bann combined, being 129 km (80 mi). However, the total lengt ...

was purchased by a group of prominent local citizens (for a sum of £4,400) and made available to Mr Warren to establish Portadown College. Edenderry House was much extended during this time, a cloistered courtyard and assembly hall block was added in 1927, and finally a large new classroom and laboratory wing added in 1936. When the college moved further out, the site was first used as a Technical College and now as Bann House - the area headquarters for the musical activities of the Southern Education and Library Board. The remains of the original old house burned down in 1981.

Killicomain Road (1962 - Present)

In 1962 the college moved to a new purpose-built site on the Killicomain Road, beside the Preparatory Department. The college has made a major contribution to the current 'two-tier' system of secondary education in the Craigavon area, known as the

Dickson Plan The Dickson Plan is a school transfer system implemented in North County Armagh in Northern Ireland. It is a two tier system in which the majority of pupils in the Craigavon Borough Council Area and parts of Armagh City and District Council Area at ...

Head teachers

House system

The school's pupils are divided into historical houses. The three houses are Shillington, Seale, and MacCallum (yellow). The house structure provides the basis for a wide range of inter-house competitions, including sports, music and debating. The houses are named after the following: *MacCallum is named after RAF Gp Capt John Evelyn Matier MacCallum, a former pupil and rugby captain. He was killed in action in 1943, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. *Seale is named after brothers RAF Sqn Ldr W. T. C. Seale and Lt. Theophilus John Seale of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. The two brothers were killed in action during World War II in 1941 and 1944 respectively. *Shillington is named after three individuals. They are

Ulster Unionist The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...

politician Major David Graham Shillington, Tom Shillington and Lt. Geoffrey St. George Shillington Cather VC. The latter was killed during the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

in the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in 1916.

Sport

Portadown College has been officially recognised in the field of sporting excellence and has been awarded the status of a Sportsmark School. Representative teams participate in Rugby, Boys and Girls Hockey, Netball, Football, Volleyball, Golf, Tennis, Cricket, Rowing and Athletics. The School Rugby teams compete annually in the Ulster Schools Cup, with the best performance the reaching of the semi-finals. The Subsidiary Shield has been won three times in 1973, 1990 and 1997. In 2010 the 1st XV Rugby Team won the Ulster Schools Trophy. Girls'

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

teams enjoy success in the Belfast Telegraph Ulster Schools Cup and McDowell Cup competitions. Portadown College hockey teams have won the trophy on three occasions in 1963, 1964 and the most recent win in 1996. The Under 18 Boys Volleyball team are current Northern Ireland and All Ireland Champions and the under 16 Boys Volleyball team are current Northern Ireland and All Ireland Champions. The Under 18 Boys Hockey Team are the current Great British Champions after beating RBAI 2nd XI 4–3 in the final.

School facilities

Subjects such as geography, home economics and ICT have miscellaneous classrooms throughout the school. There are over 20 subjects taught at the school, which are served by approximately 50 classrooms, subject study rooms and technicians. The school's science department is one of the largest and best-funded science departments in Northern Ireland.

Modern language A modern language is any human language that is currently in use. The term is used in language education to distinguish between languages which are used for day-to-day communication (such as French and German) and dead classical languages su ...

subjects on offer include, French and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

. The school discontinued its teaching of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

as a GCSE in 2017 and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

was removed from the school curriculum many years ago Sports facilities include three rugby pitches, two all-weather pitches, two outdoor basketball courts, two tennis courts, a synthetic cricket pitch, two long jump sand pits and a concrete throwing circle for discus and shot put events. There is also a dedicated sports hall with gym and a second indoor sports hall. Although sport plays a key role in the school's extracurricular activities, there are a number of other societies that include: drama, debating, Air Training Corps, Duke Of Edinburgh Award expedition and charity group

Academic selection

Like many grammar schools in Northern Ireland, academic selection is at the heart of admission to Portadown College. The college became a selective grammar school in 1969, accepting students to the Senior School at 14 after transferring from local Junior High Schools. The school usually accepts 200 students to study GCSEs each year. After this, students who achieve at least 5 B-grades and 3 C-grades at GCSE are accepted to study A-levels. Portadown College consistently produces GCSE results above Northern Ireland averages. In 2017 93.7% of GCSE results from the school were A*-C grades, compared to a Northern Ireland average of 80.9% in the same year. The school also has one of the largest Sixth Forms in Northern Ireland.

Notable former pupils

Rory Best Rory David Best (born 15 August 1982) is an Irish former rugby union player from Northern Ireland and was the captain of the Ireland national team from 2016 to 2019. He played hooker for Ulster and was registered for Banbridge RFC, having pr ...

, Ulster and Ireland

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player and captain * Simon Best, Ulster and Ireland

player * Dame Mary Peters MBE, Lord Lieutenant of Belfast and Olympic Gold Medallist *

Gloria Hunniford Mary Winifred Gloria Hunniford, OBE (born 10 April 1940) is a Northern Irish television and radio presenter, broadcaster and singer. She is known for presenting programmes on the BBC and ITV, such as '' Rip Off Britain'', and her regular appea ...

, BBC Television Personality *

Newton Emerson Newton Emerson (born 1969) is a political commentator in Northern Ireland. He described himself as a 'liberal unionist' in 2001. He contributes to both the ''Sunday Times'', and ''The Irish News'' as well as ''The Irish Times''. He first came t ...

, political commentator and

satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Under Contemporary, 1930-1960 ...

who founded the

Portadown News ''The Portadown News'' was a satirical web-based newspaper dealing with Northern Irish politics and culture. It was written (initially anonymously) by journalist and political commentator Newton Emerson, who had been raised in Portadown in Coun ...

* Waldo Maguire, BBC broadcaster, WW2 codebreaker *

Tom McGurk Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in '' Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

Journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garner ...

Ernest Nicholson Ernest Wilson Nicholson, (26 September 1938 – 22 December 2013) was a British scholar of the Old Testament and Church of England priest. He was Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford from 1979 to ...

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

Biblical scholar Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Old Testament and New Testament).''Introduction to Biblical Studies, Second Edition'' by Steve Moyise (Oct 27, 2004) pages 11–12 F ...

and Provost of

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, ...

* Mark Russell, Chief Executive of The Children’s Society *

Colin Turkington Colin Henry Turkington (born 21 March 1982) is a British racing driver from Northern Ireland who competes in the British Touring Car Championship for Team BMW. He is a 4 time BTCC champion, winning the title in 2009, 2014, 2018 and 2019, havi ...

, Auto Racer * Emma Pengelly, MP for

South Belfast Belfast South can refer to: *The southern part of Belfast * Belfast South (Assembly constituency) *Belfast South (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency) Belfast South was a borough constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland from 192 ...

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Colin Weir DSO MBE, Senior

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

Officer

References

Feeder Schools

* Clounagh Junior High School * Killicomaine Junior High School *

Tandragee Junior High School Tandragee () is a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is built on a hillside overlooking the Cusher River, in the civil parish of Ballymore and the historic barony of Orior Lower. It had a population of 3,486 people in the 2011 C ...

External links

Official WebsitePortadown College Alumni Association
{{authority control Grammar schools in County Armagh Secondary schools in County Armagh