Wilson's Hospital School is a

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

, co-educational

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

located in a protected Georgian building in

Multyfarnham Multyfarnham or Multyfarnam () is a village in County Westmeath, Ireland. History First founded in 1268, the Franciscan monastery at Multyfarnham is still home to a community of friars. During the English conquest of Ireland in the 17th cent ...

County Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Sovereign state, Country , subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Provinces o ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, outside of

Mullingar Mullingar ( ; ) is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. It is the third most populous town in the Midland Region, with a population of 20,928 in the 2016 census. The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act 1543 proclaimed Westmeat ...

. Founded in 1761, it is "Westmeath's oldest school".

History

Wilson's Hospital School was founded in 1761 by Andrew Wilson as a school for young Protestant boys and also as a hospital for old men. The school's main Georgian building, including its 220-seater chapel, was designed by architect John Pentland and completed between 1759 and 1761. It is listed, together with other structures on the grounds, on the

Record of Protected Structures Conservation in the Republic of Ireland is overseen by a number of statutory and non-governmental agencies, including those with responsibility for conservation of the built environment and conservation of the natural environment in Ireland. Con ...

for County Westmeath. The school grounds were the site of a battle preceding the Battle of Ballinamuck during the 1798 rebellion in which 150–300 rebels were killed. Over time the school ceased functioning as a hospital but still retained this title within its name. Operating as an all-boys school for 200 years, it became

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 t ...

in 1969 when it was amalgamated with the Preston School from

Navan Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town of County Meath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 30,173, making it the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland by population, tenth largest settlement in ...

. This connection is reflected in the name of a newer classroom block, ''The Preston Building''. In September 2022, the High Court ordered the jailing of a suspended teacher for refusing to comply with a court order preventing him from attending the school. This followed his rejection of disciplinary procedures after reputedly interrupting school business to object to its guidelines on addressing transgender students. Sanctioning his release in December 2022, the High Court judge noted that the teacher had "wrongly claimed he faces jail because of his religious convictions", was "exploiting his imprisonment for his own ends", and that it was "intolerable" that taxpayers were simultaneously paying for his prison upkeep and his teaching salary.

Teaching

The school caters for approximately 400 students. While many of the school's students are boarders, a number of day pupils also attend the school. As the diocesan secondary school of the

Diocese of Meath and Kildare The United Dioceses of Meath and Kildare is a diocese in the Church of Ireland located in the Republic of Ireland. The diocese is in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin. Alone of English and Irish bishops who are not also archbishops, the Bis ...

, Wilson's Hospital School operates under a

ethos. The school operates a five-day boarding week and teaching schedule. Before the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, there was a seven-day boarding week which allowed boarders the option of returning home at weekends or remaining at the school to avail of the weekend activity programmes. The day pupils of Wilson's Hospital School are drawn from surrounding areas. Academically, the school offers a range of subjects up to higher

Leaving Certificate A secondary school leaving qualification is a document signifying that the holder has fulfilled any secondary education requirements of their locality, often including the passage of a final qualification examination. For each leaving certifica ...

standard.

Sport

Wilson's Hospital fields schoolboy

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

teams in "Section A" of the Leinster Branch's schools competitions. Former sportspeople, associated with the school, include Andrew Thompson and Joe Schmidt (who coached at the school in the 1990s). The school also fields

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, and has a "partnership" with Mullingar Hockey Club.

Notable former pupils

* Andrew Thompson, rugby player

References

External links

* {{Authority control Secondary schools in County Westmeath Private schools in the Republic of Ireland Anglican schools in the Republic of Ireland Educational institutions established in 1761 Hospitals established in the 1760s 1761 establishments in Ireland