The Abbey Christian Brothers' Grammar School (

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

: ''Scoil na Mainistreach, Iúr Cinn Trá'' ) is a voluntary

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children and adolescents are given instructions during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compar ...

for boys aged 11 – 18 years in Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland.

History

The school was established in 1851 by members of the

Congregation of Christian Brothers The Congregation of Christian Brothers ( la, Congregatio Fratrum Christianorum; abbreviated CFC) is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Blessed Edmund Rice. Their first school was opened in Waterford, Ireland, ...

. It was named after a Cistercian Abbey founded on the site by

St Malachy Malachy (}; Modern ga, Maelmhaedhoc Ó Morgair; ) (1094 – 2 November 1148) is an Irish saint who was Archbishop of Armagh, to whom were attributed several miracles and an alleged vision of 112 popes later attributed to the apocryphal ...

in 1144. Since then the school had been located at several sites around Newry including Chapel Street, Kilmorey Street, the Carstands at Margaret Street and the Mall, then on to AbbWiey Yard. From 1966 to 2010 it was located at Courtenay Hill. In 2010, it moved to a new £18 million building on the outskirts of Newry. The school gives its name to many streets surrounding the former site such as Abbey Yard and Abbey Heights. The school was originally entirely run by the

Irish Christian Brothers The Congregation of Christian Brothers ( la, Congregatio Fratrum Christianorum; abbreviated CFC) is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Blessed Edmund Rice. Their first school was opened in Waterford, Ireland, ...

, but in the late twentieth century their numbers declined and the school is now entirely staffed by lay teachers. It is now under the trusteeship of the

Edmund Rice Schools Trust The Edmund Rice Schools Trust (ERST) is a Catholic school network with responsibility for almost 100 schools in the Republic of Ireland. The trust is named after Edmund Ignatius Rice the founder of the Irish Christian Brothers who originally est ...

(NI).

Academics

The school provides instruction in a range of academic subjects. In 2018, 94.5% of its entrants achieved five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C, including the core subjects English and Maths. 77.2% of its students who sat the A-level exams were awarded three A*-C grades.

Competitions, Olympiads and Achievements

* Runners Up of th
BM Quizzing Championships
(NI Schools General Knowledge Quizzing Championships) 2022/2023. * Winners of the NI Regional Senior Schools Quiz Challenge (general knowledge quiz) 2011-2018. * The Dalton All Ireland Gaelic Schools Cup 2006. * Winners of the Senior UK Schools Quiz Challenge (general knowledge quiz) 2002. * Winners of the

MacRory Cup The MacRory Cup is an inter-college (school) Gaelic football tournament in Ulster at senior "A" grade. The MacLarnon Cup is the competition for schools at senior 'B' grade. Players must be under nineteen at the start of the tournament. The win ...

(Gaelic football competition) 1954.

Notable former pupils

Frank Aiken Francis Thomas Aiken (13 February 1898 – 18 May 1983) was an Irish revolutionary and politician. He was chief of staff of the Anti-Treaty IRA at the end of the Irish Civil War. Aiken later served as Tánaiste from 1965 to 1969 and Minister fo ...

(1898-1983) TD,

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief tha ...

commander,

Tánaiste The Tánaiste ( , ) is the deputy head of the government of Ireland and thus holder of its second-most senior office. The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Taoi ...

and served as

Minister for Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

(1932–39),

Minister for the Co-ordination of Defensive Measures The Minister for the Co-ordination of Defensive Measures was the title of Frank Aiken as a member of the Government of Ireland from 8 September 1939 to 18 June 1945 during The Emergency — the state of emergency in operation in Ireland during ...

(1939–45),

Minister for Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

(1945–48) and Minister for External Affairs (1951–54; 1957–69) * Séamus Mallon (1936-2020), Member of Parliament (MP) for Newry & Armagh (1986-2005),

Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland ...

(SDLP) Deputy Leader (1979-2001) and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland (1998-2001). *

Mickey Brady Mickey Brady (born 7 October 1950) is an Irish republican politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Newry and Armagh since 2015. He was previously a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Northern Ireland for Newry and Armagh ...

(b. 1950),

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

MP for

Newry and Armagh (UK Parliament constituency) Newry and Armagh is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Mickey Brady of Sinn Féin. Boundaries 1983–1997: The District of Armagh, and the District of Newry and Mourne wards of Ballybot, Bel ...

Art Cosgrove Art Cosgrove, (born 1 June 1940) in Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland, was president of University College Dublin (UCD) between 1994 and 2003. Education He was educated at the Abbey Christian Brothers' Grammar School, Newry.https://www.ucd.ie ...

(b. 1940), Irish historian, writer; Chancellor,

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

* Denis Donoghue (1928-2021), Irish writer *

Kevin McKernan Kevin McKernan (born 3 December 1987) is a Gaelic footballer from County Down, Northern Ireland. He plays for the Down senior inter-county football team. Playing career Inter-county McKernan has been a member of the Down team since 2008 b ...

(b. 1987),

Down GAA The Down County Board ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Coiste Chontae An Dún) or Down GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in Ireland, and is responsible for the administration of Gaelic games in County Down ...

Gaelic footballer *

Peter McVerry Fr Peter McVerry, SJ (born 1944) is an Irish Roman Catholic priest, notable for battling homelessness in Ireland.

(b. 1944), poverty campaigner *

Eunan O'Neill Eunan O'Neill ( ; born Newry, County Down, 12 August 1982) is an Irish television presenter. Early life O'Neill grew up in Crossmaglen, Co Armagh. He graduated in Communication, Advertising and Marketing at the University of Ulster. He also st ...

(b. 1982), Television presenter (''

Russia Today RT (formerly Russia Today or Rossiya Segodnya (russian: Россия Сегодня) is a Russian state-controlled international news television network funded by the Russian government. It operates pay television and free-to-air channels ...

'') * Seán O'Neill (b. 1938),

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

er *

Ronan Rafferty Ronan Patrick Rafferty (born 13 January 1964) is a Northern Irish professional golfer who formerly played on the European Tour. He was the leading European player of 1989. Early life Rafferty was born in Newry, Northern Ireland. He won the B ...

(b. 1964), Irish golfer * Patrick Shea (1908-1986),

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

* Gerard Murphy (1948-2018) - actor *

Oisín McConville Oisín McConville ( ga, Oisín Mac Conmhaoil; born 13 October 1975) is an Irish Gaelic football manager and former player. He has been manager of the Wicklow county team since 2022. McCoville played at senior level for the Armagh county team ...

(born 1975) -

er *

Joe Kernan Joe Kernan or Joseph Kernan may refer to: * Joe Kernan (baseball), 19th-century American baseball player * Joe Kernan (Gaelic footballer) (born 1954) * Joe Kernan (politician) (1946–2020), American politician * Joseph D. Kernan (born 1955), Uni ...

(born 1954) -

References

External links