Wilson's Hospital School is a

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

, 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. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

located in a protected Georgian building in Multyfarnham,

County Westmeath County Westmeath (; or simply ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It formed part of the historic Kingdom of ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, outside of

Mullingar Mullingar ( ; ) is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. It is the third most populous town in the Midland Region, Ireland, Midland Region, with a population of 22,667 in the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census. The Counties of M ...

. Founded in 1761, it is "Westmeath's oldest school". A private fee paying school for most of its history, in 2011 it transferred to the voluntary aided sector and does not charge fees for schooling but retains fees for boarding and extra curricular activities.

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 Historic preservation, conservation of the built environment and Environmental protection, conservat ...

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 ...

in 1969 when it was amalgamated with the Preston School from

Navan Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town and largest town of County Meath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Leinster Blackwater, Blackwater, around 50 km northwest of Dublin. At the ...

which was established by John Preston in 1686. 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, Enoch Burke, 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. After a disciplinary hearing in January 2023, Burke was dismissed from his role at the school.

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 Ireland. The diocese is in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin. Alone of English and Irish bishops who are not also archbishops, the Bishop of Meath an ...

, 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, 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. 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 certificate ...

standard.

Sport

Wilson's Hospital fields schoolboy rugby 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 family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

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

Notable people

* Enoch Burke, former teacher * Homan Potterton, attended the Preston School in Navan which was later to become Wilson's Hospital * Joe Schmidt, former rugby coach at the school * Andrew Thompson, rugby player and former student

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