Rathmore Grammar School
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- This article is about the grammar school called 'Rathmore'. For other uses see Rathmore (disambiguation)
| Rathmore Grammar School, Belfast
Scoil an Rátha Mhóir, Béal Feirste |
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Ut Vitam Habeant
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| Location | |
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| Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland |
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| Principal | Sr Ursula Canavan |
| Type | Voluntary Grammar |
| Age Range | 11 to 18 |
| Homepage | rathmoregrammarschool.org |
Rathmore Grammar School, normally referred to simply as "Rathmore", is a Catholic grammar school in Finaghy, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The current principal is Sr. Ursula Canavan.
Rathmore is situated in Kingsway, Finaghy, Belfast, behind the St. Anne's "campus", consisting of St. Anne's Primary School, Parish Church and Parish Centre. It is hidden from view from the nearby Lisburn Road.
Rathmore Grammar School is paired with the Nicolaus-Cusanus-Gymnasium in Bonn.
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[edit] History
Rathmore began as a stately home, built by Belfast businessman Victor Coates for his family, but the house was passed to the local Bishop who in turn sold it to the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary. The RSHM used the house as a convent, where they began a school for girls. Sometime later, a major development project surrounded the convent with school buildings.
[edit] School Crest and Motto
The school's motto is "Ut Vitam Habeant" which is Latin for "That they may have life".
[edit] New Era
More recently, a new school building was designed by a past-pupil of the school. The new building was completed in time for the school year beginning September 2005. This project included the restoration of the convent, which now houses History, Politics and Religious Education.
With the new building, a new C2k computer network was installed, along with interactive whiteboards in every classroom. Each member of staff and pupil has their own user account account with email, and can access their personal files and email from home, via the C2KNI.net website. It is a Promethean Centre of Excellence, one of two in Belfast.
[edit] Recent Events
Rathmore made headlines in the Irish News in September 2006, when statistics showed that it had the highest A-Level results for a grammar school in Northern Ireland - ahead of 69 others. GCSE Results were used as a tie-breaker in the report.[citation needed]
In October 2006, past pupil Maeve Kilpatrick won the UK Multimedia Presentation category of the DYP 2006 competition, with her Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation about her Art campaign in the school the previous year. The Presentation incorporated pictures, music and dialogue which she performed herself. Maeve and Mrs Keag, the Art teacher who oversaw the entry, went to Brussels in November 2006 as part of their prize. Rathmore has also had significant success in the Sentinus Engineering Education Scheme working with local company Phoenix Natural Gas and run by Physics teacher Mr Kieran Doherty. In 2005 the team composed of Caron Malone, Daniel Evans and Barbara Fleming swept the Seagate young innovators competition winning, most notably, the Intel award of excellence and going on to win a trip to the United States to represent Ireland in the next stage of the competition - Intel ISEF. They also had success in 2006, winning the Young engineers for Britain competition for 17-19 year olds.
For the past number of years Rathmore Grammar school had been running an Amnesty International youth group in school, but due to Amnesty's recent change in policy the group was not continued for the year beginning September 2007. In April 2007, Amnesty International changed its stance on abortion from one which was neutral to one supporting access to abortion in cases of rape and incest, and when the life or the health of the mother might be threatened. Amnesty claim that they "do not promote abortion as a universal right" but "support the decriminalisation of abortion". The principal of the School, Sister Ursula Canavan, acknowledges and appreciates the great work that Amnesty does but feared that continuing to support Amnesty conflicts with the school's Catholic ethos. "I could not continue as a school promoting life and, at the same time, encourage the pupils to be involved in Amnesty." The school's motto states "I have come so that they may have life, and have it to the fullest". The current head girl, Orla Murray, and head boy, Patrick Gallagher, gave interviews to both radio and newspaper showing support for their principal while expressing their own views on the situation.
[edit] Notable alumni
- Mary Ethna Black - Program Coordinator of UNICEF, Belgrade; Human Rights advocate[1]
- Vivian Campbell, Guitarist with the rock band Def Leppard[citation needed]
- Mairéad Farrell, Provisional IRA member killed by the SAS[citation needed]
- Damien Johnson, member of the Northern Ireland football team[citation needed]
- Tracey Magee, UTV news reporter[citation needed]
- Barry Flynn, broadcaster and author
- Ian Pearson, BT Futurologist[2]
Donna Marie O Prey Ulster 800m Freestyle Swimming Champion 2005 and 2007. Member of the COB 4 x 50 metres medley Irish Record Holders 2008
[edit] Notable former teaching staff
- Bairbre de Brún, Sinn Féin MEP[3]
- Davy Hyland, Former Sinn Féin MLA[4]
[edit] References
- ^ "BLACK Mary Ethna". Who's Who in Australia Live!. (2006-11-17). Ed. Suzannah Pearce. North Melbourne, Vic: Crown Content Pty Ltd. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
- ^ Ian Pearson, Futurologist
- ^ BBC NEWS | Northern Ireland | SF candidate: Bairbre de Brun
- ^ Northern Ireland Assembly - Biography - Davy Hyland
