Abbey's Historic Day

©Abbey Grammar School, Newry

The most high-tech school in Ireland opened its doors this week as the Abbey Grammar called for full assembly at its new Ashgrove location on Monday last.

The £18million modern education facility made a full roll call of its 870 pupils after completion of the new school building near the Belfast Road, Newry.

Principal of the Abbey Grammar Christian Brothers School (CBS) or Scoil na Mainstreach, Dermot McGovern spoke to the Newry Reporter on a day to remember for all people connected to the institution of the Abbey.

“This is a historic day in the annals of time for Abbey and those associated with our school, from the Edmund Rice School Trust (ERST) to the governors, and from the staff to all the pupils,” said Mr McGovern.

The Abbey Christian Brothers Grammar school has had a long history educating the young boys of Newry and Mourne and south Armagh for almost 160-years in various location in Newry. The changing times have now witnessed the movement of the school from a Christian Brother taught base to the modern day lay educators.

“The Abbey has been in several locations around Newry from Chapel Street to Kilmorey Street, the Carstands at Margaret Street and the Mall, then on to Abbey Yard and Courtenay Hill, so the moving of the school is not exactly a new idea.

“The option to stay at Courtenay Hill with the prospect of refurbishing and developing the school was simply not a feasible option, the cost and effect did not measure up to moving to Ashgrove. “We would not have been able to generate the educational provisions necessary for the present or projected requirements of our students. With Ashgrove I feel that this has now been achieved. This has been a long awaited transition for the CBS it is something that both the teachers and students of the Abbey richly deserve, Ashgrove is an exceptional school and one which will benefit the community of south Down, south Armagh and Newry for a long time to come,” added the principal.

School Design

The successes of the school have been measured through the years in academia from GCSEs to A-level grades and in extra-curricular from drama to the Gaelic Hogan Cup, all of which are borne proudly in the Abbey’s history books. With the gleaming new school at Ashgrove it seems that there is yet more proud memories to come for the Abbey boys.

“There are many excellent new aspects to the school which will help to project the education of our pupils on both an academic and extra-curricular level.

“We are the only organisation throughout Ulster to have a full length floodlit 3G Gaelic pitch which will allow our Gaelic teams to practice and play at night for the first time at the school. Other sport facilities include two playing fields, a sports hall, a gym, two fitness suites and an assembly hall.

“The extent of our classroom capacity has allowed for every teacher at the school to be allocated their own individual room.

“There are specially designated rooms for art, drama and music which include high spec equipment such as recording studios.

“The spiritual element of the Abbey Grammar CBS is something that is of great importance to the ethos of the school and this is something that the design of the structure has also incorporated. We have adapted fixtures of the old Oratory from the Courtenay Hill Monastery at the old Abbey into a new Oratory which can be used as a secluded prayer room. All in all I can honestly say that there is no school in Northern Ireland better designed,” said Mr McGovern.

The architectural process of the Ashgrove school brought the minds of experience and foresight of the future from the staff at the Abbey at the blueprint process. The development of plans, from an early stage, allowed those with the responsibility of education the community’s young men in the making, to provide their own input.

“We as staff were able to generate positive meetings along with the Ashgrove architects to establish what we felt were required elements for each education and sports department. This incentive to have a two-way street between the designers and the teachers is ultimately something, which I feel has greatly benefited the new Abbey Grammar. From these discussions a central element to the structure of the school was developed. We based the structure on a three-tier system which brought the Oratory, the community room and the library in to the middle of the school in a way that all areas are connected to the three rooms,” he explained.

Future of the Abbey

The Christian Brothers after leaving Newry last year organised the Edmund Rice School Trust (ERST), which covers all nine Christian Brothers Schools in Northern Ireland. However, Scoil na Mainstreach remains closely tied with the Brothers, which is evident in the future objectives of the cradling new Abbey.

Minister for the Department of Education, Catriona Ruane spoke to the Newry Reporter on the Abbey’s historic development.

"I would like to offer my congratulations and best wishes to all the staff and pupils at the Abbey Grammar CBS on the move into their new school,” said Ms Ruane.

“This fine building will help the young people of the community to get the best from their education in high quality classrooms with the latest equipment available. I have no doubt the new school facilities will encourage more exciting educational growth at the Abbey,” added the minister. With the change of location for the red, black and amber boys comes the question of what to do with the former Courtenay Hill site which served the community for over 40 years.

“This is a decision that will be taken between the ERST and the Department of Education, however at this time there has been no conclusion,” said the school principal.

“Our pupil capacity will also be determined by the Department of Education so we will only be able to understand those needs in the future. Although the expansion of our numbers has been evident through out the history of the school. “At this time the Abbey is at the half way mark of raising the £1million needed to complete outstanding payments, and we have received many generous donations from people in the community, and we hope to reach our target as soon as possible. The school will now be hosting an open night at Ashgrove for past pupils and staff members to visit the new Abbey. The date will be set soon, so I would like to take the opportunity to welcome visitors to the open night," added Mr McGovern.

By Donal McMahon

© Abbey Grammar School