The Royal School, Armagh


The Royal School, Armagh is a co-educational voluntary grammar school, founded in the 17th century, in the city of Armagh in Northern Ireland. It has a boarding department with an international intake and is similar to the former English public schools of the Direct grant grammar school type. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

History

One of a number of free schools created by King James I of England & Ireland, James VI of Scotland in 1608, the school was to educate the sons of local Protestant merchants and farmers during the plantation of Ulster. It has four "sister" schools: Royal School Dungannon, in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Portora Royal School in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, the in Cavan, County Cavan, and the in Raphoe, County Donegal. In November 2013 the school was placed 78th in 'The Sunday Times Top 200 UK Schools Guide' for results at A level and GCSE combined. In May 2014, an inspection by the Education and Training Inspectorate found the leadership and management of the school to be 'outstanding'.
Originally intended to be sited at Mountnorris, South Armagh, the turbulent situation in Ulster at the time led to a move to the relative safety of Armagh city. Despite this, an early headmaster of the school, John Starkey, and his family, were drowned by insurgents during the 1641 Rebellion. The school arrived at its current site on College Hill in the 1770s. A boys' school from its inception, the Royal School was amalgamated with Armagh Girls' High School in 1986 to become co-educational.
Each pupil is assigned to a house – Darcy, Rokeby, Beresford or Armstrong – which are named after former Church of Ireland Archbishops. Successive Archbishops have chaired the Board of Governors for over four centuries. In 2008, the Royal School celebrated its quatercentenary along with the four other 1608 Royal Schools. To mark the occasion, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the school. A history of the 1608 Royal Schools was produced in the same year by former Headmaster, Mr Thomas Duncan.

Royal sport

A more productive outlet for the pupils' exuberance was found in rugby union and the school was the inaugural winner of the Ulster Schools Cup, beating Royal Belfast Academical Institution after three replays. They won it again the next year and continued to dominate the early years of the competition, winning it seven times in the first ten years. Fortunes waned after this, with only three finals contested between the victories in 1885 and 1977, none of which was won by the Royal. However, this lack of success is mitigated by the fact that the school did not compete in the competition for around fifty years following the death of a pupil during a match in 1928.
The Royal last won the Schools Cup in 2004, beating Campbell College in the final. John McCall, the captain of that team, died 10 days after the final while playing for the Ireland U19 rugby team in the IRB U19 World Championship in South Africa. John had been told of his selection for this team on the day of the Schools Cup final. A few months later, a second member of the squad, Todd Graham, was killed in a road accident while visiting his parents at their home in Zambia. These tragedies brought perspective to what had been an otherwise successful year, with the Royal becoming the first school since Methodist College Belfast in 1936 – and only the second school ever – simultaneously to hold the schools cups for rugby and girls' hockey. The cricket 1st XI were beaten semi-finalists in their equivalent competition. The girls' hockey team won the Kate Russell all-Ireland hockey trophy on the day that John McCall died.
The girls' hockey team won the Schools Cup in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010, and were beaten finalists in 2005. Also obtaining the title of the best youth hockey team in Europe in 2008. In 2004/2005, The school was described in the Irish Times as the "girls hockey school of the decade". Amy Stewart became the youngest ever full Irish International whilst still a pupil at the school in her fifth year. Hannah Bowe, sister of Ulster and Ireland rugby player, Tommy Bowe, who also attended the school, was also called up to the Irish squad. Alex Speares, captains the Irish ladies hockey team.

Alumni

The Old Armachians is a social organisation consisting of former pupils of the Royal School. Although at one time the Royal educated politicians and novelists, its most recent exports have been rugby players.