ABOUT OUR school
History
Down High School occupies an historic setting. It is built on one of the four distinctive hills in Downpatrick, on the site of the 19th century County Gaol, overlooking the nearby ruins of Inch Abbey and the ancient earthwork, the Mound of Down. The walls surrounding the school are part of the original boundary walls of the gaol. These and the 1833 Gatelodge are listed buildings.
Originally there were two schools joined on the same site – a Grammar School and a Technical School. The site is now fully occupied by the Grammar School and its Preparatory Department. Opened in 1933 the school soon acquired and maintained a strong reputation for both academic excellence and a warm and friendly atmosphere.
The School Crest
Motto: Floreat Dunum – Absque Labore Nihil
May Down Flourish – nothing achieved without effort.
The crest, designed by the late R W H Blackwood (a genealogist and antiquarian) of Loughinisland near Downpatrick, is a reminder of another link with the past, dating back to the 12th Century. The design itself is based upon the supposed badge of John de Courcy, the Norman knight who captured Downpatrick in 1177 and established himself as ruler of North East Ulster.
The colours of the crest are taken from the arms of Lady Elizabeth Cromwell (1674-1709), daughter of Vere Essex Cromwell, 4th and last Earl of Ardglass, owner of the Downpatrick estate, and wife of the Rt Hon Edward Southwell of King’s Weston, Gloucestershire, MP for Kinsale and Principal Secretary of State for Ireland – a well known benefactor of the town.
Following a long period of campaigning by, among others, the indefatigable town commissioner and Cathedral organist Mr AJH Coulter, Down High School opened the gates to its inaugural ninety-six pupils in September 1933. Work on the conversion of the gaol site from one of penal servitude to a condition better associated with the education of the young had been ongoing since 1931, and as the first students assembled, construction work was still being completed. The new Headmaster, Mr Wilson Bell, was in post for five years and under his stewardship, the school population more than doubled. His successor, Mr Arthur Fowweather, came to the school with a strong record as Principal of Ballyclare High School and presided over Down High for a remarkable twenty-seven years, during which time he even managed to serve in the Second World War. Mr Fowweather’s successor was Mr James Buckley, an experienced teacher and historian and the school continued to grow and prosper. He retired in 1984 and was replaced by Dr James Barton who had spent a considerable period of time in India before returning to Northern Ireland. He returned to the subcontinent in 1989 paving the way for Mr Jack Ferris to be appointed as Principal. A former Housemaster at Campbell College, Mr Ferris made an immediate impression on a school threatened with the dilution of its grammar school status and consequently, falling numbers. His efforts produced a remarkable period of growth in the school population and Down High School established itself as one of Northern Ireland’s foremost grammar schools, producing excellent academic results on an annual basis. After his retirement in 2006 Mr Paul Logan was appointed as the school’s new Headteacher. Like his predecessor, Mr Logan joined the school from Campbell College, where he had served as a Vice-Principal. Among his priorities have been meeting the challenges of the Revised Northern Ireland Curriculum and improving the state of the school site.
