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New Row Primary School, Castledawson
 

Introduction & background

Many Catholic schools and organisations have a dedicated saint or religious group to represent them.

New Row has always been known as a Catholic school. Over the years there have been suggestions that we follow the path of other Catholic schools by adopting a saint.

To explore if this was something our school community would be interested in considering, we began a consultation process - starting with the children early in 2022.

This progressed to a wider consultation in March 2022, considering the views of the school community - and beyond.

As a result, and in consultation with the governors and parish, it was agreed that New Row would adopt a saint. Based on further consultation with pupils and their families, St Patrick was adopted as our school saint.

Comments from this consultation included:

  • I think Saint Patrick’s is a good choice as a lot of parents from the area will remember the old hall there before the chapel and many will have frequented the youth club as well. 
  • Saint Patrick seems appropriate given the proximity, and the school links, to the chapel.
  • Beautiful the children are deciding
  • A good process of selecting the Saint and great for pupil voice. I’m a fan of the name Saint Patrick personally.
  • With a chosen saint we will be in great hands.

The next stage was to incorporate St Patrick into our lives. Although the crest was special to us, there was an opportunity to include a reference to St Patrick in it. This was also an opportunity to revisit the symbols, including more consultation with pupils, families and the school community.

The chosen symbols were designed into a crest representing St Patrick, Castledawson, talents and achievements.

It was a natural progression considering the discussions and consultations that there was an interest in including St Patrick in the name of the school.

We have always been New Row and will always continue to be New Row. However, now we have an adopted saint it is timely to consider whether we want to add St Patrick to our school name.

When the School Council talked about the possibility of adding Saint Patrick to our school name the following points came up through discussion:

  • "At the minute people do not really know we have adopted Saint Patrick. Having it added to our name would make it more meaningful."
  • "New Row should be at the beginning, Saint Patrick should be added on."
  • "If Saint Patrick was at the beginning of our school name it would be like our school belonged to Saint Patrick but we have adopted Saint Patrick."
  • "The name New Row P.S has lots of memories and reminds us of the past."
  • "Saint Patrick should be an addition."

For this reason, the school council in conjunction with the governors are proposing that our school be know as New Row Saint Patrick’s PS.

We invite your comments by clicking on the consultation link.

NRPS Adopt St Patrick: Our journey

Adopting Saint Patrick Proposal March 2023
23rd Mar 2023
 
 
Adopting St Patrick update February 2023
27th Feb 2023
 
 
School Council Update March 2022
15th Mar 2022
 
 
Archive

Our new school crest 2023

After much consultation with pupils, staff, parents, governors and the commuinity our crest has now been finalised and will appear on uniforms from September. We are so proud of the School Council and everyone for their commitment, dedication and enthusiasm during this project.

This crest means so much to us as a school, as it has been designed and approved by the whole school family. It reminds us of the symbols that reperesent us now, and will continue to represent us right into the future- Castledawson, our many talents, the importance of striving for achievement and Saint Patrick our adopted Saint. 

The crest also includes our proposed school name 'New Row Saint Patrick's Primary School.' 

Again we wish to thank all of you for the important part you have played in this and we hope you love our new crest as much as we do!

 

 

Proposed school name- 'New Row Saint Patrick's Primary School.'

The School Council are delighted with the responses collected from consultation on their proposal to name our school 'New Row Saint Patrick's Primary School.' The proposed name was shared with all stakeholders- pupils, staff, parents and governors and the community and 100% all those who gave feedback were in favour of adopting Saint Patrick into the name of the school.

Interestingly, several also suggested that Saint Patrick would be at the start of the school name. However, this was not the original proposal as put forward by the children. It continues to so be so important to us that New Row remains at the beginning of the school name and in the heart of our school crest. This reversal may be something future generations might consider, ever mindful that our school has always had a very strong connection to New Row.

Some of the responses during consultation included:

  • A very appropriate addition to New Row!
  • I have always thought our school should have a saint's name. Saint Patrick is very appropriate given our connection to the former St. Patrick's Hall and all those memories there. And now we have St Patrick's Chapel in its place, which New Row is very much associated with.
  • The children have worked hard in this process and the children are excited on what is to come with the new name in the school.
  • I think this would be a very positive change to allow the name of the School's adopted Saint to be included in the name of the school

'New Row Saint Patrick's Primary School' has now been sent to Archbishop of Armagh Eamonn Martin for ratification.

When the new school name is ratified we look forward to marking the rededication in a very special way, with the whole school family.

Adopting St Patrick Consultation