Royal School Dungannon
Royal School Dungannon
Voluntary Boarding Grammar School
Latin: Perseverando
(by persevering)
1614
David Burnett
50
11 to 18
650 (10,000 alumni)
- Beresford Charlemont
- Bullingbrook Tyrone
- Mountjoy Ranfurly
- Nicholson Dungannon
Chocolate and Magenta
The Royal School is a mixed boarding school located in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It was one of a number of 'free schools' created by James I (otherwise known as James VI of Scotland) in 1608 to provide an education to the sons of local merchants and farmers during the plantation of Ulster. Originally set up in Mountjoy near Lough Neagh in 1614, it moved to its present location in 1636. It was founded as a boys school but became coed in 1986 when the school amalgamated with the Dungannon High School for Girls. It has four 'sister' schools, The Royal School, Armagh in Armagh, County Armagh, The Enniskillen Royal Grammar School in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, The Royal School Cavan in County Cavan, and the Royal and Prior School in Raphoe, County Donegal. The original intention had been to have a "Royal School" in each of Ireland's counties (James I Order in Council read, "that there shall be one Free School at least appointed in every County, for the education of youth in learning and religion.") but only five were actually established, the schools planned for other counties never coming into being.
Royal School for Girls[edit]
The Royal School for Girls was founded in 1889 and was known as the "Girls' Department" (until at least 1908) housed in the Robinson (North) wing of the Royal School between 1892 and 1926. This school became Dungannon High School for Girls in a self-contained campus adjoining Royal School lands on Ranfurly Road. In 1986 the high school was re-merged with the Royal School. The last headmistress of the high School was Margaret E Macbeth who became a vice principal in the amalgamated school. Macbeth retired in 1994.
The Royal and High School sites were joined with a covered walkway at the time of amalgamation and the high school building remained in use until 2003. Following the building of new classrooms that were sited closer to the original boys' school, the majority of the high school was demolished and redeveloped as sporting facilities.
Dilworth Scholarship[edit]
James Dilworth, a former pupil of the school, left money in his will to found Dilworth School, Auckland, New Zealand in 1906. Since the 1990s links between the two schools have been cemented, with annual exchanges of students. Four upper-sixth-formers from the Royal School, two boys and two girls, currently spend a gap year as staff members of Dilworth School before starting university. In return, three boys leaving Dilworth join RSD staff as GAP tutors. On 7 October 2014 the Ulster History Circle unveiled a blue plaque in his memory on the main building, the "Old Grey Mother"; the joint unveilers were the headmasters of the Royal School and the Dilworth School. 30 pupils from Dilworth attended.
Motto and colours[edit]
The Royal School Dungannon's motto is 'Perseverando', Latin for 'by persevering'. It is sometimes interpreted as 'never say die' however their strapline, 'Excellence Through Perseverance', reflects the original translation more closely.
The school motto was only introduced in 1986, when the Royal School Dungannon merged with the Girls' High School, adopting their motto as its own. Previous to this RSD did not have any form of motto.[1]
The school colours, chocolate and magenta ( ), were adopted in 1870. They are shared by two other UK schools: Fettes College in Edinburgh and the rugby colours of Bradford Grammar School.
Sports[edit]
Having sporting facilities such as three rugby pitches, two hockey pitches (one a new-generation, floodlit astroturf pitch) indoor and outdoor cricket facilities, a sports hall with treadmills and other equipment for personal and team training, the school sports are rugby and hockey in winter, and athletics and cricket are played competitively along with shooting. Tennis, swimming, table-tennis, golf, horse riding, cross-county, and netball are also available throughout the year. Many of the facilities are shared by the wider community such as primary schools, youth organisations, soccer, hockey and gaelic clubs.
The Old Grey Mother[edit]
'The Old Grey Mother' is an affectionate name for the school, referring to the older part of the current building, which is both old (1789) and grey, as the original sandstone was first cement rendered to prevent water ingress which then became stained over the 19th century by the local industrial chimneys' smoke emissions. The Former Pupils' Association occasionally use this name in correspondence to members. The term "Old Grey Mother" was first used when the original sandstone front of the headmaster's house was covered with a cement rendering which discoloured badly (due to industrial chimney discharges) until cleaned in the 1980s.
A house system exists to facilitate healthy sporting and academic competition. All students are assigned a house upon enrolling – where possible this is the same house as assigned to a previous relative at the school.
The current houses are named below. The names in brackets indicate the full name of each house given when the amalgamation with Dungannon High School for Girls in 1986 incorporated the high school's own house system. 1986 names follow the original, historic Royal School names.
The names of houses refer to notable past headmasters, alumni or local geography.