Regent House Grammar School

Regent House School

Headmaster	Dr T. McCavery
School type	Voluntary Grammar
School Board	SEELB
Location	Newtownards, Northern Ireland
Enrollment	1444 students
School colour(s)	Black & Red, Green & Red

Regent House Grammar School is a co-ed voluntary grammar school situated in Newtownards, County Down, Northern Ireland. It comprises two parts: the preparatory department, known as "the Prep" and the main school itself. It has around 1,500 pupils from ages 4 to 18.

The school is known for its sporting achievements especially in rugby and athletics and its music department, including the senior choir which often performs in high profile venues.

The school is divided into 4 houses: Castlereagh, Strangford, Scrabo and Clandeboye. Regular inter-house competitions are held.

School building

The final phase of the school's building work has recently completed, concluding the six year renovations. The school buildings are among the most extensive in Northern Ireland and feature a specialised Technology department with 3 workshops, state of the art Music department with performance hall and recording studio, a dozen modern science labs, a completely refurbished library and languages block, drama studio, new staff room, "B" block containing new English and Maths departments, sports facilities including gym with full range of modern equipment and a new canteen and sixth form centre.

Sport

Regent has won the Ulster Schools Cup and Medallion Shield. Rugby union continues to be a popular sport in the school, alongside hockey and athletics. Regent could be considered perennial underachievers in Ulster Schools' Rugby seeing as they have one of the biggest pupil populations in the province and fantastic sporting facilities however only once a rugby culture develops in the school will they ever go from underachievers to provinical power.

Regent House have appeared in 3 Schools' Cup Finals; he first in 1977, where they lost out to Royal School Armagh 12-9. Future Irish International Phillip Matthews and current Irish Skills Coach Brian McLaughlin played in the game however future British Lion Nigel Carr missed the occasion due to injury.

Regent would next reach the final in 1994 where they defeated Wallace HS 8-3 in what has proved to be their only outright victory. Two years later, Regent shared the Schools Cup with Methodist College following a 9-9 draw.

They had a promising 1st XV in the 06/07 campaign, but fell short in the 4th round.Regent reached only their fourth School's Cup Final in 2008. The team started with a 17-0 home victory against Carrickfergus Grammar. This was followed by a very tense 10-6 victory away to Coleraine AI. Having already caused one upset in the Cup, they defeated RS Armagh 13-7 at "The Beach". Regent reached the final following a 17-8 victory against Ballyclare High at Ravenhill, with tries from Neil Armstrong, Jeff Anderson and Paul Henderson and a conversion from Armstrong proving vital. Regent can now look forward to St. Patricks Day where they will face Methodist College, Belfast.

The athletics team is one of the best in the country regularly producing Ulster and Irish Schools Champions. The school has produced a long list of international athletes at junior level with many also going on to gain senior international honours.

The cricket team reached the final of the 2006 Ulster Bank Schools Cup, only to disappointingly lose to RBAI by 10 wickets. The team contained many talented players who have a bright future in the game. However, in the shorter McCullough Cup, the 1st X1 recorded an incredible one wicket victory against the same opponents in the semi final, with a four being struck off the very last ball. They duly didn't disappoint in the final, bowling Ballyclare out for 34 and winning by six wickets.

Music

The School's Choir is well known as being one of the better school music groups in Northern Ireland. The School Choir has won the Bangor International Choral festival and in 2005 performed in the Waterfront hall with Amici Forever in a concert to raise money for Action Cancer.

Air Training Corps

Regent also boast an Air Cadet squadron, 2241 sqn, a school squadron. The squadron was created out of an army cadet unit after the Second World War by Mr. Duff, a teacher and the squadron's first Commanding Officer.

There are a number of opportunities on offer from the squadron including Gliding/flying training. The Squadron is well located as Newtownards Airfield is nearby, this is the home of 664 VGS.

2006 saw the creation of the squadrons first marksman team, the only other Air cadet marksman team being in Belfast Royal Academy. Practicing both small-bore .22 Target rifle and full-bore 7.62 Target rifle at Ballykinler Training Camp (Army) and competing at H.M. Pirbright as well as Bisley Camp in Surrey.

2241(R.H.S) Squadron has a very successful record of sporting achievements in Hockey, Cross country and Rugby.

There are a number of RAF camp opportunities throughout the year, Autumn camp, Easter camp as well as Summer camp, held at RAF bases around the U.K. Additional opportunities include Cyprus, Gibraltar and Germany camps as well as the International Air Cadet Exchange (IACE).

Notable alumni

*Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Blair 'Paddy' Mayne DSO & 3 Bars, founder member of the Special Air Service.
*Eddie Irvine, Formula 1 racing driver
*Jim Allister, Unionist politician and MEP for Northern Ireland
*Colin Murray, Radio 1 DJ
*Ottilie Patterson, Blues singer

External links

* [http://www.regenthouse.org.uk/portal.aspx School Web Site]