St Patrick's College Cork: New facilities, new subjects, and every Leaving Cert student progressing to college
Students at St Patrick’s College Cork, which is co-educational across all junior cycle year groups for the first time this year.
Co-educational throughout the junior cycle, with a refurbished science laboratory, a wider subject choice and teams for boys and girls — the Cork northside school holds its open night on Monday 21st September.
For a small secondary school, the clearest measure of a year's work arrives in late August, with the Leaving Certificate results and the CAO offers.
Every student who sat the Leaving Certificate at St Patrick's College Cork last year has gone on to higher or further education. Most took up places at UCC and MTU, with the largest group moving into science, health and engineering courses — speech and language therapy at UCC among them, along with biomedical science, pharmaceutical science, nursing and pre-paramedic studies. Others went on to psychology, social care, business and music.
Families visiting this month will find a school that has changed considerably. Every junior cycle year group — first, second and third year — is now fully co-educational, and the school will be co-educational throughout from 2029/30. Applications for First Year in September 2027 are open to girls and boys.
The school's biggest investment this year has gone into science. Over the summer St Patrick's completed a full refurbishment of its science laboratory under the Department of Education's Climate Action and Summer Works Scheme, with new benching and services, new boards and display screens, and considerably better light and ventilation. Twelve classrooms were also fitted with new data cabling and electrical upgrades, work that underpins the school's one-to-one Chromebook programme.
“When a student tells us in Transition Year that they want to study biomedical science, we can offer them a state-of-the-art science lab and excellent teachers,” said Principal Brian Cronin.
The curriculum has widened alongside the facilities. Students now choose from six optional subjects — Art, Applied Technology, Music, Home Economics, Graphics and Business — with Music added this year and a new music department established for 2026/27. The school offers Junior Cycle, Transition Year, the Leaving Certificate and the Leaving Certificate Applied, with an average class size of 18.
Sport has expanded on the same timeline. The school fields basketball and soccer teams for both boys and girls, with the girls' basketball squad playing its fixtures at Neptune Stadium. There are Gaelic football and hurling teams for boys, camogie for girls, and indoor rowing open to all students.
Parents are not asked to buy expensive digital devices. Every student has a Chromebook and an account on the school's Google Workspace education domain, provided under a rental model operated by the school rather than purchased by families. Personal phones are stored in phone-away boxes for the school day. Textbooks and exam papers are provided free under the Schoolbooks Scheme, and the canteen serves a free hot breakfast and lunch to every student, every day.
The school also operates An Cuan, its special class provision for autistic students, staffed by the Special Classes Co-ordinator, two lead teachers, learning support teachers and a committed team of SNAs.
St Patrick's College is an inclusive Catholic school under the patronage of the Bishop of Cork and Ross, Dr Fintan Gavin, and places a strong emphasis on its values of dignity, respect, kindness, trust and co-operation. More than 90% of students report that they feel safe and cared for in the school, and a Department of Education inspection found the quality of support and care to be very good and teacher-student relationships very positive.
“We are a small school and that is deliberate,” said Mr Cronin. “Parents want a school where their child is known by name and where the expectations are clear. What has changed is that we can now back that up with the facilities and the subject choice to match.”
Families are invited to the open night on Monday 21st September, from 6pm to 8pm, with the Principal's address at 7pm. Application forms and full enrolment information are available at
- St Patrick's College Cork,
- Gardiner's Hill, Cork,
- T23 HX04.
- Phone 021-4503055
- email: office@stpatrickscork.org
