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.