Portora is first co-ed grammar

Brian Donaldson • Published 1 Sep 2011 13:00 Comments 1 Comment

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Portora Royal School becomes the first co-educational grammar school in Fermanagh to-day(Thursday) when girls will be enrolled at sixth form.

More than a dozen girls are expected to attend classes this morning as part of a group of 18 new pupils transferring to Portora from other schools to continue their studies at sixth form. They will all have completed their GCSEs at their own respective schools across the county.

Earlier this year, Portora had signalled their intent to admit girls by publishing a development plan. The Board of Governors stated that given their curriculum development, fine examination outcomes and their commitment to support regular and rich extra-curricular activities, they had decided to extend opportunities to others outside the school.

"We have decided to cluster some of our creative subjects and offer access to them under different criteria from the traditional academic menu. If a student wishes to study a combination of academic - or general - subjects, for instance, the Sciences and Maths, Geography, History, Literature or MFL, then our existing entry requirements remain the same.

"If, on the other hand, a student would like to study a cluster of our creative and expressive subjects such as Art, Performing Arts, The Moving Image, iMedia and ICT with a specific career pathway in mind, then the entry criteria given priority will be evidence of commitment and success in these subjects. We would anticipate that these choices would be available to all young people who wish to study post-16 at Portora, regardless of gender," the Headmaster, Mr. Neill Morton said earlier this year.

The school then began a consultation process within the community in advance of submitting a development proposal to the WELB and DENI for Portora to become co-educational, initially at post-16.

This week, Mr. Morton reported strong interest in their plan with around 14 girls expected to follow studies in a variety of mostly academic subjects.

He said that the relatively new subject of accounting was proving popular among the new pupils at advanced level and a number of the new pupils liked the idea of being at a co-educational grammar school.

In order to accept this latest intake, Portora has had to make some slight changes to the school buildings such as refurbishing toilets and changing facilities to accommodate girls. The Sixth Form Study Area has also been changed around.

One of the girls transferring to Portora to-day (Thursday) will be Dineka Maguire from Roscor, near Belleek. She has just completed her GCSE examinations at St. Mary's College, Brollagh and is excited about the prospect of continuing her A levels at Portora.

With sound GCSE results behind her, Dineka is looking forward to studying biology, chemistry, maths and art .

"I'd like to do something in forensic science," said Dineka, as she tried on her new uniform at S. D. Kells in Enniskillen this week.

When at Portora, Dineka, expects to give rowing a go. She has just returned from winning the ladies and junior sections in the World Bog Snorkelling Championships in Wales last weekend and says she would enjoy water based activities such as rowing at this stage in her school career.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 01 Sep 11

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BIgRed74
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Sep 2, 08:02
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Well done Portora; good luck girls you'll bring something new to the school. Exciting times ahead!

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