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SACRED Heart College was formed in 2000 following the amalgamation of St Patrick’s High School and St Brigid’s High School, two schools that had educated generations of young people from Omagh and the surrounding rural areas.
St Patrick’s opened in 1959, with St Brigid’s following in 1961, both established after major local fundraising efforts to provide post-primary education close to home.
Over the following four decades, thousands of pupils passed through their doors, with families often having siblings, parents and grandparents educated in the same schools.
The creation of Sacred Heart College brought together the boys of St Patrick’s and the girls of St Brigid’s into a single co-educational school.
For those pupils who experienced the changeover, it meant new classmates, new routines and a different way of learning, but much of the ethos and community spirit of both schools carried through into the new college.
In the 25 years since, Sacred Heart College has educated a new generation of pupils, many of them the children of former St Patrick’s and St Brigid’s students.
The school expanded its curriculum, developed post-16 provision and built a strong reputation in pastoral care, academic performance and extra-curricular activities.
As it marks its silver anniversary, Sacred Heart College is also looking ahead to another major change.
It is one of six schools preparing to move to the new shared education campus in Omagh, which will see schools retain their individual identities while sharing facilities and resources.
From its roots in St Patrick’s and St Brigid’s to its future on a shared campus, Sacred Heart College certainly reflects the changing face of education in Omagh.
