Founded in 1891
St. Patrick’s Academy was, for its first three years, a boys’ school. From September 1894, the Sisters of Mercy undertook the teaching of students in preparation for the Intermediate board’s examination. The Girls’ Academy was based in a single room in the newly-built Mercy Convent on Northland Row.
Killyman Road
September 1901
Both schools moved to new premises on Killyman Road in September 1901; the Academy building was to be the home of the school for the next seventy years. The Boys’ Academy was always led by the clergymen appointed by the Tyrone Roman Catholic Board of Education, while the Girls’ Academy was led by a senior member of the Sisters of Mercy.
Killymeal Road
In 1975
The Academy eventually outgrew its home on the Killyman Road. In 1975, the two schools moved to a new building on the Killymeal Road. Although housed in the same building, the Boys’ Academy and Girls’ Academy were two distinct and separate institutions. The phenomenal growth in the student numbers and need to provide the very best educational provision has resulted in the formal amalgamation of the Boys’ and Girls’ Academies with effect from 2003.
The Academy moved to a new building in September 2018, within the Killymeal Road site. The previous building was demolished to make way for an extensive re-development of the Academy’s sporting facilities.