SJBC Prize Giving -The Class of 2024/ 2025 🎉

St John the Baptist’s College proudly hosted its Annual Prize-giving Ceremony, honouring the achievements of the Class of 2024/2025. The event celebrated academic excellence, leadership, creativity, sportsmanship and the remarkable resilience shown by students throughout their journey in SJBC. In her opening address, Principal Mrs Noella Murray commended students for their “outstanding academic achievement as well as their hard work and perseverance” she commented that today was also about “celebrating the bright futures that lay ahead for each student.” The ceremony brought together students, parents, educators and distinguished guests, creating an inspiring atmosphere of recognition and pride.

Mrs Murray welcomed First Minister Michelle O’Neill as guest speaker and paid tribute to her as “an inspirational leader who has broken many barriers and made history as the first nationalist First Minister. Her journey is a reminder to our pupils that, no dream is too big, and that with courage, hard work and resilience, they too can shape the future.” Mrs Murray spoke about how proud staff and governors are of the outstanding GCSE results, with 100% of pupils achieving a minimum of 5A*-C grades and 98.9% of pupils achieving a minimum of 7A*-C grades. She commended past pupils on how they have consistently maintained a very high standard of academic excellence and remarked on the fact that the college remains oversubscribed and has been recognised by a range of prestigious national awards this year. In her closing comments Mrs Murray advised “As you move forward in your lives, I encourage you to be brave, be yourself and never be afraid to walk your own path. Be a positive influence and nurture your faith. Remember, it’s okay not to have everything figured out – life is a journey, not a race”. A sincere thank you to the First Minister, dignitaries, governors, parents, pupils and community members who took time to join us today at this very special event.

⛷📍⛷Important Ski Trip Information ⛷📍⛷

St John the Baptists Embraces School of Sanctuary Status

We are absolutely delighted that St. John the Baptist’s College has been officially awarded the prestigious School of Sanctuary status, in recognition of our commitment to creating a safe, welcoming, and inclusive environment for all pupils in our school. This award is a tremendous honour for our whole school community and reflects something we have always believed in: that schools are places where kindness leads the way and every child feels that they truly matter.

Being named a School of Sanctuary recognises our whole school approach to inclusion: one that promotes kindness, empathy, and understanding in every aspect of school life. From classroom teaching to pastoral care, cultural celebrations to pupil voice, we strive to create a positive and nurturing environment for every child, every day.

Winners ⭐Pastoral School of the Year

St John the Baptists College have just won Pastoral School of the Year UK at the National Awards for Pastoral Care in education! We are overwhelmed to have been announced the winner of this award. So proud of our whole school family On Friday our Principal Mrs Murray along with her colleagues Mrs McCabe, Mrs Rodgers and Mrs Swain travelled over to Birmingham for this prestigious event. The school was delighted to be short listed but to come away as winners was amazing. As many know, SJBC has come a long way — and over the past few months, the awards just keep coming! Our school is thriving, and these achievements are a true reflection of the hard work and dedication of our incredible staff and students. We wouldn’t be where we are today without the continued support of our amazing community.

Welcome

A Chairde,

It gives me immense pleasure to introduce myself as the Principal of St John the Baptist’s College (SJBC). We are now entering our eigth year having officially launched as a new co-educational all-ability school on 1^st September 2017. I feel incredibly proud and privileged to be leading such a highly talented and dedicated team of staff who are fully committed to ensuring that “every child is valued, nurtured and empowered to excel”.

St John the Baptist’s College was launched initially as a Key Stage 3 model but as a rapidly growing and very successful school, SJBC was re-designated as an 11-16 school in April 2021. This changed status enables our pupils to remain with us through to the end of their GCSE journey and as the school continues to thrive it is our intention to achieve 11-18 status which would see our pupils studying A Levels within the college also.

Our school is located in the heart of the Portadown community but welcomes students from an array of neighbouring towns and villages. We strongly value our close links with a growing partnership of feeder primary schools with whom we liaise very closely to plan for a seamless transition from primary to post-primary as well as sharing expertise, resources between our local schools for the benefit of all.

We also work in close collaboration with our parents, key external agencies, the parish, schools within CALC (including our Shared Education partner schools) as well as with local businesses, ensuring that together we can build a bright future for the young people of this area.

In SJBC, we are committed to ensuring that each child receives a high-quality education and that they are given every opportunity to achieve their full academic potential. Our first set of GCSE results exceeded all expectations and our pupils scored well above national averages across all areas. Moreover, we value each child as an individual with diverse talents and interests, and our unique nurturing and inclusive ethos ensures that all students have the opportunity to develop at their own pace and follow tailor-made pathways.

Our smaller class sizes enable us to offer more individualised support including a focus on stretch and challenge in all subject areas. We promote a growth mind-set and central to our ethos is a sense of “no labels and no limitations”. We pride ourselves on the delivery of quality care and welfare and this is rooted in the close and trusting relationships which we have with our students and their families. We offer our students a rich and varied range of extra-curricular experiences and opportunities which support their physical, emotional, social, and spiritual development.

Over our first five years we have received a raft of prestigious curricular and pastoral awards/accolades which recognise the high-quality teaching and the caring, inclusive ethos which pervades all aspects of life in the college. In addition, we have won 2 ICT Excellence Awards, and we are one of only four schools in the North of Ireland who have been awarded Digital Schoolhouse Status. SJBC was recently appointed as the first Google Reference school in Ireland. As a very environmentally conscious or eco-active school and we have now achieved five green flags and we have won a host of competitions in this area.

We believe that all young people should develop not just within the confines of the classroom but that they should be afforded as many opportunities as possible to develop strong Christian values, resilience, leadership potential and self-belief. Many of these attributes and qualities are nurtured through our extensive enriched provision.

I hope that you enjoy browsing our website which will only provide you with a snapshot of life in SJBC!

Beirigí bua

Mrs N Murray (BA Hons, PGCE, PQH NI, MSC)

Principal

SJBC Careers Fair 2025

At SJBC, we were proud to host our Careers Fair, welcoming a wide range of businesses who generously gave their time to support our students. The event provided an invaluable learning experience, offering insights into future career opportunities and pathways. We extend our sincere thanks to all who contributed to making the day such a success. Some of the fantastic staff that took the time from their busy schedules to engage with our students are :

💛Cafre 💙DfE

💛Kingspan 💙Cowen

💛Oakleaf 💙Into Film

💛AECOM 💙Terex

💛Almac 💙Mackle

💛SRC

💛Dawson Manufacturing & Engineering

SJBC Presents Wizard of OZ

Follow the Yellow Brick Road to SJBC!!

We are delighted to announce that our school show The Wizard of Oz takes the stage on Wednesday 22nd & Thursday 23rd October.

Tickets are on sale now - don't miss out on this magical journey! Grab yours now through the link below! https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/st-john-the-baptists-college