St. Ronan's College Time Lapse

St Ronan’s College began its journey in 2015, created by the amalgamation of St Mary’s High School, St Paul’s Junior High School and St Michael’s Grammar to form a single 11–18 co-educational college serving Lurgan. From the outset the vision was for a consolidated modern campus to replace the three inherited sites, with capacity for around 1,750–1,800 pupils on a substantial plot at Cornakinnegar Road. Early planning and design work set out a large, campus-style building with specialist learning spaces and extensive sports provision, laying the foundations for a landmark education project for the town.

In May 2023 the Department of Education formally marked the start of construction with a sod-cutting ceremony and confirmed a £56 million investment—the largest single school build in its major capital programme—targeting completion in 2025. The new campus, on a 36-acre site, moved rapidly from groundworks to superstructure through 2023–24, as regular public updates charted the build’s momentum.

By 2024–25, drone fly-throughs and school updates showed interiors, landscaping and finishing works taking shape, and by late summer 2025 the college prepared to open the completed campus for the new school year. Community notices and local reporting focused on final operational details—like traffic and transport—typical of a major move-in to a new site. With doors opening in September 2025, St Ronan’s realised its decade-long ambition: uniting the college on a single, purpose-built campus designed for modern teaching and community use.