St Patrick's College, Strathfield

St. Patrick's is a Catholic school for boys from Years 5 to 12. It began with an enrolment of 39 boys and today offers a quality education for more than 1400 boys and young men, ordinarily aged from 10 to 18. The College is an Edmund Rice school. Edmund Rice was a wealthy businessman, husband, father and widower who founded, in Ireland in the early 1800’s, a religious order within the Catholic Church called the Christian Brothers. Edmund sought to care for and educate poor boys. His first school for needy boys was established in Waterford, Ireland in 1802. The College is an inheritor of the charism of Edmund Rice and the Christian Brothers. Hence education in religion and faith formation have privileged places. The College consistently proclaims a belief in a loving, creating God perfectly revealed in the life and values of Jesus Christ. The values are realised in the recognition of the unique worth of each person. They may differ from those espoused by a secular society. The College seeks to educate men who are socially critical and spiritually aware, and who stand with the poor with empathy, compassion and empowerment.