Salesian College Celbridge
Salesian College Celbridge An Coláiste Sailéaiseach, Cill Droichid | |||||||||||||
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Location | |||||||||||||
Moortown, Celbridge, County Kildare Republic of Ireland | |||||||||||||
Coordinates | 53°21′29″N 6°33′07″W / 53.358°N 6.552°WCoordinates: 53°21′29″N 6°33′07″W / 53.358°N 6.552°W | ||||||||||||
Information | |||||||||||||
Motto | We care, develop, believe — together we achieve | ||||||||||||
Religious affiliation(s) | Roman Catholic | ||||||||||||
Established | August 1981 | ||||||||||||
Principal | Brenda Kearns | ||||||||||||
Staff | 60 teachers | ||||||||||||
Number of students | 700 | ||||||||||||
Hours in school day |
7 hours 6 hours 20 mins | ||||||||||||
Campus size | 8 ha (20 ac) | ||||||||||||
Campus type | Rural | ||||||||||||
Colour(s) |
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Website |
salesianscelbridge |
Salesian College Celbridge is a secondary school catering for female students aged 12–19 around the County Kildare village of Celbridge.
Academic
Salesians offers Junior Certificate, Transition Year, and Leaving Certificate courses, as well as a unit for autistic youths. The school caters for all abilities and classes have been mixed since 2004.
Sport
Salesians is well known for success in a wide variety of sports, including soccer, athletics, hurling, Rugby, badminton and Gaelic football. The annual Road Race, held each October, is a 4.2 km (2.6 mi) road race participated in by around 450 students. The Fr. Archer Cup, named after the late Fr. Charles Archer, a former teacher, is awarded to the winner.
Salesians won the U14 All-Ireland Soccer Final in 2006.The Salesians' senior soccer team advanced to the Senior Soccer All-Ireland final in 2008 in Buckley's Park in Kilkenny, but ultimately lost 2–1 to CBS of Sexton Street in Limerick. They reached the final again in 2010 when they lost to St. Marys, Galway, in the last minute of extra time. The score was 2–1. The Salesian Senior football team reached the All-Ireland "B" semi finally in 2010. They lost to Clonmel in Éire Óg in Carlow by 2 points. The U16 football team reached the Leinster "B" Final against Moath CBS, where they lost by 2 goals the same year.
There is a Sports Day ran annually in the school, and is normally run during the month of May.
Staff
The school is no longer run by priests of the Salesian order. The Principal is Brenda Kearns who took up the position on 17 August 2009 succeeding Fr. Dan Carroll, and the Deputy Principal is Kevin Malone. There are over 60 teachers in the school in total.
Each year in the school is given a 'Year Head' who is responsible for that year. It varies from year to year but the 'Year Head' of Transition Year is permanent.
Each year in the school is divided into Form Classes each form class is given a 'Form Teacher' who is responsible for that form class. Every form class in the school is given a name e.g.: Bosco, Dominic, Patrick, Colm-Kevin and Savio. There are roughly about 30 students in every class. But there are only two form classes in Transition Year, and they are called TY 1 and TY 2 with 24 students in them.
Resource
Chairperson: Mark Ryan
Deputy Chairperson: Clare Lennon
The Resource Department (Centre) was set up in 2005 by Mark Ryan a teacher in the school. It first started off in three rooms in the school. It was set up to help students with learning difficulties and disorders. After a month the Resource Department moved into a four-room prefab with one medium-sized room,a storing room and one toilet. From 2006 to 2009 the School population began to increase slightly and the old four room prefab was knocked down in July 2009 and a new eight room prefab with a wheel chair toilet,a Students toilet and a staff toilet was built. It was officially opened on 27 August 2009 by the school Principal Brenda Kearns. The Chairperson of the Resource Department is Mark Ryan, and the Deputy Chairperson is Clare Lennon. There are currently about nine teachers in the Resource Department with seven Special Needs Assistants (SNAs)
Ethos
Salesian College follows a very strong Ethos. Salesian College, Celbridge, is an all-boys Catholic Secondary School under the Trusteeship of the Salesians of Don Bosco.
St. John Bosco, the founder of the Salesian order, who lived in Italy during the 19th century, developed a particular approach to education, which he called the Preventive System. The Preventive System, ("preventive" coming from the Latin words prea and venire; meaning go before, or to anticipate the needs of another) takes as its aim the formation of honest citizens and good Christians. In this approach, reason, religion and kindness are core values.
Reasonableness and fairness guide the student and teacher as they work together to build and environment that encourages personal responsibility and promotes learning.
St. John Bosco emphasised the quality of the relationship between students and educator. He encouraged an attitude of loving-kindness where a relationship of trust, openness and understanding could develop between the educator and the student both inside and outside the classroom.
Subjects
There are a broad range of subjects available to the students of Salesian College, Celbridge. In The Leaving Certificate cycle, courses in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics can be pursued. The Junior-cycle subject broadly defined as "Business Studies" is devolved into separate courses Accounting, Business and Economics. Students so inclined may pursue courses in Art, Construction, Technical Drawing or Engineering. The Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme, which aims to provide a more voacation-oriented education can also be taken by students of the College. The school is equipped with extensive IT facilities, though these are rarely used as IT is not a subject. Students of the college at all levels, in accordance with Irish educational standards, must take courses in the subjects of English, Irish and Mathematics.
Parents' Association
A Parents' Association was established focusing on Salesian College in 1994. It continues to work with Principal, Staff and Board of Management to work for the school's future. The Parents' Association is the structure through which parents can work together in partnership with the school, with the aim of providing the best possible education for the students in the College. The Association is involved with producing a newsletter, in pastoral and remedial requirements.
Student Council
The Salesian college student council has served the students over the last number of years and in 2008 the student council led by Darragh O'Neill helped raise money for a defibrillator, installed new basketball equipment and organised the first ever student-led talent show.
Notable past pupils
- Damien Rice, world-renowned indie music and former member of the band Juniper.
- All four members of indie rock band Bell X1
- Members of Juliets Rescue, formerly Box Social
- Devon Murray, actor in Angela's Ashes (as Malachy McCourt) and the Harry Potter films (as Séamus Finnegan)
- Karl Bermingham, striker for Derry City FC, has represented Ireland at Schoolboy and U-21 levels.
- Tony D (Hamlet), Member of seminal British rap collective Poisonous Poets and former UK (Don't Flop) Battle Rap Champion.