St. Columba's College, Dublin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
St. Columba's College is a co-educational boarding school founded in 1843 located in Whitechurch, Dublin, Ireland. The school is affiliated with the Church of Ireland and caters to 300+ pupils, aged 11 to 18. Alumni (Old Columbans) are organized in the Old Columban Society. Its campus consists of 140 acres on the edge of Dublin and the M50 motorway. The school has grown up around a series of architecturally beautiful quadrangles, and major developments since the 1993 150th anniversary have provided it with some of the best facilities of any school in the country. In 2004 it opened the major Grange Building, housing over 100 boarders, as well as classrooms and house staff accommodation, and in 2006 the nineteenth century Argyle buildings in the heart of the College were refurbished. The old Cadogan Building is due for conversion in 2007 into a spacious new music school. Academic standards are very high. In 2006, the average 'points' score by all Leaving Certificate candidates was 440 out of 600, and over the past five years the average has been 415 points. Average class size is 12 pupils per teacher. Pupils go to universities and third-level institutions all over Europe and the rest of the world, and thus the school is severely undervalued in Irish newspaper league tables, which only measure entry to Republic of Ireland colleges.
[edit] House System
The House system fosters a special sense of community. Each pupil is placed in one of six houses – Glen (which was combined with Grange in 2004), Gwynn or Stackallan for senior boys, Hollypark or Iona for senior girls, Beresford for junior girls, and Tibradden for boys under 13. The size of house ranges from 20 to 65 pupils. A Housemaster or Housemistress, assisted by at least one resident House Tutor, is in charge of each house, and acts in loco parentis in every aspect of the children’s welfare throughout their time at the College. Housemasters and Housemistresses know the pupils in their houses very well, and are usually the main point of contact between parents and the College.
Tibradden and Beresford occupy separate buildings in the centre of the College. Like the senior houses each has its own living and sleeping quarters and routine. Older boys and girls, selected by the house staff, help to provide an existence more structured and more protected than that of the rest of the school.
[edit] Terms
The school year is divided into three terms of which the first, the Michaelmas Term (September to December) is the longest. The Hilary Term is from January to March. The third is the Trinity Term, from April to June, and this is when external public examinations are taken. The Michaelmas Term has a substantial holiday at half-term, when the College closes down.
There are also shorter half-term breaks in the other terms, including following the St Columba’s Day celebrations in late May or early June. Each term there is a three or four-day “Exodus” during which the College closes : most pupils from outside Ireland stay with their guardians, or Irish school friends.
[edit] External links
- St. Columba's College - Official Homepage
- English department blog
- Old Columbans Germany - for former Students in and from Germany
