Salesian College Celbridge

Salesian College Celbridge is a secondary school catering for male students aged 12–19 around the County Kildare village of Celbridge.

history

The Salesian College, Celbridge began its exsitence on Tuesday, 15 September 1981 in a disused primary school on the Hazeltatch Road, which is now the Church of Ireland Primary School. Fr. Tony McEvoy SDB was the first Principal with four staff members and fifty-five students. In the summer of 1984, staff and students were able to move into the newly built school premises, where we are presently located. The new school and extended sports grounds, situated on fifteen acres, facilitated the provision of a wider subject choice and greater extracurricular activities. There have been two major extentions since then and we are now a school of over seven-hundred students and a staff of over fifty members, with an academic and sporting record of which we are very proud. ^[1]

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.

results analysis

IN HOUSE EXAMINATIONS AND REPORTING HOME 1st Term • In House Examinations are held for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th year students prior to Christmas. • The examinations are held in late November or early December. The intention is to have all papers corrected and the results sent home before Christmas. • A report is sent home at Christmas to reflect progress in modules or end of term results

2nd Term • The Mock Examinations are held for 3rd and 6th years in the second term – generally in February before the mid-term break. • These Examination Papers will be sent to an outside agency for correction. Parents will be notified early in the academic year about this arrangement and a fee will be charged to parents for the correction of their sons’ papers.

3rd Term • Examinations are held in the last week of the academic year for 1st, 2nd and 5th Year students. • These reports are sent to parents as early as possible.

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RESULTS ANALYSIS All teachers are involved in collating data on examination results as well as DATs, WRATs and CATs.

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 and mission

The staff of Salesian College is committed to creating a caring environment, to fostering respect for self, for others, for all creation and for truth, to help each member of the school community to develop fully, and to providing students with the skills that they need to meet life's challenges with confidence. Salesian Ethos is grounded in a Christian spirituality as lived by St. Francis de Sales. It is a spirituality that celebrates daily life as the place of encounter with God. Holiness is seen as a lifelong journey into meaning, happiness and fulfilment and as a daily commitment to living Gospel values. For Don Bosco, the founder of the Salesians, this is a journey that young and old can take together throughout their life. In a Salesian School, truth finds expression in word and deeds. The focus of education is twofold: to create Good Christians and Honest Citizens. As Christians we believe that the human condition is one of striving continuously to be in right relationship with God, self, other and creation. In the Salesian tradition, institutions and their structures and programmes, seek to balance the rights of individuals, especially the most vulnerable, with those of the community as a whole. Education towards civic responsibility and its practices begins with the educative relationship between teacher and student. Love of God and love of neighbour go hand in hand. In the Salesian educative approach, known as the Preventive System, the educator has a special place and a particular responsibility for the educative relationship that is established with the young person and for the learning environment itself. This relationship draws on the Salesian principles of Reasonableness, Religion and Loving-kindliness. By seeking to be reasonable in our dealings as educators with the young it is believed that the young will be encouraged to be reasonable in their dealings with each other and authority. Our teaching sets out to encourage the student openness to differing experiences and the development of appropriate skills in critical thinking and values. In a Salesian heart there is always a place for joy and hope. The Christian story is to be told and celebrated, as is daily life. Gospel values, and their practice, pervade the whole school, its teaching learning processes and its community of relationships. For inspiration on loving-kindliness we look to the image of Jesus the Good Shepherd, the ones who knows his flock and leads them to fresh pastures, the one who goes in search of the lost sheep and the one who even in the moments of great darkness and pain can forgive and hope because of his own trust in a loving God. Such is the model of our relationships with our pupils. ^[3]

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.

References