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Blackrock College

 
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For the rugby union club, see Blackrock College RFC.
Blackrock College
Coláiste na Carraige Duibhe
Crest of Blackrock College
Motto Fides et Robur
Latin for 'trustworthiness and
steadfastness' (faith and strength)
Established 1860
Location Blackrock, County Dublin,
Ireland
Students 1100
President
Principal		 Fr Cormac Ó Brolcháin, CSSp
Mr Alan MacGinty
Staff
Religious order		 75 full time, 25 part time
Holy Ghost Fathers
Homepage http://www.blackrockcollege.ie
Blackrock College

Blackrock College (Irish: Coláiste na Carraige Duibhe) is a private Catholic voluntary fee-paying secondary school for boys, located in Williamstown, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. The College, set in 63 acres (250,000 m2) of grounds, lies 6 kilometres from the city centre of Dublin, just in from the sea. It accommodates approximately 1000 day and boarding students (with a majority of day students)[1]

Contents

History

Wiki letter w.svg This section requires expansion.

The college was founded by the Congregation of the Holy Ghost in 1860, the first of the Order's five schools in Ireland. The founder is listed as Fr Pere Jules Leman, a french missionary with the Holy Ghost Order. It was originally known as the French College. A successful civil service training and university department were run for over forty years, until University College, Dublin grew, and the school focused more on the second level curriculum.

Heraldry

The proper logo or crest of the College, being the third and last creation, dating back to 1936 and explained in the 1937 College Annual as being: The Heraldic Crest Of The College. ARGENT: - On a Cross Azure, the Dove of the Holy Ghost, Proper, with seven Rays descendant, Or. In the first quarter a Lion rampant of the second. A coloured portrayal of this description would be: Save The Crest

On 30 April, 1926 Fr. Leen at a sports day speech encapsulated the words "Fides Et Robur" which hence forth became the Rock motto and in 1928 a new College Crest, bearing four emblems around a blue cross was hurriedly officiated, primarily to show off the Fides Et Robur motto over the College's especially built new front gates. Not everyone was happy with this design and possible variations of a new design may have been experimented with; evidence exists that both in crest and in uniform, by reason of fault or debate, and most likely between 1928 - 1936, a distinctive crest had been "with nine rays descendant, Or". In 1936 Dr. McQuaid instigated a new and distinctive crest that to this day is in continual use (and callous and unchecked variations and wayward deviations are contracted in to stores by stationery and uniform suppliers). It was adapted into blazers that year and a Heraldic Description of the Arms of the College was published (though not officially registered) in the 1937 Blackrock College Annual: It was commissioned into Stained Glass in 1938, presumably in its true and intended likeness and survives today at the end of one of the House corridors, though it's conformity to the true heraldic interpretations are not accurate; "a Lion Rampant of the second" would correctly reveal only a blue silhouette of a rampant lion, that is, minus any fine caricature details so apparent in the existing variations (Farragher, S. and Wyer, A. Blackrock College 1860-1995 ISBN 0-946639-19-1)

Status and operation

Blackrock is now run by the Congregation of the Holy Ghost in close co-operation with a dedicated group of lay personnel [2]. The annual fees for first year students in 2005 were €4,550 for day boys, €12,250 for boarders and €13,450 for overseas borders less than schools such as The Kings Hospital and St Columba's College.[3]

The College and its sister schools in Ireland are today held in trust by the Des Places Educational Association [4], which, as the College's Patron, aims to maintain the Spiritan ethos in all five schools – Blackrock, Rockwell, St. Mary's, St. Michael's and Templeogue – conducted by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit in Ireland.

Academics

The curriculum offered is broad, covering all common subjects in the State Examinations including Latin, German, Art, Materials Technology, Chemistry and Economics. Leaving Cert scores tend to be high, with 20% of students scoring 500 points or more. Inspections by the Department of Education found exemplary standards of teaching and learning [5]. The Irish Times placed the College in the "Top Ten" schools in the state, based on the proportion of students who accept a place in Higher or Further Education [6]. There are dedicated facilities for Home Economics and Materials Technology.

Boarding

Blackrock is one of the few schools in Ireland that still has boarding.[citation needed] Boarders stay in Williamstown Castle. Ist years stay in one dormitory, while 2nd to 5th years stay in rooms of varying numbers. 6th years stay in rooms of 2. The boarders get to use the wide range of facicilties in their extra time.

Extra Curricular Activities

Rugby

Sport is viewed as an integral part of a boy's education and each pupil is expected to participate in some activity.[citation needed] The principal sport in the college is rugby, with Blackrock having held the Leinster Schools Senior Cup 66 times. It has also won the Leinster Schools Junior Cup 45 times. Blackrock won the inaugural Cup competition held in 1887 and have been consistently the most successful team winning the Cup at least 3 times in every decade since. Blackrock are known throughout the country and internationally as one of the best rugby schools in the country and in Europe. Blackrock are the current holders of the Senior Cup, defeating C.B.C. Monkstown, St Michaels College, holders Belvedere College and Terenure College. The captain of the SCT was Jordi Murphy. Blackrock have provided a number of schools provincial and international players over the years and 2009 was no different with a number gaining various honours.

Former Rock rugby players include Fergus Slattery, Shane Byrne and Victor Costello. Current professional players include former British and Irish Lions and Leinster captain, Ireland's Grand Slam winning captain, Brian O'Driscoll. Others include Leinster and Ireland's Luke Fitzgerald, Leinster's Heineken Cup winning captain Leo Cullen and London Irish captain Bob Casey.

Blackrock v St Micael's 2006 Leinster Schools Senior Cup final at Lansdowne Road

GAA

Gaelic is played in 4th year in the college with the college fielding a successful under-16 team. Past pupil Mark Vaughan is a forward on the Dublin Gaelic football team. The school also has a hurling team for 2nd and 3rd years.

Soccer

The college has a successful soccer team for its senior pupils in 4th, 5th and 6th year. Many of the soccer teams players play for Joeys,one of Dublins most successful soccer clubs.

Table Tennis

Table tennis is another one of the colleges sports with many of its students participating in it. The majority of players come from 2nd year with the other years fielding less numbers. The table tennis team competes in many competitions and plays in many games against other schools

Water Sports

The college has a strong swimming team, which combines 1st to 6th year. Currently the team has 6 training sessions per week. The college competes in Leinster Senior Schools having won the senior relay cup multiple times, most recently in 2008, and the Irish senior schools, regularly making finals. The college has a strong record of inter-schools gala’s also. The schools has two 25 metre swimming pools on the grounds. The junior school Willow Park also has a successful swimming team. The college also has teams in other watersports such as water polo and 4ths years also participate in rowing.

Basketball

The college has its own basketball team. It has small numbers and is not very successful. The college has 3 outdoor basketball courts and 2 indoor basketball courts on the grounds. One indoor basketball court is in Willow Park gym and the other is Jubilee Hall.

Tennis

The school has a tennis team divided between minors, juniors and seniors. They practice and play their home matches on the colleges four tennis courts. 1st years in Willow Park also play on the colleges tennis teams

Squash

The college has a very successful squash team which has one the college the most trophies out of any activity including rugby in the colleges history. Though in recent years squash numbers have being dwindling in the college due to more activities being started.

Cycling

Blackrock College and Willow Park share a cycling club called the Willow Whellers run by Mr. Christy McDaid. The club has an annual trip to France every year at Easter with this years trip in Cap D'Agde. It also has to hostel trips to Clare and Donegal at the end of the school year. The club has an annual 160 kilometer (100 miles) cycle for charity which has raised around 90,000 euro in the past few years.

Athletics

The college has a very successful athletics team. It participates regularly in the East Leinster, Leinster and Ireland athletic championships at under 14s to under 18s annually. It has one all these competitions on many occasions.

Other Sports

The college also has teams in other sports such as cricket, Judo and golf. Cricket has being played since the foundation of the school in 1860 and still produces teams today. Golf is also played by a small number.

Debating

Debating is an old tradition in Blackrock College dating back to the schools founding in the 1860s. Each year have a debating club. The college's debaters participate in many competitions including the L&H debates in UCD.

Music

The college has two main choirs: the Leman and the Libermann choirs. The Leman choir has members from 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th year and the best of the senior members of the Leman choir are accepted into the Libermann choir. The College has a choir for boarders and another for parents. The College has a successful orchestra. Each year, all the choirs and the orchestra host the annual Leman Concert in the National Concert Hall.

Culture

Each year an opera production is staged in conjunction with Mount Anville and Loreto College, Foxrock, nearby girls' schools.

A transition year program to set up and maintain a radio station, broadcasting to the surrounding south Dublin area, is undertaken annually. All of the administrative work, promotion and content-creation is the labour of transition year students. The station also allows programming submissions from other schools to be broadcast. It's the only second level radio project that broadcasts 12 hours a day, five days a week.[7][8][9]

Each year a Seachtain na Gaeilge (literally, "Week of Irish") is organised to promote the Irish language in the school. This co-curricular activity was particularly commended in a Department of Education inspection, which also recommended its further development [10].

Social work

The spiritual and missionary aspect of the school has been maintained, despite the worldwide decline of new clerics in the Catholic Church. Many charitable causes are supported by the students; most notably the Transition year organises the annual St. Patrick's Day Badge appeal which raises large sums of money throughout Ireland for the Irish charities GOAL and Aidlink. The St. Patrick's Day project is estimated to have raised over € 5,000,000 for charity, raising over € 220,000 in 2005 alone.

The school also has a longstanding relationship with The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, contributing large sums of money raised through various projects. For example, the proceeds of the annual sale of Christmas Trees in the college are donated. In 2007, the Christmas Tree project raised € 93,000 and the total amount raised for the Society in that year is estimated to be in excess of € 150,000.

The College supports humanitarian projects in Sub-Saharan Africa, mainly through the college's cycling club, the Willow Wheelers. In 2006, their annual sponsored 160 km (100 mi) cycle raised in excess of € 60,000. The club also annually sends a group of self-funded volunteers to help with humanitarian projects in Africa, most commonly: establishing clean water supplies for villages and constructing schoolhouses/infirmaries or similar institutions.

Bob Geldof, initiator of the Band Aid and Live Aid movements for famine relief in the 1980s, was a student at the college (however, he was bitterly critical of it and in fact left without any qualifications). Frank Duff, the founder of the Legion of Mary, the Catholic lay movement, is also a past pupil. In his memoirs, Straight Left: A Journey in Politics Ruairi Quinn cites the ethos and "sense of solidarity" with the Third World that was imparted to students, including Bob Geldof, as a formative force. The Holy Ghost Fathers were (and remain) an active missionary order in Africa [11]. He wrote:

The poverty of distant Africa was brought into our classrooms by our returned missionary teachers.

—Ruairi Quinn, Straight Left, pg. 36

Facilities

There are extensive sporting and teaching facilities. The campus is 63 acres (250,000 m2) and contains eleven rugby pitches, a cricket lawn, an athletics track, an indoor swimming pool, a gym and indoor halls. Apart from classrooms and study halls, there are nine science laboratories, a woodwork room, a multimedia LCVP room and a home economics kitchen too. The college contains a refectory, chapel, lecture halls and stage which hosts student run dramatic productions. The college is undergoing an extensive modernisation programme.

Associated primary schools

Willow Park School, a private primary school that acts as the College's principal feeder, is also run by the Order and is situated on the same campus. Until the early 1970s, St. Michael's College in Ballsbridge was also a feeder school for Blackrock College, but St Michael's now has classes up to the Leaving Certificate.

Alumni

The Blackrock college past pupils union represents former students of the college

Notable alumni

Literary

Journalism

Business

Politics and government

Legal

  • The Honourable Mr. Justice Ronan Keane, former Chief Justice
  • Dermot Gleeson Former Attorney General, Current Chairman of AIB
  • The Honourable Mr. Justice Michael Moriarty, judge of the High Court
  • The Honourable Mr. Justice Paul Gilligan, judge of the High Court
  • The Honourable Mr. Justice John Quirke, judge of the High Court and former Irish international rugby player
  • The Honourable Mr. Justice Éamon de Valera, judge of the High Court
  • Anthony M. Collins SC, former référendaire (legal secretary) at the Court of Justice of the EC (to Judges O'Higgins and Murray), former Director of the Irish Centre for European Law (1997 to 2000)

Humanitarian

Academic

Arts

Clergy

Sport

Entertainment

References

  1. ^ http://www.blackrockcollege.ie/files/admin/uploads/W47_F_1279_6639.doc
  2. ^ ireland.com - The Irish Times - Tue, May 23, 2000 - The Blackrock College Story
  3. ^ "Full listing of Ireland's fee-paying schools". The Sunday Business Post. 2005-05-29. http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2005/05/29/story5177.asp. Retrieved 2007-06-15. 
  4. ^ Des Places Educational Association
  5. ^ http://www.education.ie/servlet/blobservlet/report1_60030V.htm?language=EN
  6. ^ http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2008/1204/1228337399139.html
  7. ^ ireland.com - The Irish Times - Wed, Nov 14, 2007 - Get an earful of this
  8. ^ Blackrock College Transition Year | BCR (Blackrock College Radio) 2006
  9. ^ BCI: Licensing: Radio: Successful applicants for Temporary services
  10. ^ http://www.education.ie/servlet/blobservlet/report2t_60030V.htm?language=EN
  11. ^ Quinn, Ruairi, Straight Left: A Journey in Politics, 2005, Dublin, Hodder Headline Ireland
  12. ^ Taaffe, Carol (2002-09-20). "Flann O'Brien". in Robert Clark. The Literary Encyclopedia. The Literary Dictionary Company. http://litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3369. Retrieved 2007-03-16. 
  13. ^ "O'Conaire seventy-five years dead on Monday". Galway Advertiser (Advertiser Group). 2003-10-02. http://www.galwayadvertiser.ie/dws/story.tpl?inc=2003/10/02/news/37575.html. Retrieved 2007-03-16. 
  14. ^ "Man of Aran". Time (Time). 1956-06-04. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,867003-1,00.html. Retrieved 2007-03-16. 
  15. ^ "editor of the Irish Press newspaper from 1968 to 1987". editor of the Irish Press newspaper from 1968 to 1987. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Pat_Coogan. 
  16. ^ a b c Byrne, Anne (2000-05-23). "The Blackrock College story". The Irish Times - Education & Living (Irish Times Trust). http://www.ireland.com/education/el/newsline/2000/0523/story8.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-16. 
  17. ^ Leahy, Pat (2002-08-18). "Life experience is the best qualification". The Sunday Business Post (Thomas Crosbie Holdings). http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2002/08/18/story213731628.asp. Retrieved 2007-03-15. 
  18. ^ "An Ceann Comhairle - CV". Government of Ireland. http://ceanncomhairle.oireachtas.ie/cv.asp. Retrieved 2007-03-15. 
  19. ^ "Councillor and former mayor for Galway West ward. Politician - CV". Niall O'Brolchain. http://niallobrolchain.ie/about_niall.html. Retrieved 2007-08-05. 
  20. ^ Looney, Fiona (2003-05-02). "Fr. Niall O'Brien" (reprint). Sunday Tribune (Tribune Newspapers). http://www.preda.org/archives/2004/r04050202.html. Retrieved 2007-03-16. 
  21. ^ Obituary, The Times, 3 May 1954
  22. ^ Nolan, Paul (2004-02-02). "David McWilliams: the interview". Hot Press. http://www.hotpress.com/music/news/2707979.html. Retrieved 2007-03-15. 
  23. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Patrick_Beirne
  24. ^ Gray, Penny (2002). "irish edge". http://www.ivenus.com/fashion/features/DC-feature-Pauic_Sweeney-wk109.asp. Retrieved 2007-09-27. 
  25. ^ Craig, Millicent V. (March 2006). "John Cardinal D'Alton, The 100th Successor to St. Patrick". Daltons in History (The Dalton Genealogical Society) 9 (3). http://members.aol.com/daltongene/dgsmar06.htm#John%20Cardinal%20DAlton,%20The%20100th%20Successor%20to%20St.%20Patrick. Retrieved 2007-01-07. 
  26. ^ "Dream Team with budding superstar on subs' bench". Irish Independent (Independent News and Media). 2003-01-29. http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=97&si=908334&issue_id=8671. Retrieved 2007-04-07. 
  27. ^ "Shane Byrne". Irish Independent (Independent News and Media). 2003-03-29. http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=944636&issue_id=8967. Retrieved 2007-03-15. 
  28. ^ "Victor Costello". Irish Independent (Independent News and Media). 2003-03-29. http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=944722&issue_id=8967. Retrieved 2007-04-07. 
  29. ^ a b c McCormack, Declan (2002-05-05). "There's more to the Rock than rugby". Sunday Independent (Independent News and Media). http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=37&si=746282&issue_id=7352&printer=1. Retrieved 2007-03-15. 
  30. ^ "Celtic League can lead to new rugby frontiers". Irish Independent (Independent News and Media). 2000-09-19. http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=37&si=278292&issue_id=3011. Retrieved 2007-04-07. 
  31. ^ Melville, Nigel (2006-11-24). "O'Sullivan builds a side to last as old ground awaits the wrecking ball". Guardian Unlimited (Guardian Media Group). http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2006/11/24/osullivan_builds_a_side_to_las.html. Retrieved 2007-03-15. 
  32. ^ Blake, Katherine (1999-10-05). "Did you hear the one about Des Bishop?". Irish Examiner (Thomas Crosbie Holdings). http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/1999/10/05/opinion_289.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-15. 

External links

v • d • e
Spiritan secondary schools in Ireland


Coordinates: 53°18′17″N 6°11′30″W / 53.30472°N 6.19167°W / 53.30472; -6.19167


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