Athlone Community College is a mixed gender school in the town of

Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midland Region, Ir ...

in the

Irish Midlands The Midland Region (coded IE063) is a Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS Level III NUTS 3 statistical regions of the Republic of Ireland, statistical region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It consists of the territory of the C ...

under the

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

of the

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of ...

and

Westmeath County Westmeath (; or simply ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It formed part of the historic Kingdom of ...

Education and Training Board An Education and Training Board (ETB) () is one of sixteen statutory local education bodies that deliver a wide range of education services in Ireland. ETBs manage a large number of secondary schools, further education colleges and training centres ...

(LWETB). It consists of a student body of over 1,100 students and employs more than 120 teachers.

History

In 1902, a Technical School for boys was opened by the Secretary of the Department of Education and Technical Instruction. The Old Vocational School on Northgate Street moved to the Retreat Road site in 1974, when Athlone Community College was built to cater for 500 students. In 2008, the

Department of Education and Science An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

gave approval for the building of a new school in place of the existing building. The school was completed in 2014 and opened by the then

Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Enda Kenny Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence (Ireland), Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 201 ...

in 2017. In May 2024, the school announced the retirement of principal Eileen Donohoe after 47 years of teaching in Athlone Community College. In a post on social media, the school praised Donohoe's "dedication, passion and unwavering commitment". Donohoe was succeeded by Lisa O'Kennedy.

Curriculum

The school offers both the

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

and

Leaving Certificate A secondary school leaving qualification is a document signifying that the holder has fulfilled any secondary education requirements of their locality, often including the passage of a final qualification examination. For each leaving certificate ...

cycles, as well as

Transition Year Transition Year (TY) () is an optional one-year school programme that can be taken in the year after the Junior Cycle in Ireland. However, depending on school population and funding it may not be available, and in other schools it is compulsory. ...

. Athlone Community College is involved in a variety of sports, including

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

. It is also involved in debating, having won three All-Ireland Concern Debating titles and two All-Ireland

Gael Linn Gael Linn () is a non-profit and non-governmental organisation focused on the promotion of the Irish language and the arts. The organisation's funding includes government and lottery sources. History Gael Linn was founded in May 1953, followin ...

Irish debating titles.

Alumni

Donal Shine Donal Shine (born 28 February 1989) is a former Gaelic footballer from County Roscommon. He played at senior level for the Roscommon county team and the Clann na nGael club. Early life His father is former Roscommon manager Donie Shine. H ...

(b. 1989) - Gaelic footballer

References

External links

* {{Athlone 1974 establishments in Ireland Educational institutions established in 1974

Community College, Athlone Secondary schools in County Westmeath