Salesian College Celbridge is a

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

for male students aged 12–19 around the town of

Celbridge Celbridge (; ) is a town and townland on the River Liffey in County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is west of Dublin. Both a local centre and a commuter town within the Greater Dublin Area, it is located at the intersection of the ...

County Kildare County Kildare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the Local gove ...

, Ireland. As of 2023, the school reportedly had over 700 students and 50 staff.

History

The Salesian College, Celbridge was originally formed in 1981 in a disused primary school on the Hazelhatch Road, which is now the Church of Ireland Primary School. Tony McEvoy was the first principal with four staff members and fifty-five students. In the summer of 1984, the school moved to a newly built premises, where it remains today. The new school and sports grounds are situated on fifteen acres, and there have been a number of developments and extensions since then. The school is no longer run by priests of the Salesian order. The principal is Brenda Kearns, who took up the position in August 2009 succeeding Dan Carroll.

Subjects

Salesians offers

Junior Certificate The Junior Cycle () is the first stage of the education programme for post-primary education within the Republic of Ireland. It is overseen by the Department of Education (Ireland), Department of Education and the National Council for Curriculu ...

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. ...

, 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 ...

courses, as well as a unit for

autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

youths. The school's classes have been mixed since 2004. In the Leaving Certificate cycle, courses in biology, chemistry, and physics are offered. The Junior-cycle subject broadly defined as "Business Studies" is devolved into separate courses accounting, business and economics. Students may also pursue courses in art, construction, technical drawing or engineering. The

Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme The Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP) is a two-year optional Education Programme of the Irish Department of Education. LCVP was introduced in 1989. According to the Department of Education, the programme is ''designed to give a st ...

, which aims to provide a more vocation-oriented education can also be taken by students of the college. The school also has IT facilities.

Sport

Sports played at Salesians include soccer,

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

, rugby, badminton and

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 ...

. An annual road race, held each October, is a road race participated in by around 450 students. The Fr. Archer Cup, named after 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 reached the Senior Soccer All-Ireland final in 2010, losing to St. Marys, Galway, in the last minute of extra time. The Salesian Senior football team reached the All-Ireland "B" semi finally in 2010, losing to 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.

Notable past pupils

Damien Rice Damien George Rice (born 7 December 1973) is an Irish musician, singer and songwriter. He began his career as a member of the 1990s rock group Juniper (band), Juniper, who were signed to Polygram Records in 1997. The band enjoyed moderate succe ...

, singer and former member of the band

Juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

. * All four members of

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band Bell X1 * Members of "Juliets Rescue", formerly Box Social * Devon Murray, actor * Karl Bermingham, striker for

Derry City FC Derry City Football Club are a professional Association football, football club based in Derry, Northern Ireland. They play in the League of Ireland Premier Division, the top tier of league football in the Republic of Ireland, and are its only ...

* Mark Kenneally, Olympic marathon runner * Daniel O'Reilly, footballer

References

{{Schools and colleges in County Kildare Celbridge Boys' schools in the Republic of Ireland Salesian secondary schools Secondary schools in County Kildare Catholic secondary schools in the Republic of Ireland 1981 establishments in Ireland Educational institutions established in 1981