Summerhill College (aka The College of the Immaculate Conception) is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

voluntary secondary school In education in the Republic of Ireland, education in Ireland, a voluntary secondary school (or privately-owned secondary school; ) is a secondary education, post-primary school that is Private school, privately owned and managed. Most are Denomin ...

for boys located in the town of

Sligo Sligo ( ; , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of 20,608 in 2022, it is the county's largest urban centre (constituting 2 ...

in north-west Ireland.

History

The school was founded in 1857 by then-

bishop of Elphin The Bishop of Elphin (; ) is an Episcopal polity, episcopal title which takes its name after the village of Elphin, County Roscommon, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but ...

, Laurence Gillooly, in Summerhill,

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 ...

County Roscommon County Roscommon () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the province of Connacht and the Northern and Western Region. It is the List of Irish counties by area, 11th largest Irish county by area and Li ...

(present-day

County 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 ...

). It moved to temporary accommodation in Sligo in 1880 (Quay Street) and to a new school building (the present site) in 1892. Although the official name of the school is the College of the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Mariology, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Debated by medieval theologians, it was not def ...

, it has always been known locally as ''Summerhill'' or ''Summerhill College''. The college has been a diocesan college — historically an entry school for those wishing to train as priests for the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

diocese of Elphin. The college took in both boarders and day boys until the dormitories were closed in the 1980s due to economic circumstances.

Curriculum

The school offers the traditional Junior 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 to its pupils. It also provides other options such as Junior Certificate School Programme (JCSP),

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. ...

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 ...

(LCVP) and Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA).

Extra-curricular activities, clubs and sport

Summerhill College offers many sports to its students, including Gaelic football, soccer,

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

, basketball, athletics, kayaking, sailing and surfing.

Notable staff

Cyril Haran taught English at the school and was known as "Cyrilly" or "Dosser".

Presidents/principals of Summerhill College

19th century

John Lyster, later bishop of Achonry

20th century

* Thomas Finnegan (1966–1979), served as bishop of Killala * Austin McKeon (1987–1990) * Kevin Earley (1990–1999)

21st century

* Thomas McManus(2009–2014) * Paul Keogh (2014–present)

Selected past pupils

Some of Summerhill's more well-known alumni: * Tabby Callaghan (b. 1981) — singer, finalist on ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'' * Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and

Shane Filan Shane Steven Filan (born 5 July 1979) is an Irish singer best known as a member of the pop vocal group Westlife, which was formed in 1998, disbanded in 2012, and regrouped in 2018. Westlife has released thirteen albums, embarked on twelve wor ...

— three of the four members of

boy band A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their Teenage, teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands ...

Westlife Westlife are an Irish pop group formed in Dublin in 1998. The group consists of members Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily. Brian McFadden was a member before leaving in March 2004. The group disbanded in 2012 and later reun ...

* Edward J. Flanagan (1886–1948) — founder of Boys Town

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...

s in the US (the old gym in the school was named "Fr. Flanagan Hall" after him) * Tommie Gorman (1956–2024) — Northern Ireland correspondent with Irish state broadcaster

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

* Chris MacManus (b. 1973) —

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

MEP for Midlands–North-West * Ray MacSharry (b. 1938) — former

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland. Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...

TD,

Tánaiste The Tánaiste ( , ) is the second-ranking member of the government of Ireland and the holder of its second-most senior office. It is the equivalent of the deputy prime minister in other parliamentary systems. The Tánaiste is appointed by the P ...

and

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

er * Dermot Mannion (b. 1958) — former CEO of

Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish , meaning "air fleet") is an Irish airline company which is the flag carrier of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 201 ...

* John McCormack (1884–1945) — world-famous

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

* Paul McGee (b. 1954) — former

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

soccer international player * Conán O'Donnell (b. 1996) — rugby player * Patrick O'Dowd (1892–1968) — Fianna Fáil TD (Roscommon) and medical practitioner * Michael O'Flanagan (1876–1942) —

Irish Republican Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...

and Roman Catholic priest *

Albert Reynolds Albert Martin Reynolds (3 November 1932 – 21 August 2014) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1992 to 1994. He held various cabinet positions between 1979 and 1991, including Ministe ...

(1932–2014) — Fianna Fáil TD and

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 ...

* Mark Scanlon (b. 1980) — professional

cyclist Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

, former World Junior Cycling Champion

New school building programme

In January 2006 it was announced that Summerhill was to get €20 million funding for a new school building. Work was due to begin in 2008, but the

Department of Education 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 ...

said later that same year that "the project will not be progressed further this year". However, work finally began on the demolition of the 1970s building and construction of a new school in the summer of 2011. The new three-storey building opened its doors to new students in August 2012 at a reduced cost of €12.5M. There are over 40 new classrooms in the new building, with a new gym and hardcourt playing pitches opened in November 2012.

Controversies

The school received a damning report from the Department of Education in May 2010. The principal at the time of this inspection was Michael Murphy. In February 2013 a trial in Sligo Circuit Court heard of alleged improper use of Department of Education funds by former school staff during 2008–09.

References

External links

Official school website
{{Coord, 54.266947, -8.47938, region:IE_type:edu, display=title 1857 establishments in Ireland Boys' schools in the Republic of Ireland Catholic secondary schools in the Republic of Ireland Educational institutions established in 1857 Schools in Sligo (town) Secondary schools in County Sligo