De La Salle College Waterford
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De La Salle College Waterford is a secondary school in Waterford, Ireland. Over one thousand students attend the school today. It offers a voluntary transition year (fourth year). Classes are 40 minutes long each, starting at 9 am, with a ten minute break at 11:00, and a forty minute lunch break at 13:10. Classes finish at 3:10 for leaving cert students everyday and 3:50 for junior cert student on monday and tuesday.
[edit] History
De La Salle college has been a potent force in education in Waterford for over 130 years. The De La Salle Brothers arrived in the city in 1870 and opened a successful primary school at Patrick Street in Waterford city. In 1887, the search began for a prominent site to locate a new teacher training college and in 1892 the new facility at Newtown opened its doors. In 1939, largely due to the Government’s efforts to control teacher levels, the college ceased operation as an official teacher training college for national school teachers but remained open as a religious training facility.
[edit] Subjects studied
De La Salle offers 10 compulsory subjects (pre-Junior Certificate): Maths, Irish, English, Science, History, Business Studies, Geography, Religion, C.S.P.E (Civics, Social, Political Education) and P.E. De La Salle also allows students to choose two from 6 choice subjects: French, German, Art, Home Economics, Woodwork and Technical Graphics.
For the senior cycle (Leaving Certificate) it offers a wider option of choices with more in-depth learning. The three science are split into Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Business Courses split into Economics, Accounting and Business Studies. These along with the compulsory Maths, Irish and English are just some of the choices in which pupils may select for their final two years.
[edit] Music
De La Salle College's music department has developed into one of the best and most modern music department in Ireland. Br Ben Hanlon and Margaret McCann, along with student David Redmond (5th year) are names synonymous with music throughout Waterford. De La Salle runs three choirs throughout the school as an extra activity for students and teachers to take part. There are the Junior and Senior Choirs which have both had tremendous sucess with competitions throughout Waterford and Ireland. Along with these is the Staff Choirs for the teachers in the College.
The De La Salle Music Society runs musical productions each year in the Theatre Royal in Waterford. Their first production, by Fr. Seán Melody, was "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in 1979. It as followed by "Superstar" "Oliver” and in 1982, by "Fiddler” with Carrie Crowley and Gary Power who again played Golda and Tevye ten years later, in 1972. Many of those who first graced the boards with De La Salle have since carved out careers for themselves in the professional ranks. They include Keith Dunphy, Bryan Flynn, Jamie Beamish, Andrew Holden, Richie Hayes, Greta Rochford and Andrew McLoughlin to name but a few.
In 2004, De La Salle College Musical Society celebrated an auspicious milestone with "Fiddler On The Roof” — the society’s 25th anniversary production. Following this was the wonderful productions of "West Side Story" and in 2006, "Les Mis". Over the past quarter of a century the De La Salle Musical Society has been a fertile nursery for the arts and entertainment industry in Waterford and Ireland.
This year the school musical is Jesus Christ Superstar.
NOTABLE FORMER STUDENTS Paul Begadon(National Sparring Champion) Stephan Power(Hurler) John O'Shea(Manchester United Player) Jay Walsh(Inter-county Champion) Mitchell Casey(Waterford United Player) Daniel Quilty(Faumous Novilist)
