Gonzaga College

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the school in Washington, D.C., see Gonzaga College High School. For the school in Spokane, Washington, see Gonzaga University.
Gonzaga College
Coláiste Gonzaga
Crest of Gonzaga College
Motto Semper et Ubique Fidelis
Latin for 'Always and
Everywhere Faithful'
Established 1950
Location Ranelagh, Dublin 6,
Republic of Ireland
Students 480
Principal Patrick Potts
Religious order Jesuits
Homepage http://www.gonzaga.ie

Gonzaga College S.J. is a private Catholic boys secondary school in Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland, under the trusteeship of the Society of Jesus. Founded in 1950, the curriculum is traditional, with a broad general programme of subjects including the classics at junior cycle and the opportunity in senior cycle, to study eight subjects for the Leaving Certificate. Gonzaga is one of a number of Jesuit schools in Ireland. The school is named after the early Jesuit St Aloysius Gonzaga and takes its emblem from the coat of arms of the Gonzaga family.

Contents

[edit] History

The school buildings were bought from the Bewley family in 1949. Gonzaga tried to be a modern school from its inception. At first students did not take the Leaving Certificate exam but instead did the UCD matriculation in fifth year while sixth year was a pre-university philosophy year. Later, the British O-Levels were introduced for fourth years and the Leaving Certificate was introduced for sixth years. The prep school was closed in the 1990s.

[edit] Campus

The school is located 3km from Dublin city centre on a large piece of land including a front lawn with cricket crease, rugby pitches and tennis courts. The school buildings include a library, chapel, bell tower, priests' residence and science block. The architecture of the school, which fuses modern copper roofed buildings with existing period houses reflects the progressive ideals of the school. Some sections of the school grounds were sold to developers for residential housing in the 1980s and 1990s.

[edit] Academic Excellence

Gonzaga has a reputation for academic excellence[1] The use of examinations to select pupils has been discontinued following government intervention[2] (the state part funds the school by paying some teachers' salaries). In 2005, Gonzaga sent 68% of its leaving cert pupils to University College Dublin and 21% to Trinity College Dublin. Overall it came fifth in a league table of Dublin schools ranked by percentage of leaving cert students progressing to third level education.[3]

Sensitive to criticism of the school for being elitist in its selection techniques (the admission form still requires applicants' parents to list their job titles and employers' names), the school introduced an 'Assisted Places' scheme[4].

Visual arts, theatre and music are still emphasised in the curriculum. The school chess team has been particularly successful, winning national and international awards[5]

[edit] Sports

The main school sport is Rugby followed by Cricket and Tennis. Gaelic games are not played. Gonzaga's competitive record in Rugby has not matched its academic record[6] though the Junior Cup teams of 1989, 2003 and 2006 reached the final of the Leinster Junior Cup. The Junior cup team have also won the League title on several occasions (three times in the last five years). The Senior Cup team have often reached the quarter finals of the cup and have won the league title three times.

[edit] Ethos

The school has a liberal, intellectual, Jesuit ethos.

[edit] Notable Alumni

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Irish Times Article:Free schools score highly in third-level feeder list
  2. ^ Dáil question to minister for education on use of entrance exams
  3. ^ Irish Times schools ranking 2005 (subscription required)
  4. ^ Admissions policy
  5. ^ Millfield International Chess Tournament - 15 December 2005
  6. ^ Leinster Schools Senior Cup includes history of rugby results for all Leinster schools

[edit] External links


Jesuit secondary schools in Ireland
Belvedere College • Clongowes Wood College • Crescent College • Gonzaga College • Mungret College • St Stanislaus College • St. Ignatius College •
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../g/o/n/Gonzaga_College_76ef.html"