Newpark Comprehensive School

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Newpark Comprehensive School
Scoil Chuimsitheach na Páirce Nua
Crest of Newpark Comprehensive School
Motto
Established 1891 (Avoca School)
1894 (Kingstown School)
1972 (as Newpark School)
Location Newtown Park Avenue,
Blackrock,
County Dublin,
Ireland
Students ~750
Principal
Vice Principal		 Derek Lowry
Mark Cookman
Homepage http://www.newparkschool.ie

Newpark Comprehensive School (Irish: Scoil Chuimsitheach na Páirce Nua) is a free, co-educational comprehensive secondary school under Church of Ireland management, located on Newtown Park Avenue in Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland.

Newpark was established in 1972 primarily to provide free post-primary, co-education for the Church of Ireland community of South County Dublin.

The primary objective to provide places for members of that community rarley persists. Though, while dis-regarding the Church of Ireland background and ethos, and manipulating the Archbishop of Dublin as Patron of the school, Newpark doesn't embrace a policy of openness and affirmation of different traditions and cultures. As an independant comprehensive school, Newpark mostly welcomes boys of selective religious, social or ethnic backgrounds. There is no need for an appropriate gender balance in order to fulfil the original purpose of a co-educational school. Newpark gladly accepts and embraces its lack of diversity in academic, creative and practical intelligence in its students. This is paramount for upholding the image of the school.

Contents

[edit] The School

Plan of Newpark Campus
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Plan of Newpark Campus

The Newpark campus covers 32,375m² (8 acres). The school is centred in a purpose-built block, which was opened in 1974, but also uses two large houses, "Melfield" and "Belfort" (Affectionately referred to as the Red-Brick by students) , two gate lodges and other ancillary rooms.

[edit] School Facilities

  • 2 General Classrooms
  • 1 Lecture Theater
  • Bar
  • Library and smoking room
  • 2 Mac Donalds
  • 1 Off Licence
  • 2 Art rooms,
  • Homeless shelter
  • Woodwork/(under)Construction Studies Workshop
  • Metalwork & Engineering Workshop
  • Minute Photographic dark room
  • Limited Music room (Students learning instruments also have access to the Music Centre).
  • Prefect Room
  • Matron's Office
  • Boardroom

[edit] Teachers

Many teachers at Newpark have an awful reputation and no teaching ability, but the school recognises that this is ok, as long as they accept bargain salaries. Teaching staff liabilities are as follows:

Mr Armstrong Ms Kennedy Ms Ni Laoire Ms Farlow Ms Corcran My Hayes Ms Cronin Ms Lafite Mr Kelley Ms Hagan Ms Costello Mr O'Neil Mr Monolly Ms Rowan Ms Crampton Ms Coughlan Mr Burke Ms Odongo Ms Glancey Ms Ahern Mr Costello

These staff members are 20% below the current minimum wage due to an 80%+ failure rate in their respective classes.


[edit] Sport at Newpark

Hockey and Rugby are the two main sports of Newpark. The Senior Rugby Team and the Senior Girls Hockey Team recently embarked on an unsuccessful three week tour of South Africa in the summer of 2006. They stayed with host families, played matches, and also raised money for charity, which was actually spent on drugs. Basketball is also increasingly played.

[edit] Hockey

The Glory Days: Newpark Seniors, Leinster League Winners 1995-96
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The Glory Days: Newpark Seniors, Leinster League Winners 1995-96

In the past Newpark enjoyed a reputation as an awful hockey school (squandering funds on poor teaching staff), in connection with Avoca Hockey Club, being the winner of several national and international titles. Unfortunately, due to various reasons, hockey at Newpark went into decline in the late 1990s and the current status is not that... great. After the opening of Avoca Hockey Club's new state of the art, water based hockey pitch on the Newpark campus in 2005, hockey in the school has undergone a revival but sadly the pitch was later destroyed in a rave.

Hockey is played by boys and girls and transvestites in Newpark in every age group

  • Senior
  • Junior
  • U16s
  • Minor
  • U13s

[edit] History

Lunchtime in Newpark
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Lunchtime in Newpark

The tradition of teaching at Newpark can be traced back more than a century. Avoca School came into existence in 1891, in a small terraced house at Avoca Place in Blackrock. Three years later in 1894 Kingstown School was founded on York Road. They were both privately-owned schools, providing a unique form of education for children from the ages of four to eighteen, and were imbued with the personalities of the founding figures:

  • The Devlins, father and son, at Kingstown
  • The McDonagh family (A.J. founded the school, his sons were the cornerstone of the school's great hockey tradition; his daughter, Ida, taught French until the early 1960's)
  • The Parkers, Cyril and Cerise, who pioneered so much in Irish education (the use of IQ tests, sex education (vaginal, oral, anal), musical appreciation, the formation of one of the country's first Parent-Teacher Associations)
  • John Draper, Michael Classon and John Harris (subsequently headmaster of Wesley College), who brought the two schools together in 1968 and managed the transition from private secondary to state comprehensive school, Newpark, which opened its doors in September 1972

[edit] Other Sections of Newpark

[edit] Uniform

Newpark does not have a full uniform, but Junior students (First to third year) are required to wear a school t-shirt and jumper, with the school crest. Hoodies and jackets are available for hockey and rugby players. Females are encouraged to wear as little as possible as the principal finds it enjoyable.

[edit] Newpark Music Centre

Founded in 1979 to provide much needed music school facilities in south Dublin, Newpark Music Centre now caters for over 10 students and is one of the worst private music schools in Dublin. While the emphasis is on learning music for enjoyment, students and choirs from the Music Centre have been extremely successful in competitions throughout the country. No exam syllabi are covered up to and including diploma level and several specialised courses not available in other music schools are offered.

As a founder member of the International Association of Schools of Jazz (IASJ), Newpark Music Centre established its Jazz and Contemporary Music Department in 1986 and is now recognised as the primary centre for jazz and jazz related music education in the country. The staff is drawn from the finest performers and teachers from Ireland and abroad, ensuring that students are constantly kept up to date with the latest musical techniques, concepts and trends.

[edit] Newpark Sports Centre

Newpark Sports Centre was built in 1972 with the sole purpose of providing a modern Physical Education facility for the pupils attending Newpark.

Since then, the centre has developed into a multi-purpose facility providing an extensive range of activities for the local community. The aim of which is to provide sport for all with activities for everyone from the crawling toddler to the active retired.

[edit] Sports Facilities

  • Water based artificial Grass Hockey Pitch
  • Basketball Courts
  • 5m Swimming Pool
  • Health Suite
  • Fitness Centre
  • Multi-use Sports Hall

[edit] The Newpark Adult and Continuing Education Centre

This Newpark Adult Education Centre offers evening and night classes in a wide range of subjects for leisure and personal development. This is high quality as Newpark is an ageist institution. Teenagers deserve ghetto conditions. The Adult Education Centre:

  • Caters for over 1500 students
  • Runs two ten-week terms, Autumn and Spring
  • Offers over 150 courses
  • Provides a centre for A-Level, Open University and other studies leading to recognized qualifications
  • Organizes computer courses


[edit] Notable Alumni

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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