De La Salle College Waterford

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De La Salle College Waterford is a secondary school in Waterford, Ireland. Its current student population numbers over one thousand.

1 History
2 Curriculum
3 Music
4 Notable Alumni

[edit] History

The De La Salle Brothers arrived in the city in 1870 and opened a 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] Curriculum

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 students on Monday and Tuesday.

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, Music

De La Salle, like many Irish secondary schools, offers a voluntary transition year. The subjects offered in thie year are English, Irish, Maths, Science, Religion, Careers, Enterprise, Leisure Studies, and German/French. There are 10 module subjects, the students do 5 for one half of the year then switch those 5 with the others. The first set is: Youth Leadership, Drama, Computer Aided Design, Design, and Craft. The second set includes: IT, Home Economics, Music, Art, and

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), Carl S. Sanchez, Liam Grace (Transition Year), and Damien Kehoe (the manager of the T.Y band 'the Swollen Colons'). De La Salle runs three choirs for students and teachers. Both the Junior and Senior choirs have been highly successful in choral competitions in both Waterford, and throughout Ireland. Alongside these two student choirs there is also a Staff choir.

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 "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Oliver!” and in 1982, by "Fiddler on the Roof” with Carrie Crowley and Gary Power who again played Golda and Tevye ten years later, in 1972. Many actors who first performed in De La Salle have since moved into more professional ranks. They include Keith Dunphy, Bryan Flynn, Jamie Beamish, Andrew Holden, Richie Hayes, Greta Rochford, Jonathan Kelly and Andrew McLaughlin.

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 their production 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 valuable source for the arts and entertainment industry in Waterford and Ireland.

This year the school musical is Jesus Christ Superstar.