Welcome to Our Senior School

St. Conleth’s College is now into its ninth decade at the forefront of Irish private secondary co-education. Tradition is important at St. Conleth’s, but it is partnered by an eagerness to embrace modernity and its required innovations. 

Educating the ‘whole child’ is a responsibility which we take very seriously at St. Conleth’s. Each student is encouraged to participate in a variety of intellectual, artistic and athletic pursuits, and our recent trophy-winning campaigns in debating and various sports attest to our extracurricular enthusiasm. Excellent academic achievement is, of course, at the core of St. Conleth’s success.  A sensible curriculum, which allows for the substantial choice and variety of a large school but benefits from the personal attention of a small one, is expertly taught by a staff which exudes the perfect blend of experience and enthusiasm. 

Our Leaving Certificate students do finish at the top of the table each year, but just as importantly, we are proud that, though they are leaving us with a tinge of regret, they also are full of confidence for the courses, careers and lives which best suit their individual talents, interests and values.  

The Curriculum

The Junior Cycle curriculum includes: English, Gaeilge, Maths, Science, History and Geography. Students also take three additional subjects, including at least one modern language. Other non-examinable but important courses are SPHE (Social, Personal and Health Education); RE (Religious Education); CSPE (Civic, Social and Political Education); PE (Physical Education).

We are perfectly placed to implement the new Senior Cycle. St. Conleth’s is able to maintain the academy-like ethos and atmosphere of a small school while offering an impressive number of subjects at the Leaving Certificate level.

English
Gaeilge
French
Spanish
History
Classical Studies
Maths
Science
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Geography
Business
Economics
Art
Music
CPSE
Physical Education
Religious Education
SPHE
Junior Cycle
Senior Cycle

Senior Humanities

  • English
  • Gaeilge
  • French
  • Spanish
  • Latin
  • History
  • Classical Studies

The Humanities Subjects explore ways in which humans live and communicate in the world and help the students themselves to develop their reasoning and communicative ability. We have a proud tradition at St. Conleth’s of emphasising reading, writing and speaking and it is in the Humanities Subjects that these skills are most developed. English and Gaeilge are, of course, mandatory.

Senior Sciences

  • Maths
  • Applied Maths
  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Biology

The Science subjects demonstrate how to explore nature using carefully planned methods, and teach the basic methods and findings of scientific investigation. We continue to invest significantly in the tools and materials that make studying STEM subjects at St. Conleth’s so exciting and fruitful.

Senior Creative Arts

Studying Art and Music involve developing creativity and the appreciation of the work of others. This involves learning the methods and techniques of the subject and producing one’s own work using these skills. Art and Music are at the heart of St. Conleth’s communal life and this is due to the way we nurture creativity within our curriculum and in the wider life of the school.

  • Art
  • Music

Transition Year

Transition Year

Transition Year at St. Conleth’s is part of our Senior Cycle and is a mandatory growing space and time for our girls and boys en route to being young adults. Our TY Programme encompasses all areas of personal development, from the charitable through the athletic to the cultural, as well as continuing the academic and intellectual growth of our students, as they sample all the available Leaving Certificate subjects and make well-guided choices in accordance with our strengths-based educational philosophy.

At St. Conleth’s we do not believe that the mind should sleep during Transition Year! A dedicated TY Co-ordinator organises a team of teachers and adjunct professionals who lead the students through a demanding but exhilarating curriculum of subject-specific project work, real-life and work experiences and the individually tailored Gaisce programme. A TY day may also include a bit of Mandarin Chinese and cooking in the morning, sailing and photography in the afternoon, and practice for the year-end musical at day’s end. No two students are alike and this is especially true when it comes to determining courses and activities for Transition Year. Our TY Programme has the correct blend of variety and depth, which enables every student to fulfil their potential in this important year of transition.

  • English
  • Irish
  • Maths
  • French
  • Spanish

Choice Subjects

  • History
  • Geography
  • Business
  • Economics
  • Classics
  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Physics

Modules

  • First Aid
  • Sign Language
  • Photography
  • Sailing
  • Climbing
  • Health and Fitness
  • Drama
  • Music
  • Art
  • Computers

Workshops

  • Smartphone Film Making
  • Hospitality Skills
  • Barrista Training
  • Law Module

Overnight Trips

  • Gaisce Walk
  • Carlingford

Day Trips

  • Howth and Bray Walks
  • MOMA Kilmainham
  • National Museum of Ireland
  • Dublin Zoo

Career and Guidance Counselling

Senior Career Guidance

“The guidance and counselling process aims to help students to develop an awareness and acceptance of their talents and abilities; to explore possibilities and opportunities; to grow in independence and to take responsibility for themselves; to make informed choices about their lives and to follow through on those choices”.

Gordon Weldon, the Guidance Counsellor at St. Conleth’s, more than fulfills the above departmental objective by providing comprehensive and personalised career and educational advice to students and arranging a full schedule of activities, from standardized testing and analysis through professionally-delivered Study Skills Seminars and carefully selected career and course research and presentations.  But it is not all about ‘points’ at St. Conleth’s, as Mr. Weldon also spearheads our Wellbeing efforts: the care and welfare of pupils at St. Conleth’s is of fundamental importance and Gordon’s door is always open for professional, confidential advice and support.

Guidance Counselling Webpage

International Students

International students are central to the St Conleth’s experience. Every year we welcome a cohort of students from a variety of countries such as Spain, Chile, Mexico, France, Italy, Japan and Argentina. These students decide to stay with us for up to a year, for the ultimate full immersion experience. They don’t have their parents with them; they come by themselves and travel thousands of miles to experience a new language and a new culture. So we greatly admire their courage and independence and thank them for choosing St Conleth’s and share this life changing adventure with us. They trust us to look after their well being and their daily needs and we enjoy observing their great motivation to learn and become part of the Conleth’s family.

Barely a week after arriving, our international guests are socialising with their new classmates. The homely size of St Conleth’s makes it very easy to make friends and to feel part of a tight community that soon becomes a second home.

We have established a great rapport of collaboration with the Dublin based Language School Living Language and with the agency Rockbrook International, with which we have been working for over 10 years. Our working relationship keeps improving as we meet the needs of the students whom we host. 

We as a school also facilitate the search for host families as we have a very good relationship with our students’ parents. 

St Conleth’s prides itself on their international guests who never really leave us: they always take a token of appreciation from us and remain in contact with the friends they make over the year.

Chiara Crowley
International Students Co-ordinator

Extra-Curricular

Our timetable may say school starts at 8:30am and ends at 3:20pm, but every day of the week there is some sporting or other activity available. Our teachers and students do not always immediately head for door when that bell rings, and learning does not start and stop at the classroom door. There are plenty of extra- and cross-curricular events during the year to keep you busy.  Our Debating Society is one of our proudest and most accomplished institutions and both intra and inter-school debates are participated in with a fervour and devotion not seen since days of Cicero.

Our Chess Club meets at lunchtime every Tuesday and their furious chessboard feints and forays hone their talent for inter-school competition in the toughest league in the country.  Student-performed music is the permanent soundtrack to the daily life of the St. Conleth’s community.

The School Choir practices one lunchtime each week, preparing for performances at our many assemblies, masses and celebrations.  Sometimes it seems like every student at St. Conleth’s is a ‘drama kid’ but we mean that in the most positive sense: the Drama Club, which meets each Monday, under the tutelage of Simon Toal, a professional actor and the biggest drama kid of them all! 

And, to balance fun with the books, After-School and Night Study provide the opportunity for students to work and study quietly in a secure, supervised environment. 

Sports

At St. Conleth’s, we realize that healthy minds and spirits necessitate a healthy body, so we fully encourage participation in our various extra-curricular sporting opportunities.  And though ‘participation’ is our mantra, we also see the value of good-natured, well-mannered keen competition in building confidence and sociability.  In our traditional sport, Rugby, we have a proud tradition of competitiveness, sportsmanship (and trophies!) in the Leinster League and Cup competitions.  Basketball has a more recent pedigree at St. Conleth’s, but it has quickly become a proud one.  All-Ireland National Cup and League trophies sit in our case, and we have had several Irish players in recent years.  Hockey has taken St. Conleth’s by storm, with several of our teams already grabbing Leinster glory and a competitive but friendly ‘hockey culture’ taking root.  Tennis and Fencing have been Conlethian mainstays since Mr. Sheppard opened the doors, and the school gym and Herbert Park courts are still filled with talented and nattily attired adherents of these two sophisticated sports.   Sailing is also part of our sporting history, with our school team crowned All-Ireland champions in 2023. And our Athletics forays appeal to both the masses, with 60+ often attending cross country races, and the specialists, with Leinster finalists in several events in recent years.  Rest assured, at St. Conleth’s, there is a sport for you!  league and cup competitions and filling the school gym with the sounds of effort and fun, every afternoon.

  • Rugby
  • Hockey
  • Basketball
  • Tennis
  • Fencing
  • Sailing
  • Athletics
  • Golf
  • &c. …

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