Sandymount High School

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Sandymount High School was a coeducational secondary school on Herbert Road, Sandymount, Dublin 4 which operated for over 50 years before closing in 1999.

Contents

History

Sandymount High School was founded in 1947 and was initially controversial because, as a non-denominational school, it wasn't owned by a church but by the Cannon family, [1] who also provided the two headmasters the school had: father and son Patrick and Conall Cannon. Patrick's wife Eileen Cannon also served as headmistress.[ citation needed ]

Federation of Lay Catholic Secondary Schools/Federation of Irish Secondary Schools

The school was founded against the wishes of John Charles McQuaid, then Archbishop of Dublin. [1] As the school was not run by clergy, there was no schools association for it to join. [1] Together with forty to fifty other schools, they joined the Federation of Lay Catholic Secondary Schools, of which Patrick Cannon would be a leading figure. [1]

The Department of Education didn't recognise FLCSS until 1958, when then Minister for Education Jack Lynch. [1] Lynches' successor Patrick Hillery publicly accused the Federation of blackening Irelands' image abroad in a report the Federation published in 1962. [1]

The Department suspended recognition of the Federation the same year, on grounds of the Federation adopting a new title. [1] In January 1962 the Federation had renamed itself Federation of Irish Secondary Schools, which the Department claimed was misleading. [1] The Federation disputed the reason the Department cease recognition. [1]

Students and facilities

The school's student body included those from a local council estate called Beech Hill, the offspring of parents disenchanted with denominational/same-sex schools, students on the Malahide/Howth to Bray rail corridor and foreign nationals who paid tuition fees.[ citation needed ]

While the school had a gym — basically exercise classes — for Intermediate Certificate students, it had no compulsory sports or sports team for a period.[ citation needed ] Otherwise rugby union was the main school sport for both Intermediate and Leaving Certificate male students during the early 1960s.[ citation needed ]

Rival school

A rival school opened next door several years later: Marian College, run by the Catholic Church. [1] It was originally intended to be co-educational and named Riverside College, but both the name and its co-educational character were changed at the insistence of John Charles McQuaid as he disliked the influence of Sandymount High. [2]

The school was closed in 1999 and the land was sold for development. [3] The site now contains a gated community called Cannon Place.[ citation needed ]

Alumni

Notable former pupils include Fionnula Flanagan, [4] Charlie Bird, [5] Eamonn Dunphy, [6] Dervla Kirwan [7] and Ronnie Delaney.[ citation needed ]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Murray, Peter (2010). "Educational Developmentalists Divided? Patrick Cannon, Patrick Hillery and the Economics of Education in the Early 1960s" (PDF). The Economic and Social Review. 41: 6.
  2. ↑ John Charles McQuaid: ruler of Catholic Ireland, John Cooney, p.295
  3. ↑ "Dáil Debate - Vol. 618 No. 2 - Page 34 of 34". Parliamentary Debates. 26 April 2006. Archived from the original on 23 November 2007. 26 April 2006 - the school is listed as one that closed since 1996
  4. ↑ Fionnula Flanagan, the Lisa Richards Agency
  5. ↑ Press Release Archive, University College Dublin, retrieved 21 July 2009
  6. ↑ McCarthy, Mary (7 May 2020). "This Working Life: 'I was too shouty on The Dunphy Show but my podcast absorbs me now'". Irish Independent . Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  7. ↑ "Dervla Kirwan – Resources – TES". Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2024.

53°20′01″N6°13′32″W / 53.3335°N 6.2255°W / 53.3335; -6.2255


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