St. John's College De La Salle

St. John's College De La Salle
Coláiste Eoin De La Salle
Motto Signum Fidei
Motto in English
 Sign of the Faith
Established 1956
Principal A.M. Leonard
Address Le Fanu Road
Ballyfermot
Dublin 10, Republic of Ireland Dublin, Ireland
Affiliations De La Salle Christian Brothers
Department of Education and Skills
www.schooluniformsdirect.ie
State Examinations Commission
Website http://www.stjohnsdls.ie

St. John's College is a secondary school in Ballyfermot, Dublin, Ireland. The school is run by the De La Salle Christian Brothers. St. John's College is fully funded by the Department of Education and Skills. This school offers five class levels. 1st year and 2nd year is divided into 4–5 classes. Each class has the average number of 21 students. In 3rd year, students are streamed into different classes, from highest to lowest. St. John's offers the transition year. In 5th year, students are divided into a two-year programmes called Leaving Certificate, Leaving Certificate Applied and Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme. Students have a choice to pick one of these programs which continue into the 6th year.

In December, students participate in the Christmas Examinations. In March 3 and 6 year students sit the Pre-Junior Certificate Examinations or the Pre-Leaving Certificate Examinations. 1st, 2nd and 5th year students sit the Summer Examinations in late May and early June. Junior Certificate Examinations and Leaving Certificate Examinations are held on 10 June.

School History

This college is a state funded institution managed by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, who founded it in 1956.

Jean-Baptiste de La Salle (1651–1719)

Jean-Baptiste de La Salle.

Jean-Baptiste de La Salle was a pioneer in modern education who founded the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools.[1] Commonly known as the De La Salle Brothers in Britain, Ireland, Australasia and Asia, they are known in the United States and Canada as the Christian Brothers. They are sometimes confused with a similar congregation founded in Ireland by Edmund Ignatius Rice commonly known as known as the Irish Christian Brothers.

In 17th century France, before the advent of state funded education, most poor children had little hope for a better future through education. Moved by the plight of the poor who seemed so "far from salvation" either in this world or the next, he determined to put his own talents at the service of the children "often left to themselves and badly brought up". To be more effective, he abandoned his family home, moved in with the teachers, renounced his position as canon, and so formed a new community of lay religious teachers. The De La Salle Brothers were the first Roman Catholic teaching religious institute that included no priests.

His enterprise met opposition from the ecclesiastical authorities, who resisted the creation of a new form of religious life, a community of consecrated laymen to conduct free schools "together and by association". The educational establishment resented his innovative methods and his insistence on gratuity for all, regardless of whether they could afford to pay. Nevertheless, De La Salle and his Brothers succeeded in creating a network of quality schools throughout France that featured instruction in the vernacular, students grouped according to ability and achievement, integration of religious instruction with secular subjects, well-prepared teachers with a sense of vocation and mission, and the involvement of parents.

De La Salle was a pioneer in programs for training lay teachers. In 1685, he founded in Reims what is generally considered the first normal school — that is, a school whose purpose is to train teachers. He was a pedagogical thinker of note and is among the founders of a distinctively modern pedagogy. His educational innovations include Sunday courses for working young men, one of the first institutions in France for the care of delinquents, technical schools, and, secondary schools for modern languages, arts, and sciences. Worn out by austerities and exhausting labors, he died at Saint Yon near Rouen early in 1719 on Good Friday, only weeks before his 68th birthday.

Currently, about 6,000 Brothers and 75,000 lay and religious colleagues worldwide serve as teachers, counsellors and guides to 900,000 students in over 1,000 educational institutions in 84 countries. There is a street named after La Salle in Bangkok, Thailand: Soi Sukhumvit 105. It got this name due to a La Salle school on this street.

Notable alumni

St. John's College has a history of producing soccer players over the years, some of whom have progressed to the English League system. Students at St. John's have included Willo Flood, Brian Shelley, Sean O'Connor, Des Byrne and Glenn Cronin. Broadcaster Joe Duffy attended St. John's in the 1960s. The school features in his autobiography, Just Joe.

References

  1. ↑ St. John Baptist de La Salle in Catholic Encyclopedia
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