Athlone Community College is a mixed gender school in the town of

Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midlands Region with a population of ...

in the

Irish Midlands The Midland Region (coded IE063) is a NUTS Level III statistical region of Ireland. It consists of the territory of the counties of Laois, Offaly, Westmeath and Longford. The Midland Region spans 6,524 km2, 9.5% of the total area of the st ...

. Athlone Community College consists of a student body of over 1,300 students and employs more than 120 teachers.

History

Prior to the development of the present co-educational system, the Sisters of Mercy opened the school for girls in 1893, leading to the expansion and introduction of Technical education. However, fund-raising was necessary and the Sisters organized several concerts to clear an IR£1,500.00 debt. The noted tenor, John McCormack, was a frequent performer and helped alleviate some of the Sisters financial difficulties. In 1902, a Technical School for boys was opened by the Secretary of the Department of Education and Technical Instruction. In 1906, the committee set up the Athlone Woodworking and Industries Society offering their premises and equipment in Gleeson Street to the Society. In 1930, the technical scheme that had up to this been administered as a local scheme, now joined the wider county scheme. New premises were acquired in St. Mary's Place. Classes commenced and as numbers increased further extensions to the building were required. Eventually greater accommodation was necessary and in 1974 the work and students of the Old Vocational School transferred to a new building at Retreat Road where the present Community College stands. In 2006, the Department of Education & Science gave approval for the building of a new school in place of the existing building. The school was completed in 2014 and opened by the

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

in 2017.

Achievements

The Athlone Community college has had a number of achievements in sports, debating, science and literature since its opening. The school enters the Concern Debating Competition and the Mental Health Public Speaking Competition every year. Athlone Community College has won the Concern Debating competition three times and it was the outright winner of the Mental Health Public Speaking Competition in 2010. In addition the school enter teams into the ''Gael Linn'' Irish debating competition every year. It has been runner up in the All-Ireland on several occasions. The School is also a Prime School in the Area of Green Schools having been awarded 4 Green Flags. They have a strong committee and the organisation is well respected and known through out the school. The school has also won multiple green schools awards for Litter and Waste and Travel. Athlone Community College is the sole community college to have won a Leinster 'A' Senior Colleges title in

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

, doing so in 2008. In association football (soccer) the school won U14 and U16 Leinster & All-Ireland titles (in 2005 and 2006 respectively), and were finalists in the U16 and U18 Leinster Champions League Finalists (in 2007 and 2008). The college is also involved in rugby, hurling, hockey, athletics, and equestrian sports.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20071118172347/http://athlonecc.ie/index.htm {{coord, 53.4247, -7.9202, type:edu_region:IE, display=title Buildings and structures in Athlone Community College, Athlone

Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = , subdivis ...

Secondary schools in County Westmeath 1974 establishments in Ireland Educational institutions established in 1974