Summerhill College (aka The College of the Immaculate Conception) is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

voluntary secondary school In education in Ireland, a voluntary secondary school (or privately-owned secondary school; ) is a post-primary school that is privately owned and managed. Most are denominational schools, and the managers are often Catholic Church authorities, e ...

for boys located in the town of

Sligo Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the List of urban areas ...

in northwest Ireland.

History

The school was founded in 1857 by then-

Bishop of Elphin The Bishop of Elphin (; ) is an episcopal title which takes its name after the village of Elphin, County Roscommon, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other ...

, Dr Laurence Gillooly, in Summerhill, Athlone,

County Roscommon "Steadfast Irish heart" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Roscommon.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Connacht , subdi ...

(present-day

County Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Sovereign state, Country , subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Provinces o ...

). It moved to temporary accommodation in Sligo in 1880 (Quay Street) and to a new school building (the present site) in 1892. Although the official name of the school is the College of the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...

, it has always been known locally as ''Summerhill'' or ''Summerhill College''. The college has been a Diocesan College—historically an entry school for those wishing to train as priests for the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Diocese of Elphin The Diocese of Elphin () was established following the Synod of Rathbreasail in the year 1118. In that year the see for east Connacht was moved from Roscommon. Elphin was the traditional site of a monastic house established by St Patrick , althou ...

. The college took in both boarders and day boys until the dormitories were closed in the 1980s due to economic circumstances.

Curriculum

The school offers the traditional

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

and Leaving Certificate cycles to its pupils. It also provides other options such as Junior Certificate School Programme (JCSP),

Transition Year Transition Year (TY) ( ga, Idirbhliain) is an optional one-year school programme that can be taken in the year after the Junior Certificate in Ireland. However, depending on school population and funding it may not be available, and in other sch ...

Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme The Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP) is a two-year optional Education Programme of the Irish Department of Education and Skills. LCVP was introduced in 1989. According to the Department of Education and Skills, the programme is ''de ...

(LCVP) and

Leaving Certificate Applied The Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) is a self-contained two-year programme of the Irish Department of Education. It was first introduced in 1995 as an alternative or variant of the established Leaving Certificate programme. According to the De ...

(LCA).

Extra-curricular activities, clubs and sport

Summerhill College has a proud sporting tradition. It offers many sports to its students, including Gaelic Football, Soccer,

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

, basketball, athletics, kayaking, sailing and surfing.

Notable staff

The Very Reverend The Very Reverend is a Style (manner of address), style given to members of the clergy. The definite article "The" should always precede "Reverend" as "Reverend" is a style or fashion and not a title. Catholic In the Catholic Church, the style i ...

Cyril Haran Cyril Haran (7 February 1931 – 25 June 2014) was a Gaelic footballer and manager, priest, scholar and schoolteacher. He managed the Sligo county team. Biography Cyril Haran was born in February 1931. He had three sisters: Grace Liddy (who pr ...

taught English at the school and was known as "Cyrilly" or "Dosser".

Presidents/Principals of Summerhill College

19th Century

John Lyster, later

Bishop of Achonry The Bishop of Achonry () is an episcopal title which takes its name after the village of Achonry in County Sligo, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other bis ...

20th Century

* Rt. Rev. Thomas Finnegan (1966-1979), served as Bishop of Killala * Msgr. Austin McKeon (1987-1990) * Canon Kevin Earley (1990-1999)

21st Century

* Thomas McManus(2009-2013) * Paul Keogh (2014–present)

Selected past pupils

Some of Summerhill's more well-known alumni: * Tabby Callaghan — singer, finalist on ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

'' *

Kian Egan Kian John Francis Egan (born 29 April 1980) is an Irish pop singer, songwriter and musician, best known as a member of pop group Westlife. Westlife has released twelve albums, embarked on thirteen world tours, and won numerous awards, becoming ...

Mark Feehily Markus "Mark" Michael Patrick Feehily (born 28 May 1980) is an Irish singer and one of the two lead vocalists of the pop vocal group Westlife. Westlife has released twelve albums, embarked on thirteen world tours and won several awards, becomin ...

and

Shane Filan Shane Steven Filan (born 5 July 1979) is an Irish pop singer. He is one of the two lead singers of pop vocal group Westlife, which was formed in 1998, disbanded in 2012, and regrouped in 2018. Westlife have released thirteen albums, embarked on ...

— three of the four members of

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...

Westlife Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporarily di ...

Edward J. Flanagan Edward Joseph Flanagan (13 July 1886 – 15 May 1948) was an Irish-born priest of the Catholic Church in the United States, who served for decades in Nebraska. After serving as a parish priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Omaha, Catholic ...

— founder of Boys Town

orphanage An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...

s in the US (the old gym in the school was named "Fr. Flanagan Hall" after him) *

Tommie Gorman Tommie Gorman (born 1956) is a retired Irish journalist. He worked for RTÉ News and Current Affairs from 1980 to 2021. He was the former Northern Ireland editor for RTÉ. He is known for his personal interviews with figures such as Seán Qui ...

— Northern Ireland correspondent with Irish state broadcaster RTÉ *

Chris MacManus Chris MacManus (born 13 March 1973) is an Irish politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the Midlands–North-West constituency since March 2020. He is a member of Sinn Féin, part of The Left in the Eu ...

—

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

MEP for Midlands–North-West *

Ray MacSharry Ray MacSharry (born 29 April 1938) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Tánaiste from March 1982 to December 1982, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development from 1989 to 1993, Minister for the Public Servic ...

— former

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...

TD,

Tánaiste The Tánaiste ( , ) is the deputy head of the government of Ireland and thus holder of its second-most senior office. The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Tao ...

and

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

er * Dermot Mannion — former CEO of

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* John McCormack — world-famous

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

* Paul McGee — former

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

soccer international player * Conán O'Donnell — rugby player *

Patrick O'Dowd Patrick Joseph O'Dowd (1 March 1892 – 19 June 1968) was an Irish politician and medical practitioner. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Roscommon constituency at the June 1927 general electio ...

— Fianna Fáil TD (Roscommon) and medical practitioner *

Michael O'Flanagan Michael O'Flanagan ( ga, Mícheál Ó Flannagáin; 13 August 1876 – 7 August 1942) was a Roman Catholic priest, Irish language scholar, inventor and historian. He was a popular, socialist Irish republican; "a vice-president of the Irish Ag ...

— Irish Republican and Roman Catholic priest *

Albert Reynolds Albert Martin Reynolds (3 November 1932 – 21 August 2014) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1992 to 1994, Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1992 to 1994, Minister for Finance from 1988 to 1991, Minister for Indust ...

— Fianna Fáil TD and

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 ...

* Mark Scanlon — professional

cyclist Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

, former World Junior Cycling Champion

New school building programme

In January 2006 it was announced that Summerhill was to get €20 million funding for a new school building. Work was due to begin in 2008, but the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

said later that same year that "the project will not be progressed further this year". However, work finally began on the demolition of the 1970s building and construction of a new school in the summer of 2011. The new three-storey building opened its doors to new students in August 2012 at a reduced cost of €12.5M. There are over 40 new classrooms in the new building, with a new gym and hardcourt playing pitches opened in November 2012.

Controversies

The school received a damning report from the Department of Education in May 2010. The principal at the time of this inspection was Michael Murphy. In February 2013 a trial in Sligo Circuit Court heard of alleged improper use of Department of Education funds by former school staff during 2008–09.

References

External links

Official school website
{{Coord, 54.266947, -8.47938, region:IE_type:edu, display=title 1857 establishments in Ireland Boys' schools in the Republic of Ireland Educational institutions established in 1857 Secondary schools in County Sligo Sligo (town)