Gaelcholáiste Reachrann is an Irish-speaking

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

(), located in

Donaghmede Donaghmede () is a mixed socio-economic residential suburb on the northern side of Dublin, Ireland, formed from parts of Baldoyle, Coolock and Raheny in the 1970s. It contains a mid-size shopping centre and a ruined chapel. Location Donaghm ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The school is under the patronage of the ''Dublin and Dún Laoghaire

Education and Training Board An Education and Training Board (ETB) () is one of sixteen statutory local education bodies that deliver a wide range of education services in Ireland. ETBs manage a large number of secondary schools, further education colleges and training centres ...

.'' Reachrann shares a premises with Grange Community College."School Inspection Report"
Dublin: The Department of Education, 16 October 2006. Published 26 April 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2009 In the 2020/21 school year, Gaelcholáiste Reachrann (GCR) had an enrollment of 499 students. The school was ranked 1st in its area by the

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

in the 2019 Good Schools Guide.

History

Gaelcholáiste Reachrann was founded in September 2001. The school's first

Junior Certificate The Junior Cycle () is the first stage of the education programme for post-primary education within the Republic of Ireland. It is overseen by the Department of Education (Ireland), Department of Education and the National Council for Curriculu ...

examinations were held in 2004, and its first

Leaving Certificate A secondary school leaving qualification is a document signifying that the holder has fulfilled any secondary education requirements of their locality, often including the passage of a final qualification examination. For each leaving certificate ...

examinations in 2007. The founding principal was Fionnuala Ní Chaisil, followed by Máire Ní Ghealbháin. As of 2021, the principal was Eimer Nic an Rí. The school was the subject of media coverage due to their development and marketing of the " Béal na nGael" badge.Béal na nGael
, feature, Broadcast record for BBC Northern Ireland. Retrieved 9 September 2009"Gaeilge badge gets students talking"
, in ''Association of Secondary Teachers'', Volume 25: Number 2: March/April 2007 ISSN 0790-6560 "The aim of the badge is to let the world know that the user is both willing and able to speak Irish, and the students say that what they are promoting is 'a practical product to stimulate more peer-to-peer communication through Irish.'" The ''Béal na nGael'' is a modern variant of the ''

Fáinne (; pl. ''Fáinní'' but often ''Fáinnes'' in English) is the name of a pin badge worn to show fluency in, or a willingness to speak, the Irish language. The three modern versions of the pin as relaunched in 2014 by Conradh na Gaeilge are the ...

'', a badge worn to indicate a degree of fluency in, and willingness to communicate in, the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

. In 2018, Reachrann was featured in an article in the

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

, entitled "Schools build relationships to inspire better performance" where its academic success was discussed.

Academics

Gaelcholáiste Reachrann offers the Irish

Junior Cycle The Junior Cycle () is the first stage of the education programme for post-primary education within the Republic of Ireland. It is overseen by the Department of Education (Ireland), Department of Education and the National Council for Curriculu ...

and

curricula. The school also operates the

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

programme, which is mandatory for all students in the college. All subjects are taught through the medium of Irish.

Sport

Gaelcholáiste Reachrann has a proud sporting tradition, fielding teams in

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

Hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

Camogie Camogie ( ; ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game "hurling" (which is played by men only), it is organised ...

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

and

Frisbee A frisbee (pronounced ), also called a flying disc or simply a disc, is a gliding toy or sporting item generally made of injection-molded plastic and roughly in diameter with a pronounced lip. It is used recreationally and competitively for ...

. In January 2020, one of the school's students played on the Irish U18 football team in an

international friendly An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against Australia, where the Irish team won 2-0. In 2016, Reachrann won both the Dublin and

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

Gaelic Football championships, however, the team lost the All-Ireland final by 4 points to Mayo's St. Joseph's C.C. In May 2013, Reachrann became the Dublin Hurling champions, after defeating Coolmine Community School 4-5 to 3-5 in the Dublin Schools Juvenile Hurling final. In February 2024, the school’s boy’s Senior Gaelic Football team won the Dublin Senior “C” championship for the first time in their history, defeating Coláiste Cois Life in the final on a scoreline of 4-11 to 1-9. They were beaten in the Leinster final by Mercy College, Ballymahon. On 27th of January 2025, the senior football team retained their Dublin “C” title by defeating St. Mac Dara’s on a scoreline of 3-5 to 1-6. The team again progressed to the Leinster Final, this time to face O’Carolan’s of Nobber on 7th of February. Gaelcholáiste Reachrann triumphed on a scoreline of 2-7 to 0-11 to become Leinster Champions for the first time in their history at “C” level.

Extra-curricular activities

Gaelcholáiste Reachrann participates in the annual BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. In 2018, one of their students achieved 3rd place in the intermediate individual category in the Biological and Ecological Sciences section. The school has a ''Grúpa Ceoil'' which rehearses and performs Irish Traditional Music. This traditional music group has performed in public on many occasions, most notably in the DDLETB Festival of Music, Gael Linn's ''Scléip'' and Trócaire's Trad for Trócaire. In 2015 the school won the "Best Production" (''Scothléiriú na Féile'') award in the ''Féile Náisiúnta Scoildrámaíochta'' in

Mullingar Mullingar ( ; ) is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. It is the third most populous town in the Midland Region, Ireland, Midland Region, with a population of 22,667 in the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census. The Counties of M ...

with their performance of the play ''Miotach''. The play also won the award for Best Costumes in the Bord Gáis Energy Student Theater Awards.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaelcholaiste Reachrann 2001 establishments in Ireland Donaghmede Educational institutions established in 2001 Gaelcholáiste Irish-language schools and college Secondary schools in Dublin (city)