Sancta Maria College is a girls' Catholic voluntary secondary school in Ballyroan,

Rathfarnham Rathfarnham () is a Southside (Dublin), southside suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland in County Dublin. It is south of Terenure, east of Templeogue, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and Dublin 16, 16. It is between the Lo ...

County Dublin County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...

, Ireland. The school is governed by a board of management. There are approximately 525 students and 34 permanent teachers. It is run by the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. In 2019, the institute had about 6,200 Religious sister, sisters worldwide, organized into a number ...

History

In 1932 the building that now houses the

was given as a gift to the order by the owners, the McCabe sisters. The order's ''Mercy Community'' in ''Carysfort'' near

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were gratified but had no plans for this big building. They decided to make it a holiday home for girls called ''St. Mary's Convent'' and it was blessed and opened on 26 July 1932. In 1942 Archbishop McQuaid approached the Superior of the Sisters of Mary believing that the convent would be a good place to treat children in the early stages of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. The Red Cross Society was looking for a place to treat these children. For 16 years the house served as a

Preventorium A preventorium was an institution or building for patients infected with tuberculosis who did not yet have an active form of the disease. Popular in the early 20th century, preventoria were designed to isolate these patients from uninfected indivi ...

. By 1959 tuberculosis was under control but a new need had arisen in this beautiful area of South Dublin, i.e. education. The population of Ballyroan was increasing and a school was needed. On 8 September 1960, Sancta Maria College was opened. Around the year 1963 the

assembly hall An assembly hall is a hall to hold public meetings or meetings of an organization such as a school, church, or deliberative assembly. An example of the last case is the Assembly Hall (Washington, Mississippi) where the general assembly of the s ...

was built. In the 1960s, The junior school was taught by a staff of three, Sr. Marian Agnes Sr. Regina Assumpta and Sr. Dolores. Boys and girls normally started at three years of age.

Academics

The school offers students three Leaving Certificate courses: Leaving Certificate, LCVP and LCA. In 2007, 35% of the students who sat the Leaving Certificate enrolled on a University Course. In 2008, 89 out of 90 Leaving Certificate students enrolled on a University Course. Seven of these students were offered places in the National College of Art and Design, with another two on the waiting list. This latter figure made Sancta Maria the school with the highest number of entrants into NCAD in the Republic of Ireland.

Co-curricular and extra curricular activities

The College hosts a vibrant list of activities, both co-curricular and extracurricular, among them: * Athletics * Badminton * Basketball * Camogie * Choir * Dramatization / theatre * European football * Gaelic football * Hockey * Workshop debates * Tennis

Other programs

The school introduced a Transition Year programme in 1991. The school also has links with Coláiste Éanna and Butterfield Residents Association, who have funded the school's Green School Committee in the past.

References

External links