St Joseph's College in

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

, South West Scotland, is a Roman Catholic secondary school. It began as a Catholic boys'

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

run by

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute of Religious brother, brothers. In 1817, Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from Fr ...

History

St Joseph's College was founded in 1875 as both a boarding school and the first

Novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

for the training of Marist Brothers in Great Britain.

Brother Walfrid Andrew Kerins (; 18 May 1840 – 17 April 1915), known by his religious name Brother Walfrid, was an Irish people, Irish Marist Brothers, Marist Brother and is best remembered for being the founder of Scottish football club Celtic F.C., Celtic. ...

, the man who founded

Celtic Football Club The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a professional Association football, football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football league system, Scottish ...

, also helped to found the school. The school became part of the state school system in 1981, but still accepts Catholic students as priority. The school was a boys' school to begin with, and the first female pupils were admitted as day pupils in the early 1970s.

Buildings

The school was originally located elsewhere in Dumfries but was moved to its current location when a local businessman bought the land and donated it to the Marist Brothers. Numerous expansions to the original build have been made: the assembly hall, extensions to the mathematics and French departments, a new separate building for the

Religious Education In secular usage, religious education is the teaching of a particular religion (although in the United Kingdom the term ''religious instruction'' would refer to the teaching of a particular religion, with ''religious education'' referring to t ...

classrooms, and another new building which contains the dining hall and physical education halls. After the school became public, the buildings transferred to Dumfries and Galloway Council, following the sale of part of the school playing fields at Maryfield, for the new medical centre at Gillbrae. The Marist Brothers then had no involvement with the school.

Campus

The school campus is made up of two buildings: The Ewan Duncan Building and the main school building housing the classrooms for all of the subjects (the gym hall and cafeteria being removed in the renovations). The grounds contain gardens and lawn at the front and back of the main building, and a playing field area roughly the size of three football fields and several hockey and tennis courts are also included.

Linked schools

The college is linked with St Andrew's RC Primary School and St Teresa's RC Primary School, Dumfries.

Notable former pupils

* Frank Brogan: footballer,

Celtic F.C. The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a professional Association football, football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football league system, Scottish ...

Ipswich Town F.C. Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football ...

* Jim Brogan: football player,

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Charles Forte Charles Carmine Forte, Baron Forte (26 November 1908 – 28 February 2007) was an Italian-born Scottish hotelier who founded the leisure and hotels conglomerate that ultimately became the Forte Group. Early life Charles Forte was born as Ca ...

: founder of the Forte group of hotels * Philip G. Fothergill: botanist * Ian Harnett (1926–2001): footballer,

Queen's Park F.C. Queen's Park Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the , the second tier of the Scottish football pyramid. Queen's Park is the oldest association football club in Scotland, having been founde ...

* John McDermott: artist and veteran affairs activist *

Allan McNish Allan McNish (born 29 December 1969) is a British former racing driver, commentator, and journalist from Scotland. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, 2013, as well as a three-time wi ...

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

born in Dumfries and three-time winner of Le Mans 24. He returned in recent years to talk at the annual awards ceremony. * Frank Williams: founder and team principal of the Williams Formula One racing team

References

External links

Information at Dumfries and Galloway Council pageScottish Schools Online entryPast Pupils Association website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Joseph's College, Dumfries Marist Brothers schools Catholic secondary schools in Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries 1875 establishments in Scotland Educational institutions established in 1875