| Christian Brothers College, Monkstown Park |
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Information AboutChristian Brothers College, Monkstown Park |
OVERVIEW Christian Brothers College, Monkstown Park ('''CBC Monkstown''') is a fee-paying Catholic school under the Trusteeship of the Christian Brothers in Dublin , Ireland . HISTORY On January 1st. 1857, the Christian Brothers opened a school at Eblana Avenue in Dun Laoghaire. This was just ten years after the Great Famine and emigration was rife. The school at Eblana prospered to an extent that it became impossible to accommodate both primary and secondary departments in the 19th. Century buildings. Accordingly, in 1949 the Brothers purchased the nearby estate of Monkstown Park, Gamble's Hill which had been most recently occupied by a Protestant school. At that point the school which had hitherto been known as St. Michael's College split into public and private schools, with the private part (the new CBC Monkstown) moving and the public (now CBS Eblana) remaining on the site. The original school building consisted of the original Gentlemen's Club that was on the site and that had previously been the site of Corrig School until the early century. Early on in the school's life this building was extended towards the road to create over 10 new classrooms and then in the 1960s a second building was added which now houses the Junior School and the School Auditorium. In 1989 a new extension was added with what was originally intended as a library, canteen technology rooms and offices. Now the building is primarily a staff building and only holds two classrooms, the Technical Drawing and the Art Rooms. Plans are currently in the pipeline to completely demolish the existing school buildings and to build a completely new school on the site. The College's pitches were laid down early in the life of the school and legend has it that cup-winning coach Michael "Skinner" Mullen relaid out the Senior Pitch in the early 1970s to the exact dimensions of Lansdowne Road, this may explain why the in-goal areas are so notoriously small. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS In the 2004 Sunday Times Schools League Table, CBC was listed among the country's top twenty school, while in the Irish Times tables in 2006, the school was the top all boys school in Ireland (3rd overall). The current Principal of the school is Mr. Patrick Keating. It is currently envisaged that the school will be completely overhauled in the next few years. Although this had been talked about for years, a substantial step was taken in 2004 when the Minister for Education controversially approved the Governmental funding of the building works. Though the Brothers retain a presence on the Board of Management, as Trustees, CBC is now staffed entirely by lay teachers, and is recognised as one of Ireland's leading educational establishments at Secondary Level . CBC Monkstown has over 500 students in the Secondary College and more than 700 students if one includes the Preparatory School . EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES The school is a prominent Rugby school in Leinster, participating in the Leinster School's Senior Cup since the school's foundation in 1950. While not enjoying the success, perhaps, of their near neighbours, Blackrock College, CBC are always known as a tough team to beat and, indeed, values greatly its one Senior Cup win in 1976 and, indeed, in recent years, its two victories in the newly inaugaurated Vincent Murray Cup on both occasions that it has been a participant. Also, the school has provided a large number of schools interprovincial players and, indeed, some (5) have gone on to attain the highest honours with Ireland. Great hopes rest on recent past pupils Keith Doyle and Ron Boucher who are presently in the Leinster Academy. In addition the school provides many other sports such as swimming, tennis and athletics. In athletics the school is quite successful and in Pole Vault, in particular, the school consistently produces All-Ireland Champions. SELECTED ALUMNI/PROMINENT PAST PUPILS
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