Message from College Principal

A Chairde

I am delighted to welcome you to our website, particularly on the occasion of our Tenth Anniversary, as we celebrate ten years of work and commitment in providing a quality education for the young people of the parishes of St. Brigid's, St. Thomas's and St. Mochta's.

I pay tribute to the parents for their involvement and support during our formative years and we are tremendously proud of the their children and their achievements to date.

From the outset we accepted the challenge to provide and educational centre of excellence. It followed, therefore, that we should adopt the sean-fhocal "Mól an Oige agus Tiocfaidh si", where praise, encouragement and a positive learning environment would form the foundation of our philosophy. We have aimed for the highest standards in all areas of school life, aspiring towards excellence, creating high expectations and developing a sense of pride and respect among parents, students and staff. There were challenging ideals which have been amply manifested, probably, with most impact, in terms of excellent academic results, thus confirming the image of our College as outlined in our philosophy,

It has been extremely gratifying to see our College placed among the top schools in the country with the highest entrants to NUI Maynooth, Trinity College and DIT; a number of our students taking first place in Ireland in the leaving Certificate examinations and several others receiving Scholarship Awards for the highest points in their examinations. As a consequence it was appropriate that we initiated our own Merit Award Scheme for Excellence in order to recognise the success and commitment of our students who acquired 500 points in their examinations.

The holistic development of young people is an equally important challenge for any school. We hear a lot of negativity about young people today but the participation of our students in the various extra-curricular activities cancels out this impression. In Gaelic Football, Hurling, Basketball, Public Speaking, Debating and Performances in the Arts and Music our students have done us all proud. Among the many pleasant memories of the past ten years which stands out was the visit of President Mary McAleese last year to launch our Tenth Anniversary celebrations and, on a personal level, another memorable occasion was accompanying a number of students to the 2004 Olympic Games where we were guests of the Lord Mayor of Athens.

School is a community where staff, parents and students support each other; an effective school results from productive teamwork; Ni neart go chur le cheile. In that context Castleknock Community College is an effective school and, on behalf of the Board of Management, I wish to state that we will continue to commit ourselves to providing a College where the education of your child takes pride of place and where the highest standards and aspirations will continue to be our challenge.