| St. Brigid's College
is a voluntary secondary school located in Callan, Co.Kilkenny.
Until very recently it was under the management of the Sisters
of Mercy but in future it will come under the Trusteeship
of CEIST. The school was founded in 1949 and celebrated the
Golden Jubilee of its foundation in 1999.
The College is a recognized Post Primary Centre, where pupils
avail of free tuition and school transport under the conditions
laid down by the Department of Education. It is school policy
to ensure places for all day-pupils, and admission is non-selective.
On this page you will find important information including
the codes of conduct at St.Brigid's, the school Calendar,
the current curriculum, our anti-bullying charter and St.Brigid's
history
from its first humble origins until the present day. A more
detailed timeline showing important dates regarding the College's
history can be viewed via the St.Brigid's
Timeline.
Code of Behaviour / Discipline
Our Code of Behaviour is based on the recognition of the student
as an individual and yet creates an environment in which the
welfare of all is protected. The students of St. Brigid's
College are admitted to the school on the basis that they
will adhere to the school's Code of Behaviour. Parents / Guardians
should read this document carefully and discuss its contents
with their daughter. You can view the Code of Behaviour.
[Online] [Download
 ]
[Download  ]
Conduct of students
Great emphasis is placed on high standards in manners and
behaviour. Courtesy towards each other and towards all staff
members is expected. The school authority reserves the right
to request the temporary or permanent withdrawal of any pupil
whose conduct is not conducive to her own best interests,
that of other students or is in defiance of School regulations.
At St.Brigid's we encourage our students to mature and increase
their potentials by undertaking leadership roles within the
school. [More...]
St.Brigid's Anti-Bullying Charter
We believe that every child has a right to enjoy her learning
and leisure free from bullying, in a caring and respectful
environment, both in the school and in the surrounding community.
Our school community will NOT tolerate bullying of any
nature. Our Anti-Bullying Charter helps explain about
Bullying, how to spot it and more importantly, how to stop
it. You can view the Charter. [Online]
[Download ]
[Download ]
Curriculum Information
At St. Brigid’s College each student is valued in her
own right and every effort is made to ensure that she receives
the academic support she needs. Our academic system seeks
to equip students for the varied needs of the ever-changing
world in which we live. At St. Brigid’s we provide a
wide range of subjects and a highly qualified and motivated
staff. [Junior
Cycle] [Senior
Cycle]
All our girls are expected to undertake six years of study,
sitting for the Junior Certificate after three years, then
taking the Transition
Year followed by a further two years for Leaving
Certificate. Classes generally are not streamed and consistently
high achievement by pupils in State Examinations indicates
high motivation and good organisation on the part of both
students and staff.
The 2007 / 2008 School Calendar
The school Calendar 2007-2008 can be viewed here. [Online
]
Applications Forms
The 2008/2009 Enrolment Application Form is available for
download. [Click
here
][Download
]
The 2008/2009 Library Membership (Book Rental)Form is available
for download.[Click
here
]
History of St.Brigid's
Historical Overview
Callan Lodge Poor School
St. Anne's Pay School
St. Mary's Convent National School
St.Brigid's Missionary School
Historical Overview
Catherine McAuley founded the Religious Congregation of the
Sisters of Mercy in Dublin in 1831.
Her strong faith in God nurtured by reflection on the Gospels,
her deep and personal awareness of the needs of poor people
in Dublin in the nineteenth century and her loyalty to the
Catholic Church led her to give her life in service to others.
In her educational endeavors Catherine McAuley sought:
• To bring freedom and a better quality of life to those
who were poor.
• To regenerate Irish society by preparing young people
for responsible adult living.
• To lead all in her care to a deeper faith in Jesus
Christ.
The focus of her attention was on those who were poor, uneducated
and without opportunity; her approach was collaborative and
she sought to influence those at the centre of wealth and
power to share in her efforts.
In the area of Primary education, she was the first of the
contemporary founders of religious congregations to seek affiliation
to the New National School system and is credited with having
adapted creatively and constructively what was then an unsatisfactory
governmental system in education.
In terms of secondary or intermediate education, Catherine's
non-residential pension school for girls anticipated, by more
than forty years, the Intermediate Act of 1878.
Her concern for the spiritual and material welfare of women
was expressed in the setting up of the House of Mercy, where
women were trained for work which enabled them to earn their
living. Through her policy of self-help and the teaching of
crafts and skills, she pioneered technical or vocational education
half a century before such education was officially recognised.
Her close liaison with the family, through visitation of homes,
pointed to the need for family education and community-based
learning and can be seen as the forerunner of home/school/community
partnership.
Catherine McAuley was an inspired, creative innovator regarding
Teacher Education. In Baggot Street she initiated a training
programme for female teachers which was based on the monitor
system. This predated by two years the setting up by the State
of a similar teacher-training programme for male teachers
in Marlborough Street.
Her style of education was permeated by religious faith nurtured
in an atmosphere of love. Her greatest influence as a teacher
came from the recognition that she lived by the values she
imparted.
The Sisters of Mercy came to Callan from Athy in December
1872, and took up residence in Callan Lodge, later named St.
Mary’s Convent. In those days, Callan was a poverty-stricken
town and many eked out a marginal existence. Unemployment
and poverty led to malnutrition, which in turn, resulted in
much sickness, particularly T.B.
Callan Lodge Poor School
In 1871, just one year before the Sisters of Mercy came to Callan,
Fr. John Walsh, C.C., acting on the advice of the then Bishop
of Ossory, opened a school for girls in a building attached
to Callan Lodge (which was then the Curates' residence). This
school was to provide Catholic Education for the girls and infants
who had been removed by their parents from the existing female
schools under the management of the then Parish Priest, Fr.
Robert O’Keefe, who was at this time in open conflict
with his ecclesiastical superiors. On the retirement of the
Principal at the end of 1872 Fr. Walsh asked the Sisters to
take charge of this school and so on January 1st 1873, just
six weeks after their arrival in Callan the Sisters undertook
the education of Callan infants and girls, a work which they
continue to do to this day. The Callan Lodge Poor School progressed
rapidly and by 1877 the numbers enrolled had risen from 180
(in 1871) to 370.
St. Anne’s Pay School
Having catered for the education of the poor, Bishop Moran was
anxious that the advantages of Catholic Education should also
be available to the better-off members of the community, and
so the Sisters
opened a pension school, or pay school, in April 1873
At that time, class distinction was so great in the country
that it was unthinkable that the rich and poor would be educated
together. The pension school aimed at educating the children
of the middleclass, who could not afford the high fees demanded
in private and mainly non-Catholic pay schools.
The Callan pay school, called St. Anne's School for Young Ladies,
opened its doors in April 1873 - 45 pupils registered. Every
branch of a young lady's education was to be found in this school.
As well as religion and the 3R's, St. Anne's excelled in the
teaching of foreign languages, literature, art, painting in
oils and water colours, fancy needlework, book-keeping, algebra
and Geometry, instrumental music and singing, deportment, speech
and drama and all the accomplishments and social graces necessary
for a young lady. St. Anne's served the needs of the middle
and upper classes and imparted a sound Catholic education until
1928, when it merged with the Girls' Convent National School
- much to the disappointment of some parents who still wanted
a separate and elite education for their daughters.
St. Mary’s Convent National School
In the late 1880's, the buildings had become totally inadequate
to accommodate the large numbers of children attending the
schools, and it became necessary to secure a larger school.
A site was procured and construction of the new school began
in March 1889.
The estimate for the building (described by some at the time
as being ‘as big as a town’) was £1,266,
and a grant of £844 was given by the National Board
of Works. The school was ready for occupation in 1890 and
had accommodation for 400 pupils.
From the beginning St. Mary's Convent National School excelled
in many branches of learning. Special attention was given
to Music and Singing and high standards were reached in the
3R's. From the early days, provision had been made for an
industrial education in the schools, and in the new school,
a special room was fitted out for the purpose, fully equipped
and named the Vocational School. Here an excellent vocational
or technical education was given and senior girls volunteered
to remain on in the school for some further years (often to
the age of 18), while specialising in this training. All of
this paved the way for the introduction of Secondary School
Education to Callan, in the early 1940's.
St. Brigid’s Missionary School
Callan Lodge was vacated in September 1881 when the new Convent,
St. Mary's, was opened and blessed. However it did not remain
empty for long as in 1884 the Sisters opened St. Brigid's Missionary
School.
In the 19th Century there was a resurgence of missionary activity
in the Roman Catholic Church. The Callan Sisters were influenced
by this missionary movement and in 1881 decided to establish,
in the now empty Callan Lodge Convent, a missionary school
where girls desiring to be nuns could be educated and trained.
Bishop Moran gave his full support to this suggestion and
the first Aspirants (as these girls were called) were enrolled
in St. Brigid's missionary School in 1884.
This Missionary School was the only one of its kind in Ireland.
(A similar one for students for the priesthood existed in Dublin
- All Hallow's College) In the seventy-five years of its existence,
approximately 2000 girls attended this school, which was a "kind
of pre-novitiate".
The seeds of missionary zeal sown in this school continue to
flower in foreign lands to this day.
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