Cabra,
Dublin 7.
phone 8380357
fax 8381531
E-Mail stdeclan@edunet.ie
Just a short walk from the Phoenix Park, St. Declan's was founded in 1960 by the Christian Brothers. From an initial intake of 120 pupils, the school has grown to its present size with a student population now in excess of 700.
In 1991, a lay principal, Mr Jack Cleary, was appointed and the School is now governed by a Board of Management, but, in keeping with its motto - "cursum tenere" - it retains the ethos of the typical Christian Brothers' school with its emphasis on work, spirituality and sport.
The school has an academic bias. In 1995 three of the students won Entrance Exhibitions to TCD, while a fourth gained an Entrance scholarship to UCD. Nevertheless, in the past decade it has broadened its curriculum and now offers a full complement of technical and business subjects as well as the traditional academic disciplines. To achieve this it has had to expand its resources which now include a language laboratory, a Woodwork centre, a Metalwork centre complete with computer-controlled lathe, a Construction Studies centre with computers and CAD software, and a computer centre with a network of PCs. This latter facility is currently being further enhanced to make emerging software more accessible right across the curriculum.
The school has a large modern gym, which along with all the usual facilities, functions as a professional basketball arena, complete with electronic scoreboard.
The pupils are given training in most of the popular forms of sports and athletics, such as gaelic football, soccer, hurling, rugby, swimming, basketball, sprinting and middle distance running.
St. Declan's is probably best known in sport for its gaelic football, hurling and basketball.
In gaelic football, past pupils the Brogan brothers, Martin Coffey and Mick Galvin all played for Dublin, while another recent past pupil, Enda McManus captained the Meath Minors to an All-Ireland victory before going on to play at senior level. One of the School's football coaches, John Caffrey, is another former Dublin player.
In hurling, school teams contested six Leinster finals in the last three years at U-14, U-16 and U-18 and won the Tom Quinlan Cup in 1995. Two current members of the Dublin S/H panel are past pupils.
The U-16A basketballers were All-Ireland Champions in 1995. Many pupils have also represented Ireland.Other former pupils have gone on to play at National League level.
Many past pupils who played soccer for the school now play English League Football and League of Ireland Football. It is not uncommon for pupils to represent Ireland at U-14 and U-16, as at present.
The school also fields a strong debating team which has competed with distinction in the Junior Chamber of Commerce Debating Competition.One past pupil, as a freshman in 1992, won the Gold Medal in the Trinity College Historical Debating Society in 1992. He was subsequently secretary of the Philosophical Society. The school also fields golf, table-tennis and quiz teams, one of the latter enjoying a protracted run on the tv programme "Blackboard Jungle."
Presumably on the basis that charity begins at home, the pupils operate a chapter of the St Vincent de Paul Society from the school which caters for the needy in the parish. Pupils and teachers alike support the very practical work of the Brothers in Zambia. Fancy dress days, fasts and other frivolities have produced record contributions to this cause.
Expansion plans for the School are at an advanced stage. These include a Business Studies centre complete with state of the art computer equipment, new classrooms, more showers and changing rooms, and social areas for the pupils.