Villiers School
| Villiers School Scoil Villiers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
 | |
| Coordinates | 52°39′42″N 8°39′23″W / 52.6617°N 8.6563°W |
| Information | |
| Motto | Template:Lang-la ("The cross is the touchstone of faith") |
| Established | 1821 |
| Headmistress | Ms Jill Storey |
| Staff | 34 full time, 14 part time |
| Number of students | 600 |
| Website | Villers School, Limerick |
Villiers School is a co-educational, fee charging, boarding and day secondary school, located on the North Circular Road, Limerick, Ireland. It is the city's only Protestant secondary school.
History
Founded from the estate of Mrs Hannah Villiers in 1821, the school has a Protestant ethos and is managed jointly by the Headmistress and a board of governors. The school relocated from Henry Street to its current location on the Tivoli campus on the North Circular Road less than one mile from Limerick city centre in 1953. Its campus has recently expanded significantly as the school acquired an adjoining two acre site, complete with two period houses.
Villiers School today
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Boarders number about one fifth of the student body with the rest commuting from Limerick and its environs. The student body is multi-denominational and diverse, including students from over twenty different countries including Spain, France, Mexico, South Africa, Germany Japan, China, South Korea and Russia.
The school has modern classrooms, boarding facilities, a new gymnasium (2001) and hockey pitch (2002), a large IT suite and several science laboratories, which since has been greatly improved upon with the new interconnection of facility computers and remote desktop facilities. A new science, technology and art building was completed in 2007. All students sit the Irish Junior and Leaving certificates, and then progress onto third level education. As of September 2012, over 600 students are enrolled at the school. Its range of Leaving Certificate subjects surpasses all other schools in this region.
Extracurricular activities
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Villiers fields junior and senior teams in both hockey and rugby in their respective Munster leagues and cups. There are also girls rugby and soccer teams. Other sports played include including soccer, basketball, athletics, table tennis, tennis, swimming, horse riding, martial arts and badminton
Music and debating are also encouraged and a large musical involving transition year students is an annual event. The transition years also hold a very successful fashion show each year. The School is an active participant in the Model United Nations debates.
Notable former students and faculty
- Donald Clarke, film correspondent for The Irish Times[1]
- Max Dennison, Oscar-nominated special-effects artist[2][3]
- Daniel Ketchum, Olympic gold medalist at Athens, 2004[4][5]
- David J. Cowpar, author (The ODDs Beginnings, Lee Kennedy: a Life Changing Friendship)[6]
- Aisling O'Loughlin, TV3 presenter[7]
- Jan O'Sullivan (née Gale), Irish Minister for Education and Skills[8]
- Philip Owens, Los Angeles, California-based film editor[9][10]
- Caleb Powell, President of the Irish Rugby Football Union[11]
- John Ruddock, Founder member of the National Concert Hall [12]
- Vere Wynne-Jones, RTÉ news and sports presenter[13]
- Samuel Walsh, artist; member of Aosdana[14]
References
- ^ Donald Clarke, irishtimes.com; accessed 3 March 2015.
- ^ Max Dennison profile, mattepaintinguk.com; accessed 3 March 2015.
- ^ Max Dennison IMDb profile, imdb.com; accessed 3 March 2015.
- ^ Daniel Ketchum profile, sports-reference.com; accessed 3 March 2015.
- ^ Daniel Ketchum profile, tipperarystar.ie; accessed 3 March 2015.
- ^ David J. Cowpar, villiers-school.com; accessed 3 March 2015.
- ^ Aisling O'Loughlin, inspirepr.ie; accessed 3 March 2015.
- ^ Jan O'Sullivan, rte.ie; accessed 3 March 2015.
- ^ Philip Owens website, philipowens.com; accessed 12 September 2015.
- ^ Philip Owens profile, imdb.com; accessed 3 March 2015.
- ^ Caleb Powell profile, irishrugby.ie; accessed 3 March 2015.
- ^ John Ruddock, www2.ul.ie; accessed 3 March 2015.
- ^ Vere Wynne-Jones profile, rte.ie; accessed 3 March 2015.
- ^ Samuel Walsh website; accessed 3 March 2015.