Belvedere College

Belvedere College SJ is a Jesuit-run secondary school located in Great Denmark St, Dublin, Ireland. Belvedere is an all-boys school and most of the current teaching staff are lay-persons, though a number of priests and brothers take part in the school's administration.

Related Topics:
Jesuit - Secondary school - Dublin - Ireland

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It was founded in 1841 and serves approximately 750 pupils.

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Facilities at the school include a 25-metre swimming pool, a gymnasium, a state-of-the-art science block and a theatre with an astro-turf roof. Belvedere is a fee-paying school, costing nearly five thousand euro per year per student, although quite an extensive scholarship scheme is available with the aim to be socially just.

Related Topics:
Gymnasium - Theatre - Euro

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The Jesuit ethos of social justice remains strong to this day. Students can help out on the Dublin Pilgrimage to Lourdes, take part in an exchange to Calcutta, where they work in homes for orphans and street-children and the St. Vincent de Paul Society is one of the largest in a school in Ireland, with activities such as old-folks parties and flat decoration taking place through-out the year. It is run by the students for the community of which Belvedere is a part. The pupils complete a charity walk from Dublin to Galway every summer to raise funds for the blind and The Temple Street Children's Hospital which is nearby the school. They also sleep out in the streets of Dublin before Christmas in order to raise funds for the homeless.

Related Topics:
Jesuit - Lourdes - Calcutta - St. Vincent de Paul

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The school has a strong rugby tradition. In 2005, for the first time in the College's history, they did the double by wining the Leinster Junior Cup and ]. They are currently Leinster and All-Ireland debating champions, winners of the Alliance Française debating championship and won the last ever series of Blackboard Jungle, a popular television programme on RTE. Their Lifesaving club is also very successful, and have many All-Ireland Titles to their credit and Belvederians have represented Ireland at International Lifesaving Competions.

Related Topics:
Rugby - Leinster Junior Cup - RTE

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It is known by the shortened name "Belvo" to most of its pupils.

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The school is separated into six years:

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• Rhetoric (6th year)
• Poetry (5th year)
• 1st Syntax (4th year)
• 2nd Syntax (3rd year)
• 3rd Syntax (2nd year)
• 1st Grammar (1st year)

The old primary school also had these titles

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• 2nd Grammar (6th class)
• 3rd Grammar (5th class)
• Rudiments (4th class)
• Elements (3rd class)

Belvedere College is the backdrop for much of James Joyce's novel Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. It is a semi-autobiographical piece of work, and the teacher was based on Joyce's own English teacher, George Dempsey.

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Belvedere College: Alumni ►