Mission Statement

Newbridge College is an educational community which, under the trusteeship of the Dominican Order, is dedicated to promoting, in co-operation with parents and guardians, the religious, spiritual, moral academic, aesthetic, cultural, physical, emotional, and social development of all the students committed to its care. Its principal means of achieving this aim is through the collaborative participation of students and staff in the college's curricular and extra-curricular programmes/activities, having regard to each individual's unique set of needs and aspirations.

Background and Ethos

The Dominican Friars founded Newbridge College in 1852 as a boarding school for boys.  Today, still under the care of the Dominican Friars, Newbridge College is a Christian school in the Roman Catholic tradition, which is conscious of its Irish tradition and heritage in an increasingly united Europe.  It is a co-educational day school, with day-boarding facilities, and with a student population in the region of 800 students.

Since 1984 a Board of Governors, comprising representatives of the Dominican Friars, parents, past pupils and teachers, has managed the College.  The Principal's post has been held by a layperson since 1991.

As a Dominican School, it seeks to pass on to its students not only skills for earning a living but values for living in a way that shows respect for all that is noble and true.  It acknowledges that each of its students is uniquely gifted and it seeks to provide each one of them with curricular and extra-curricular opportunities that are suited to his/her aptitudes and aspirations.

Our students are taught and helped to assess things at their true worth, to cherish only what is good, and to approach society in a generous and critical manner.  This is in line with the Dominican tradition, reaching back to the insights of St Dominic, who founded the Order of Preachers  in 1216.

Furthermore, our students are challenged to acquire an appreciation of the finer things in life – a particular emphasis is placed on art and music.

Overall, our hope is that our students may come to adopt as their own those values taught by Christ who is ‘The Way, the Truth and the Life.’

Operating Context

Underlying Principles

Newbridge College, within the context and parameters of D.E.S. regulations and programmes, the rights of the Patron, as set out in the Education Act, and the funding and resources available, supports the principles of inclusiveness, equality of access and participation, parental choice, and respect for diversity.

While maintaining and consolidating its mission and ethos as a Catholic school, Newbridge College also accepts applications from members of other Christian traditions and other faiths and none.  In considering such applications the primary focus will be on fostering the Catholic ethos of the College.

It is a condition of considering an enrolment application that the applicant parents/guardians and the son/daughter for whom application is being made, declare their support for the College ethos as set out in the College Mission Statement and Background and Ethos Statement.  Our Code of Behaviour may be dowloaded here.

Resources

The physical and teaching resources of Newbridge College are provided by a combination of fees, fundraising, DES grants and teacher allocations, funds provided by the Dominican Order and by the generosity of parents, past pupils and other friends of the College.

Implementation of all the College’s programmes, including providing access for students with special needs, must have appropriate regard to the funding and resources available.