Rockbrook Park School
Encyclopedia
Rockbrook Park School is a private secondary school
for boys located on Edmonstown Road, Rathfarnham
, Dublin 16, Ireland
.
, Dublin 2, offering repeat Leaving Certs for students. In 1972 they started other classes. Later, in 1975, the school moved to Rockbrook House and surrounding forty acres buying them from John Brown, who was retiring as Chief Brewer with Guinness and moving back to England. The price paid was £75,000 Irish pounds.
In the summer of 1980, they built the "T-block" containing five class rooms and a number of small mentoring rooms at a cost of £44,000 Irish pounds.
In 2006, Rockbrook took on the biggest step in its history building a brand new school building, car park, sports pavilion, and two new soccer pitches costing €5 million.
Rockbrook's education is grounded on a Christian understanding of the world and of the human person. Drawing on Catholic educational principles and social teaching the school emphasises the importance of character development to its students. The school welcomes and respects students of other beliefs and accommodates these insofar as is practical. (They make attendance at religious education classes optional for non-Catholics.) The school fosters a genuine and profound respect for others, regardless of talents, race, colour, creed or social standing. People are to be valued as persons, for who they are, not for what they are. Within the school this respect is fostered in an atmosphere of trust, openness and sincerity, and these qualities should characterise all aspects of school life and interactions between pupils, parents, teachers and management. Students in particular are encouraged to value their freedom and to use it well, taking responsibility for their own actions.
The founding parents were inspired by St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei
, a personal prelature of the Catholic Church. St Josemaria’s teaching about the value of one’s ordinary work as a stepping stone to God impacts on the school’s approach to encouraging hard work, excellence and a spirit of service within the school community. At the schools request the Prelature of Opus Dei agreed to make a priest of the Prelature available for the sacramental and pastoral needs of the school community. He has no role in the management of the school.
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
for boys located on Edmonstown Road, Rathfarnham
Rathfarnham
Rathfarnham or Rathfarnam is a Southside suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is south of Terenure, east of Templeogue, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and 16. It is within the administrative areas of both Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and South Dublin County Councils.The area of Rathfarnham...
, Dublin 16, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.
History
The school was founded in 1971, first as a Pre-University Centre at 144-116 St. Stephen's GreenSt. Stephen's Green
St Stephen's Green is a city centre public park in Dublin, Ireland. The park is adjacent to one of Dublin's main shopping streets, Grafton Street, and to a shopping centre named for it, while on its surrounding streets are the offices of a number of public bodies and the city terminus of one of...
, Dublin 2, offering repeat Leaving Certs for students. In 1972 they started other classes. Later, in 1975, the school moved to Rockbrook House and surrounding forty acres buying them from John Brown, who was retiring as Chief Brewer with Guinness and moving back to England. The price paid was £75,000 Irish pounds.
In the summer of 1980, they built the "T-block" containing five class rooms and a number of small mentoring rooms at a cost of £44,000 Irish pounds.
In 2006, Rockbrook took on the biggest step in its history building a brand new school building, car park, sports pavilion, and two new soccer pitches costing €5 million.
Schools ethos
The school was founded by a group of parents who wanted to combine academic excellence, personal attention to each student and sound moral development, along with a close working relationship between teachers and parents.Rockbrook's education is grounded on a Christian understanding of the world and of the human person. Drawing on Catholic educational principles and social teaching the school emphasises the importance of character development to its students. The school welcomes and respects students of other beliefs and accommodates these insofar as is practical. (They make attendance at religious education classes optional for non-Catholics.) The school fosters a genuine and profound respect for others, regardless of talents, race, colour, creed or social standing. People are to be valued as persons, for who they are, not for what they are. Within the school this respect is fostered in an atmosphere of trust, openness and sincerity, and these qualities should characterise all aspects of school life and interactions between pupils, parents, teachers and management. Students in particular are encouraged to value their freedom and to use it well, taking responsibility for their own actions.
The founding parents were inspired by St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei
Opus Dei
Opus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei , is an organization of the Catholic Church that teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. The majority of its membership are lay people, with secular priests under the...
, a personal prelature of the Catholic Church. St Josemaria’s teaching about the value of one’s ordinary work as a stepping stone to God impacts on the school’s approach to encouraging hard work, excellence and a spirit of service within the school community. At the schools request the Prelature of Opus Dei agreed to make a priest of the Prelature available for the sacramental and pastoral needs of the school community. He has no role in the management of the school.