Dominican College Sion Hill

Dominican College Sion Hill is one of the oldest girls' secondary schools in Ireland. It was founded in 1836 in Blackrock, County Dublin in Ireland. Its approach to education is based on the Dominican ideal of developing the whole person. "Dominican College Sion Hill aims to help each student achieve her full potential academically, spiritually, emotionally and socially in a happy environment."[2] Sheila Drum is the current principal. In 2019 it had 444 girls enrolled in school.[3] It is a national school and has a catchment area of Blackrock-Dún Laoighaire-Dalkey-Monkstown.

Dominican College Sion Hill
Sion Hill
Location
Blackrock, County Dublin

Ireland
Coordinates53.301496°N 6.189597°W / 53.301496; -6.189597
Information
MottoVeritas
Established1836
PrincipalMs Sheila Drum[1]
Number of students400+ [1]
Websitesionhillcollege.ie

History

Foundation

Sion Hill was founded by the Dominican sisters in 1836 in a suburban villa called Sion Hill because of rare shrubs brought by its owners from the Holy Land. In the beginning the school catered for 40 day pupils, 8 boarders and 10 nuns. By 1950 this had increased to 120 day pupils and 130 boarders. The boarding school closed in the late 1960s and the school now caters only for day pupils.[4]

The original school building
Sion Hill school entrance

Grounds

There used to be two grass Hockey pitches as part of the school, but these were sold off in 1990 for residential development. The Residential development of Sion Hill now occupies this space since 1992. In 2016 a new multi-use, all-weather pitch was built to support physical education.[5]

Concert Hall

The Concert Hall was established in 1928 and was modernised in 2008.

Sports

Hockey

Sion Hill has a long tradition of playing hockey. They have teams participating in the Leinster Schoolgirls competitions. The teams are professionally coached and use the facilities of an all weather hockey pitch.

Tennis

Sion Hill has teams participating in the Leinster Championships. The tennis facilities comprises 1 tennis court and during summer the hockey pitch can be transform into several more.

Basketball

Sion Hill has teams participating in the Dublin League. The teams are professionally coached and use 1 indoor court.

Other sports

There are other sports provided for at Sion Hill, such as Athletics and Zumba

Extracurricular

Music

The music department offers music at Junior and Leaving Certificate level, with opportunities to use the music technology option and conducting for Leaving certificate.

There are three voluntary choirs and an orchestra in the school which perform at various school functions and go carol singing annually at Powerscourt Townhouse Centre in Dublin. Sion Hill also enters competitions such as the Cork Choral Festival, The Arklow Music Festival (2nd Place in 2006), The Wesley Inter Schools Festival (1st prize winners March 1999) and the Department of Education examinations (making the regional finals 1995 and 1996).

Debating

Debating is a popular activity with many successes in various competitions debating in English, Irish, French and German.[2]

Clubs

Sion Hill also has clubs such as St. Vincent Paul, Alive and an Art Club.

Notable alumni and teachers

References
  1. Irish Department of Education
  2. Official Website
  3. "School Detail". Department of Education and Skills. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  4. "History". Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  5. "Facilities". Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2010-09-07.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Blackrock
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