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A Co-Ed School

The change in status from all boys to co-educational

Historic Dublin boys’ school established in 1888 to become co-educational for the first time 

We are delighted to announce that following an extensive period on consultation between staff, parents, students, and all stakeholders, our school is becoming a co-educational institution from September 2023 onwards, welcoming girls as pupils for the first time in its over 130-year history. 

This is being announced as part of a raft of recent changes to modernise the historic school, including: 

  • A new technology wing in the school – allowing St. Joseph’s to become a STEM-focused institution at the cutting edge of secondary education in Ireland. 
  • The introduction of a wide-range of new subjects including robotics, coding, technology, art, business and horticulture.
  • Becoming the founding PTech voluntary school in the country, offering third level qualification opportunities alongside traditional Leaving Certificate
  • Excellent range of IT equipment and a focus on digital skills for students
  • Free hot lunch service for all students, every day.
Assistant Principal Ms. Ciara Dowling.
Picture; Gerry Mooney – Irish Independent

Speaking about the announcement, St. Joseph’s Principal Seán Stack said: “We’re delighted to be able to share our excellent facilities and curriculum with a new collection of students. St. Joseph’s has a strong tradition of excellence alongside evolution and these changes allow us to be an early adopter to social needs.” 

It is important to offer our facilities and subjects to all students in our area, very much in line with our values and vision for the school. We very much will be focused on ensuring we change from an all-boys school to co-educational, and not merely accepting girls into the school as it is. All new students will have a huge role to play in the development of our school over the coming years. We can’t wait for our local community to see these initiatives in place from September 2023 and look forward to a new era for St. Joseph’s.” 

As part of becoming a co-educational school, St. Joseph’s has recruited a dedicated Assistant Principal, Ms. Ciara Dowling, in charge of accommodating the change and looking after new students, which is extremely important for students, parents and teachers to successfully manage the new structure. 


For more information on the school and application process, please visit the dedicated FAQ page at stjosephsfairview.ie or call Seán Stack or Ciara Dowling at 01-8339779

FAQ

The school has consulted with the trustees and its community of staff, parents and students in examining the values and future direction of the school. In the feedback, it was clear that there is significant support to offer our school and its reputation for care and academics to all students, regardless of gender. On that basis, combined with a local need for school places, the Board of Management of the school initiated the process of changing from all-boys to co-ed. It is a very exciting time in the history of the school, and we are looking forward to welcoming the first co-ed class into the school in 2023.

The school is excited to change from our roots as an all-boys school to co-ed. In order to facilitate this, there will be a full curriculum review of subjects, there will be a number of infrastructural changes to the buildings, including toilets, and there will be a review of our identity and name as a Christian Brothers School. To enable this, we have appointed a dedicated Assistant Principal to oversee the process.

Our applications open at the start of every academic year. Expression of interest/full applications forms, as well as admissions policy, can be found at www.stjosephsfairview.ie/enrolment/ . These can be sent into the school printed or via email. These forms will be updated to reflect the change before the admissions window opens.

Our full range of subjects can be found on our website www.stjosephsfairview.ie/teaching-learning/  . For incoming students these include the core subjects for Junior Cycle and option subjects such as Art, Technology, Coding, Music, Robotics, French and Spanish. Please have a look at our website for full details on these.

No, in September 2023 we will accept girls into the incoming 1st year class only. The following year the next cohort will continue and this repeats. It will take the 6 years from 1st year until the Leaving Certificate class of 2029 until all years are co-ed.

We will have a dedicated toilet for the incoming class for female students in the main building. We have the larger all cubical toilet facilities for all other students located in a different building. There will be no overlap between male and female students in the girls’ toilets. Staff have their own separate toilet facilities.

Full details on the current uniform are available now on our website www.stjosephsfairview.ie/student-life/uniform/  . We will be conducting a full review of the uniform in 2022/23 for the incoming class and carry out a full consultation where the students will contribute toward a new uniform policy.

The school day starts at 8.45 every morning Monday to Friday. It ends at 15.30 Monday to Thursday, and at 13.00 on Friday. Lunch time is 30 minutes each day, with a 10 minute morning break

Sports plays a significant role in school life. Please see www.stjosephsfairview.ie/student-life/extra-curricular/ for a full list of our sports. We will also be reviewing additional sports we can offer for new students, including girls.

Extra-curricular activity plays a significant role in school life. Please see www.stjosephsfairview.ie/student-life/extra-curricular/ for a full list of our extra-curriculars. We will also be reviewing additional activities we can offer for new students, including girls.

We have an exceptional and dedicated team of teachers, SNAs and administrative staff that look after students on a daily basis in the school. In particular, Year Heads, Guidance Counsellors, and class teachers will care for every student. We restrict our year sizes to two classes in order to maintain a dedicated and individual support structure to every students’ educational and wellbeing needs.

A full list of our staff can be found at www.stjosephsfairview.ie/info/school/staffing/ 

For any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us by email on questions@stjosephsfairview.ie . We are also very happy to take phone calls on 01-8339779 with any help we can offer

If you have any queries we didn’t manage to cover here, please do reach out to questions@stjosephsfairview.ie or at 01-8339779

If you have any queries we didn’t manage to cover here, please do reach out to questions@stjosephsfairview.ie or at 01-8339779