Clongowes Wood College

Clongowes Wood College is a voluntary secondary boarding school for boys, located near Clane in County Kildare, Ireland. The school was founded by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1814, is Ireland's oldest Catholic school, and featured prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. One of five Jesuit schools in Ireland, it had 450 students in 2011/2012 when the fees were €16,800 per annum.The school's current headmaster is Mr Chris Lumb (2015–Present.) Mr Lumb is the first lay headmaster of Clongowes in its 200-year history. Fr Leonard Maloney previous headmaster (2004 - 2015) Fr Michael Sheil, S.J., retired as Rector in 2006 and Fr Bruce Bradley (headmaster 1992-2000) was his successor. In September 2011 Fr Michael Sheil, S.J., returned as rector.SchoolThe school is a secondary boarding school for boys from Ireland and other parts of the world. The school is divided into three groups, known as "lines". The Third Line is for First and Second years; the Lower Line for Third and Fourth years; and the Higher Line for Fifth and Sixth years. Each year is known by a name, drawn from the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum: Elements (First year), Rudiments (Second year), Grammar (Third year), Syntax (Fourth year), Poetry (Fifth year), and Rhetoric (Sixth year).