WELCOME NOTE

Fundamentally, the College seeks to complement the Catholic home in promoting all aspects of each pupil's development. Our staff seeks to support each pupil's individuality and the development of his talents. Each pupil is at the core of what we are about as an educational establishment.

In Violet Hill, our wish is that every boy who comes to the College at the age of eleven, or at the age of sixteen to study A Levels, should leave at eighteen as a mature young man. Our vision statement says, “St. Colman's is a Christian Community in which all its members are valued and in which every member of staff is committed to ensuring that every one of our students is fully alive to, and empowered to realise his full potential.” We are keen to develop every boy's self-esteem through the pastoral system and we have no doubt that the influence of our Christian Community has a positive effect.

Our strengths in St. Colman's include a caring Christian Community where the strong ethos is reflected in mutual respect between teachers and pupils; a dedicated and caring staff; excellent GCSE and A-level results; a positive approach to discipline; strong relationships with parents enhanced by a vibrant parents' association; a boarding school which adds an extra dimension to the ethos of the school; a school with a long tradition of excellence in sport and music; a wide variety of extra-curricular activities. Pupils may avail of the opportunity to study seven modern languages. We have an incomparable success rate in level 3 Key Skills. In addition to all this, the school has excellent facilities which are continually improving and has an attractive, safe and tranquil setting. On the very impressive site, the planned refurbished building, with its new Creative and Expressive Block and new Sports Hall, will further enable the school community to face the future with confidence. In an educational climate of change, the College is in a strong position to provide the very best for each of its students, in keeping with the College motto “Bonitas, Disciplina, Scientia.” This translates as kindness, discipline and knowledge which are at the very centre of our thinking and our work as we embrace the changes and welcome each new cohort of students. Our many famous and successful past pupils are testimony to the excellent educational provision we have offered, and continue to offer.

We are very pleased as a school community to have received the Investor in People Award and after bring reassessed in May 2005 the award has been renewed for a further three years. This was a significant event for us as a school and is indicative of our determination to remain at the forefront of educational developments. One of the strong features noted by the awarding body is the commitment of the school to encourage and develop leadership in each student in keeping with our mission statement, “Preparing for life, pursuing excellence.” Our pupils deserve the best and it is the intention of the Senior Leadership Team and all the staff that they receive the best.

CURRICULUM

The curriculum in St. Colman's is everything that the College offers pupils by way of learning experience and opportunity, planned in the context of trying to meet individual needs and external demands, including the requirements of the 1989 Education Reform (N.I.) Order.

In accordance with our College aims, the curriculum that we offer enables each pupil to realise his full potential and to develop all of his interests and talents. It is designed to ensure that there is breadth and balance at each of the Key Stages and, with continuity and progression, to facilitate the student's acquisition of the life skills and competencies necessary for the world of work.

We aim to ensure that the individual student's needs, both now and in the future, are at the core of everything we are about as an educational establishment. We seek to do this by fostering a sound educational partnership between the College, you as parents and the wider community, a partnership which strengthens and secures the safe and caring educational experience afforded to our pupils and promotes not just their academic development, but also their spiritual, emotional and physical growth/well-being .

In St. Colman's, we recognise the need to provide an all-round education and the need to provide the opportunity for students to realise their full potential, academically, physically, socially and spiritually. To this end, we offer a rich and varied range of extra-curricular activities and are confident that there is something for everyone. Participation in extra-curricular activities enhances the student's self-esteem and enables them to build strong friendships outside the classroom. We also recognise the important role such activities play in developing good relationships between pupils and teachers.

Our Aims

Bonitas: to encourage moral uprightness and good citizenship; to develop a rounded personality.

Scientia: to encourage the highest academic achievement of which the individual is capable; to equip each student with a set of attitudes and ideals for the shaping of his life.

Disciplina: to instil through the operation of the school's discipline, that self-discipline necessary for success both in school and in the world of work.

Our Mission Statement

St. Colman's College is a community which values all of its members and is committed to ensuring that all our students are fully alive to, and empowered to realise their full potential.

VISION

Preparing for life.

Pursuing excellence.

AIMS

To create a climate wherein all students can flourish and fully develop all their God-given talents.

To ensure that St. Colman's is a happy and fulfilling place to be.

To instil in students a sense of responsibility for their own actions and achievements.

To awaken in students a sense of their dignity and self-worth.

To inculcate in students respect for the dignity and rights of others.

To create warm and positive relationships between students, staff and all members of the College Community.

To build an effective partnership between parents, students and staff.

To bring our students to a full understanding of our Catholic Faith and to promote Christian values and attitudes in all members of the College Community.