Follow a student through their day at Clongowes, from breakfast to lights out, to get a sense of what life is really like at our boarding school.
Below is a brief description of what a typical day looks like for a student in his First Year (Elements) in Clongowes.
- 7.20 am – We are awoken by our Prefect and given 20 or so minutes to get ready for breakfast.
- 7.40 am – Breakfast is served in the Refectory, we are given a wide range of cooked breakfast items, cereals and fruit to set us up for the day.
- 8 am – We all come together for ‘Declamation’, this is our name for the Year Group meeting with our Prefect (Boarding Housemaster). Our Prefect goes over all the important information for the day ahead.
- 8.30 am – The student body and staff meets in the school concourse for daily announcements and prayer.
- 8.45 am – Classes begin, our classes are an hour long and we have two before our first break of the day.
- 10.45 am – We have a 15-minute break in which we can go back to the dorms to get ready for our next class, have a snack, or fit in a quick game of table tennis!
- 1.00 – At lunch, we are greeted to a wide range of menu options that change daily, we also have vegetarian options and something to suit all sorts of dietary requirements.
- 1.30 pm – ‘The Bank’ is open every day in the Prefect’s Office in the dorms. All of the students lodge any pocket money into the bank and can take some out when we need cash. We only need cash for things like small purchases in the school shop.
- 1.45 pm – Back to class, these are our final two classes of the day.
- 3.45 pm – Classes are finished for the day and sports begin – for most of us this is rugby from September to March but there are many other outdoor pursuits such as football, tennis, basketball and cross-country running for us to enjoy!
- 5 pm – Back to Refectory where we have our biggest meal of the day, much like lunch there is a variety of different dishes that regularly change.
- 6 pm – Supervised study begins for two hours which gives us the necessary time to get all of our homework and prep done for the following days. We do our homework in the Bellarmine Learning Center which is really comfortable and there are always two teachers there to help us if we have questions.
- 8 pm – We can go to the Café to have our supper and make tea & toast or cereals. It’s a great opportunity to unwind and relax with friends after a long day mix with boys from other Year Groups.
- 9 pm – We all return to our dorms to get ready for bed.
- 9.15 pm – Declamation again where we get together with our Prefect to talk through the day.
- 9.30 pm – The landing lights are turned off and our reading lights are turned on. In this period it is nice to read a few chapters of your favourite book. There are over 8,000 books in our James Joyce Library! Our Prefect pops in to wish us good night and has a quick chat.
- 10 pm – Reading lights go off and we get our much-needed sleep to prepare for the day ahead.
On Wednesday’s and Saturday’s class finishes at 12 noon, the afternoons are filled with games against other schools, either home or away. Parents are welcome to come support when games are being played. For students who don’t partake in rugby, there’s tennis, basketball, golf (on the College golf course), cricket and soccer.
