Headmaster's Welcome

As the headmaster of Clongowes Wood College SJ, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to our website.

I arrived in Clongowes in August 2004, having spent twelve months' sabbatical leave abroad, following eleven years as headmaster of Belvedere College SJ in Dublin. My previous experience here was as a Jesuit scholastic in the late 1970s, under the excellent and caring leadership of Fr Philip Fogarty. I was left with an abiding affection and respect for the school and I look forward to the challenge of serving it as headmaster in the coming years. Please support me and all who work here and pray that we may be faithful to our mission.

The college's Mission Statement speaks of educating our pupils 'according to the best traditions and highest standards of Jesuit schooling and the values of the Gospel'. Our aim is 'to create an open, happy, stimulating, mutually respectful community environment in which young people are able to develop the full range of their talents and abilities in a balanced, integrated and generous way'. The statement goes on to stress 'the criterion of excellence', which we apply to all aspects of life in the school, and our special concern 'to foster a sense of values and a commitment to the service of others'. We are pledged to 'an ever-renewed faith which actively promotes the struggle for greater justice in the world'.

The statement is a succinct expression of what we are trying to do here. We describe our ideal profile of a Clongowes graduate as someone who is 'open to growth, intellectually competent, socially able, culturally aware, physically developed, inspired by the values of the Gospel, flexible and adaptive, actively concerned about justice and peace, committed to striving for excellence and having a sense of belonging to the Church and its mission'.

It is a central part of my job to ensure that, working with the trustees and the board of management, these ideals are realised as fully as possible in our pupils and in the life of the school community as a whole.

Leonard Moloney SJ

Headmaster