Belvedere College SJ

Welcome to the Development Office

This Jesuit ethos of striving for ‘greater’ is why we are committed to investing in and modernising the college


Since being founded in 1832, Belvedere College SJ has continuously strived for the Jesuit value of Magis ‘The More’- in our spiritual growth, in academia, the arts, sport and social justice.

This Jesuit ethos of striving for ‘greater’ is why we are committed to investing in and modernising the college, building upon the culture of philanthropy that is rooted in the Jesuit tradition.

Fostering Excellence

The fundamental mission of Belvedere College is to ensure that excellence permeates all aspects of College life. We are committed to creating the leaders of tomorrow. As we look to the future, we envision a stronger and more sustainable Belvedere: a thriving community enriched by the diversity of our students, innovative, forward-thinking curricula of our faculty, and improved facilities. In this, we will challenge ourselves to increase the positive impact we have upon each individual boy in our care.

 

Investing In Excellence

As a fee-paying school, Belvedere College receives no state funding for any of our capital projects, nor to run our Belvedere College Access Programme (formerly Social Diversity Programme). The necessary improvements to our facilities are only made possible because of the generous contributions of our donors who have supported Belvedere College and enabled the enhancement to our school.

Our current facilities were provided by the generosity of the past with over €20 million invested by parents, grandparents, past pupils, former parents and friends of the College in recent years. Yet it is our continued commitment to modernise and invest in our facilities, curriculum and student body that demonstrates that advancing excellence remains as important to us as ever. We aim to continue excelling in the holistic formation of our students, and we are conscious that to achieve this, we must remain diligent in maintaining and upgrading the opportunities available to the boys in our care.

Many of our existing facilities were built in a different era, when the physical requirements of a school were rather different to the norms of today. To continue our long tradition of success, it is imperative that our facilities can support our level of ambition.

We strive to build upon the legacy of previous generations in establishing state of the art facilities such as the O’Reilly Theatre, the award-winning Urban Farm and our 4G All-Weather Pitch at Distillery Road.
On behalf of the faculty, staff, and students at Belvedere College SJ, we thank you for your support. No matter the size, every gift makes a difference!

O’Reilly Theatre

4K All-Weather Pitch

Award-winning Urban Farm

Today, Belvedere stands at a crossroads of great opportunity and great need.


Advancing Excellence

Today, Belvedere stands at a crossroads of great opportunity and great need. For 187 years, we have been recognised as one of the leading second level education institutions in Ireland; well respected as a sporting institution, and socially inclusive in a pioneering capacity. However, enduring success is a never-ending journey, and complacency is not an option.

With secure financial footing, we can strengthen our academic offerings to meet the evolving needs of our students, support our ongoing commitment to building a diverse and vibrant community, and ensure our facilities support our level of ambition.

 

Sustained Improvement

Our current campaign, Advancing Excellence, was launched in October 2013, and has too date raised over €8,578,698. Since the start of our Masterplan, we have undertaken significant endeavours to diversify the opportunities available at Belvedere, made possible by the generosity of past families, pupils and friends.
Some of these include:

  • – State of the Art Home Economic Classroom
  • – New Library/Learning Resource Centre
  • – Our award-winning Urban Roof Farm
  • – 4G All-Weather Pitch at Distillery Road Sports Ground
  • – Refurbishment of the Cabra sports pavilion
  • – Renovation of Distillery Road Pavilion
  • – Swimming Pool Refurbishment
  • – New Student Catering/ dining facilities (Old Ref)
  • – New IT Suite
  • – Gym Refurbishment
  • – Art Room Extension
  • – Significant renovation of Belvedere House
  • – Development of our Social Diversity Programme

And many other smaller projects improving the standard of the College in general.

State of the Art new Library

University-Standard Home Economic Classroom

University-Standard Home Economic Classroom

Fully Refurbished Cabra Sports Pavilion

Swimming Pool Refurbishment

New Cabra Annex

Gym

Art Room

Art Room

Goals to Attain

The final phase of our current Masterplan, started in 2013, is the completion of the new building on Temple Street. Construction on this landmark project began in March 2020, and we will open the building to students in the 2022-23 academic school year.

This new building will have a transformational impact on the opportunities available to both current and future students, and dramatically increase the options available to them at the College. While we have no plans to expand student numbers (despite demand), this new building will provide new teaching accommodation and new facilities for the music department.

The first floor will provide a 200 square metre state of the art rehearsal room with acoustic panelled ceilings and spring floors, and a drama room. The second floor has three music rooms, three practice rooms and a state-of-the-art technical room (with the most up-to-date software). Across the third and fourth floors, we will have access to a further 10 modern classrooms, all of which are 62 square metres compared to the Department average size classroom of 52 square metre.

We will use the fifth floor of the building to expand our Urban Farm. The facility offers Belvedere students an innovative, high-spec urban science and agriculture learning space that is unrivalled at the secondary school level in Europe. In just a few years the Urban Farm has become established as a pioneering example of how environmental sustainability can be practiced by boys as young as twelve, while being seamlessly integrated into traditional subjects such as science, agricultural science, business, home economics and art.

With a project area of just 42 square metres the current space is no longer fit for purpose. Current and future engagement with the project requires both an increase in farm capacity and the workspace for larger numbers of students.

In addition to facilitating engagement within the school community, the new space will position Belvedere Farm as a local, national and international hub for developing project- based learning approaches to sustainability education.

What’s Next?

Over the next five to ten years, we will address the needs that we have around our main campus sporting facilities and complete a significant re-development of the Kerr Wing and the rear of No. 3 Great Denmark Street.

Per Vias Rectas

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

Belvedere College SJ

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