BUAN DILSEACHT, which means strong loyalty, is the motto of Cork's all male North Monastery School, known as the North Mon. "There's almost a Mafia bond between people who've been to the school," says principal Tom Walsh.
North Mon's alumni include former Taoiseach Jack Lynch as well as Niall Toibin and Glenroe actors Joe Lynch and Donal Farmer.
"The man who invented the submarine around the 1880s, Brother Holland, also attended here and the original submarines were known as Holland boats. The models were tested here in a fish pond beside the old monastery. The main person involved in getting the adoption laws put on statute went to school here. His name was Dan Moore. We've had a cardinal (Cardinal Manning) and two former presidents of UCC, Tadgh Carey and Harry Atkins," he says.
Two prominent Lord Mayors of Cork city also attended the North Mon. Terence MacSwiney was one of them and he later went on to teach at the school. Tomas McCurtain was the other Lord Mayor and two wings in the school are called after these well known Irish historical figures.
There is a great tradition of hurling at the North Mon. Dr Con Murphy, a former president of the GAA, is a past pupil of the school. "In any one Cork hurling team, I would be safe in saying that half of that team went to the school. It is a real nursery of hurling. Football is not a strong but we have a very strong basketball team and we re also very strong on athletics," says Walsh.
Situated in the heart of the north side of Cork city, the North Monastery was founded by the Christian Brothers in 1811 at Chapel Lane. The school has since moved to its present location at Our Lady's Mount. The school was converted into a temporary hospital to cater for those suffering from typhus fever during the Cork epidemic.
Brother James Dominic Burke, one of the founders of the Cork Scientific Association, introduced electricity to the North Mon before it was demonstrated in London.
Today there are four schools and a language centre on the campus. The two primary schools (Mon A and Mon B) have a total of 840 pupils between them. Scoil Mhuire is the all Irish secondary school and has 187 pupils and nine full time teachers.
The "English" secondary school (Scoil na Mathar Siorchabhrach) has 883 pupils and 55 teachers. There are four brothers teaching in the secondary school and three in the primary school.
The North Monastery Language Centre was founded by Tim O'Malony of Toyota Ireland, a former pupil at the full time director and six part time teachers. Every European language is taught there as well as Japanese and Russian. The centre caters for pupils of the school during the day time and, in the evenings, it is a commercial venture for outsiders.
The North Monastery, says Tom Walsh, was started to give education to poor people. "The school was founded in what would be called the Irishtown of the city. It was outside the medieval walls and in an area that was very much a slum. Because of high poverty, educaschool. Established five years ago, a bursary was set up to pay the staff ation was low and because of that the brothers came along as well as the Presentation nuns and the Ursuline nuns. They all started operating in the city in the early part of the last century.
"The ethos of the school is Christian and Catholic. The idea is to help each person to achieve his maximum potential. We don't tolerate an easy come, easy go attitude. We expect hard work, good results and subsequently, good jobs. About one third of our pupils go," on to third level education.
"There is also a `hidden curriculum parallelling that work. We are not in the business of `filling up vessels with facts' here in the Mon, but rather challenging our students to believe in themselves as much as we believe in them. We try and take them seriously as unique individuals, that they may sense themselves as such. This is the essence of true education and the only authentic way for development of the person. Our educational philosophy is that "love is the basis of learning" he says.
HE first technical school in the country was founded by a Brother Burke at the North Mon. It is now part of the current secondary school. In every year, there are four academic classes and two technical classes, concentrating on metal work and wood work.
There was always an Irish stream in the school with the "A" class learning everything as Gaeilge. The division came in 1966 when the "A" class became the official Gael Scoil.
Facilities include a gym, two woodwork shops, a metalwork shop, a computer room, a music room, a canteen, four science laboratories and a specialist geography room.
In an attempt to foster vocations to the Christian Brothers, the school has an advertising billboard about the life of the brothers. "We are trying to get people to join the order but like any order at the moment, we are hitting lean times," says Tom Walsh.
There is no entrance examination to the school. "It's a case of first come, first served. When schools were not so plentiful, there was a tradition of pupils coming from within a radius of 30 miles. That wouldn't really be the case today but we still have lads coming in from country schools because of a tradition of going to the North Mon in their families."
