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Presidents Message
Dear Past Pupils,
Thank you for logging in to the Westland Row PPU website, and I hope this message finds you all well.
It is a great honour for me to take up the role as President of the Row PPU. During the 1960’s and 1970’s six of my brothers went to Westland Row School. The school gave us all a quality education which stood to us all over the years.
I also recognise and wish to acknowledge my good fortune that, since completing my Leaving Certificate in 1973, I have held on to my very good school friends.
I suggest that it is a time for all of us to acknowledge our good fortune and to give a little something back to the education system and to the current pupils of Westland Row. I recognise the huge efforts already put in by the Row PPU in facilitating contact between past pupils and in supporting the school financially and otherwise and I wish to thank them all for this. I respectfully wish to express the thought and hope that more ex-row pupils should join the PPU team. This is not a close organisation and all are welcome to join.
For many years Westland Row has had many female students and they are now an important part of the school. There is a need and an opportunity to encourage some of the many hundreds of female PPU past pupils to become members of the Row PPU and this is something the Committee is working on.
As President of the PPU I wish to express gratitude to the School Principal, Assistant Principal and to all the staff for their support to the PPU. During my term as President I hope we together can further develop this relationship.
Pat Neill
President
About
CBS Westland Row
“The school is very proud of our PPU and very appreciative of their ongoing support. We would encourage recent school leavers to join the PPU as a way of keeping in touch with the school and contributing to the excellent work the school does”
The Christan Brothers initially established a school in East Hannover Street in 1812, The school then transferred in 1864 to a site in Westland Row, adjacent to St Andrews Church, where it remains to this day, centrally located on major bus and train routes. Initially set up as an all-boys school the school now has a mix of boys and girls students. The School is a member of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust, a community of schools which are managed in accordance with the principles of the Edmund Rice Schools Charter.
The School provides a wide range of subjects for students studying the Junior Certificate and the Leaving Certificate courses, including both the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) and Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme.
School Principal, Kate Byrne, addressed the Annual Dinner and advised that the school is doing well and has about two hundred students, from a wide range of nationalities. She said that many of the students come to the school in very difficult circumstances but they find a caring atmosphere where they can study and realise their potential.
On the academic front, the trend of the past few years continued with 70% of the Leaving Cert class of 2024 going on to third level. Students are attending TU Dublin and DCU for science, Trinity for dentistry and TU Dublin for aviation technology and biotechnology. A number of students have also opted for PVC courses with a view to pursuing degrees in the future.
The school’s success has been recognized in a number of ways including a prestigious community award as evidenced by the banner, pictured below, which flies proudly outside the building. The award is in recognition of the contribution of the school to the local community.
The students and teachers, as well as representatives of the PPU, gathered in St Marks on Wednesday May 22nd for the annual prize presentation ceremony. The PPU was absent from this ceremony during the Covid years but was pleased to reconnect with it this year and to present the Students of the Year awards. John Cullen and Brian Duncan represented the PPU for what was a very enjoyable occasion.
There were three awards for each class – Best Pupil, Most Improved Pupil and, most notably, the Pupil who best demonstrated the values of Blessed Edmund Rice. All the award winners and the teachers were acknowledged by the audience with enthusiastic applause.
As is noted on the school website, the school provides a wide range of extra-curricular and sports activities, and pupils who participated in these activities were presented with individual certificates to acknowledge their achievements.
After a period during which, because of low pupil numbers, there was little sporting activity, participation in inter schools’ sports is back, even if it is in sports, which were known in the “old days” as “foreign games”. The girls junior tag rugby team won a junior inter schools team award. Coaching is provided by Rugby Ireland and the current coach is Maz Reilly who has played on the Irish international team. The boys also had success, winning an inter schools shield and reaching another final. John Cullen was disappointed that there was not a hurley to be seen! Other sports activities include chess and pool. Hopefully, we will have another Ken Doherty in the future.
The ceremony concluded with the awarding of the Leaving Certificate Student of the Year awards. These awards are sponsored by the Past Pupils Union and presented by Brian Duncan and John Cullen The award for the Leaving Certificate Student of the Year went to Keira Joy Cabamungan and the award for the Leaving Certificate Applied went to Saoirse Sheridan.
Photos from the Award Ceremony can be found on our Blog
About
Westland Row PPU
The Past Pupils Union (PPU) was set up in 1954. The primary purpose of the PPU is to support the teachers to achieve the best possible learning outcomes for the students in the school, to keep past pupils advised of developments within the school and the past pupils community, and to encourage past pupils to keep in touch. Membership of the Union is available to all past pupils and the annual subscription and other fund-raising events, after expenses, are used to support the work for the school.
To support the school, we help with career guidance and in preparing pupils for the world outside the school. We support other learning opportunities from time to time, including homework clubs and Gaeltacht scholarships. We sponsor the annual Student of the Year awards and help in other fund-raising activities for purchase of new equipment from time to time.
For past pupils we provide updates on developments of interest, both within the school and within the wider past pupil community. A number of Leaving Cert. Classes have also set up their own Whats App Group. Further details are available from the Secretary. We also organize an annual dinner at which the Row Person of the Year is commemorated and arrange that deceased past pupils are remembered in the annual St Andrews Day Mass.
Forty-Eight past pupils and seven guests attended the PPU Annual Dinner at the Westbury Hotel on Saturday January 25 2025. This most enjoyable occasion also featured the presentation of the PV Doyle trophy to John Murray (class of 62), ROW Person of the Year 2025.
School Principal, Kate Byrne, addressing the gathering advised that the school is doing well and has about two hundred students, representing over 30 different nationalities. She said that many of the students come to the school in very difficult circumstances but they find a caring atmosphere where they can study and realise their potential.
Kate praised Deputy Principal, Cathriona O’Sullivan, and her staff for their great work. She also thanked the PPU for its valuable contribution including the provision of bursaries to two pupils and the purchase of “hoodies” for the lady’s rugby squad, an activity which is enjoying great popularity amongst the girls. How things have changed!
The President, Dan Ferrari, also mentioned some of the ways the PPU had helped the school during the year. He also thanked the many past pupils who attended the dinner and who supported the raffle.
The Dinner concluded with the presentation of the Row Person of the Year to John Murray (Class of 62)
Each year a Mass is held in Westland Row Church commemorating Sr Andrew’s Day. By arrangement with the Parish deceased past pupils are included in the prayers of the Mass. Their names also appear on the Parish Newsletter and Mass leaflet.
While the PPU normally learns about the deaths of past pupils it is inevitable that some deaths will be missed. Anyone who knows of any such deaths is asked to advise the Secretary.
This year’s Mass, on Sunday December 1 2024. was celebrated by the Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin, Paul Dempsey, who was assisted by the PPU Chaplin, Fr. Eugene McCarthy, and Fr. Alan Hilliard, the recently appointed Administrator at Westland Row.
The number of past pupils who died during the last twelve months was read out by Deacon, Dermot McCarthy, at the beginning of Mass and was a record high of fourteen names as follows;
Sean Duncan, Matt Wallace, Jerry Carroll, Paul Donohue, Ray McCarthy, Emmet Bergin, Fran Rooney, Sean Canavan, Paddy Walsh, Tommy Tracey, Fr. Myles Kavanagh CP, John Sherwin, John Henry, Jack McGinley.
The Past Pupils Union is delighted to announce that John Murray (class of 1962) has been elected ROW Person of the Year for 2025. John is one of six brothers who attended the ROW and who are still active members of the PPU. John, accompanied by his family and four brothers, was presented with the Award at our Annual Dinner on Saturday, January 28.
John has been a PPU committee member for many years and served as President in 2010/11. He continues to contribute greatly to all aspects of the PPU work and social activities, especially the organisation and running of the Annual Dinner. In her speech at the Dinner the School Principal Kate Byrne, congratulating John on the Award said it was “about time”, a recognition of the contribution John has made over the years to the school as well as the PPU.
John’s career, after leaving school in 1962, was spent in the Worlds of Accountancy and Life Assurance. He attributes his aptitude for figures to the excellent teaching in Maths which he got in the ROW. He believes that skill in numeracy is very important for all students on leaving school.
He started his career in 1962 as an audit clerk with Coopers and Lybrand (now PWC) and continued his studies in the evenings at the College of Commerce, Rathmines.
John’s next posting in 1963 was to the newly opened Intercontinental Hotel in Ballsbridge where he got his first introduction to computers, an IBM 4200 punch-card system. During this posting, JFK visited Ireland so the entire hotel was taken over by the US State Department. Exciting times indeed for a lad fresh out of school!!
John’s next assignment was at Aspro-Nicholas on the Naas Road. Whilst there he took up a position in the Cost and Works, Purchasing and Production Planning functions.
John’s further evening studies brought him to the NIHE where he made contacts who later enticed him to get involved in a start-up venture importing nursery/toy brands.
In accordance with the tradition John, accompanied by the President and a number of Committee members, visited the school and spoke with the fifth and sixth year pupils.
Pictures of the Dinner and the Presentation to John are available on our Blog. The pictures on this occasion were take by John’s son Stephen, a professional photographer who also workes as an architect and actor.
Cuimhneachan
1864 To 2014 (School And Local History)
The original school was established by the Christian Brothers in 1812 and moved to its present location in 1864. The PPU together with the school arranged a programme of events to mark the 150 year Anniversary in 2014. We were honored by the presence of Enda Kenny, TD, Taoiseach, in the school on 20 November 2014 to launch the programme. The Taoiseach spent a lengthy period meeting the pupils and all others present, and soaking up the atmosphere in the school. In his remarks, the Taoiseach was generous in his praise for the contribution that the school and its past pupils have made to building our country. The contribution was also recognized in the choice of the school to launch the 1916 to 2016 Schools Commemoration Programme.
As part of the celebrations the PPU organized, printed and distributed Cuimhneachan, a history of the school and the surrounding area over the period from 1864 to 2014. In particular it includes details of past pupils who we were involved in the 1916 Easter Rising. The most famous of these were the Pearse brothers Padraig and Willie but there were many other who took part. Cuimhneachan also included a section dealing with past pupils and others from the area who fought in the Great War. Cuimhneachan was and still is a must read for anyone interested to learn about the history of the school and the local area.
There are, unfortunately, not too many hard copies of the actual publication available, but we have included a PDF version on this Website. This version has been updated to include more past pupils who fought in 1916, and whose names emerged after Cuimhneachán was first published.
School History Project
Another project as part of the 150 anniversary celebrations was the School History Project. This involved the digitalization of the pupils’ records and the provision of a searchable facility which now covers the period from October 1864 when the school opened, to 1928. Cuimhneachán includes details from the records of the addresses of pupils and their parents’ occupations. This is interesting in terms of the changing demographics of the area . One interesting aspect of the work was the discovery that that Eamon De Valera sent his sons to the school in the period, describing his occupation as President of Ireland. We also discovered that the grandfather of a prominent British Politician attended the school – his parents gave their address as the local Army Barracks. The link below gives detailed instructions on how to access the records.
