2. ST - Summerhill

The school is shown for illustrative purposes only - there's no need to visit it! Alma mater to some great Irishmen, including John McCormack as you'll hear.From the school's website: -'The College of the Immaculate Conception was founded by the then Bishop of Elphin, Dr Gillooly in Summerhill, Athlone in 1857. It was transferred to Sligo in 1880 and provided with temporary accommodation in Quay Street, pending the building of a new school.This, the present college, was formally opened in 1892. Popularly, the college has always remained known as "Summerhill". For many decades the College catered for both boarders and dayboys and operated essentially as a junior seminary for the diocese of Elphin. With the introduction of Free Education in 1967, there followed an explosion in student and staff numbers. The number of dayboys soon exceeded the number of boarders and thus a new dynamic resulted.The boarding school itself was closed down in the 1980's as changing circumstances meant that it was no longer economically viable.In recent times the number of subjects on offer in the college has expanded to the extent that Summerhill now offers greater choice than almost any other secondary school in Ireland. Gradually, new courses have been introduced and these are now operating alongside more traditional ones'. (c) Damian Keenan.