Alexandra College
Alexandra College is an all girls primary and secondary boarding school situated in south Dublin, Ireland. Currently, It has about 300 pupils in the primary school and 600 in the secondary school. It has had an important and profilific involvement in the education of women from its foundation in 1866. However, this distinguished reputation has been undermined somewhat in recent years due to the school's association with affluent south-Dublin culture. As a fee paying school, the institution is often portrayed as exclusive in its various run-ins with the Irish tabloids.
History
Known as 'Alex' for short, the college is often mistakenly referred to as 'St. Alex's', although the school in fact takes its name from Princess Alexandra of Denmark, who attended the formal opening of the school. The school colours, red and white, were adopted from the Danish flag in her honour. Alexandra College was founded by the quaker Anne Jellicoe in 1866. The main assembly hall as well as the sixth year boarding house take their names from her. Alexandra College was the first Irish institution to put forward women candiates to university. The first women to graduate with degrees were Alexandra College alumni. The school was originally situated in Earlsfort Terrace, but moved out to its sports grounds to accomodate more students. Until the 1980s no male teachers were permitted on staff, or even in the building. The school still disallows males from entering the grounds, unless they are related to students or there for academic reasons, although this rule is not strictly adhered to. The 1916 rebel Padraig Pearse was once employed as an Irish language teacher. The first ever international hockey match was held on the Alexandra College hockey pitch. It was England vs. Ireland, and Ireland won 1-0.
Religion
Alexandra College is under Church of Ireland management and the Archbishop of Dublin currently acts as chairman of the school council. The students are addressed weekly by a female Minister and a school assembly is held daily at which Church of Ireland hymns are sung and which finish with the extended version of The Lord's Prayer.
The Primary School
Children from ages 4-12 are taught through the Froebel method. There is a strong emphasis on the arts, and the students perform regular shows throughout the year. The attendance fees for the primary school are in fact higher than the secondary school due to the high number of teachers of subjects which are not subsidised by the government on the payroll. The kindergarten classes are obliged to wear a red tracksuit, which the older classes wear only for sports, wearing the brown uniform of the secondary school for normal classes.
Alexandra College Today
Alexandra College usually features in the top ten schools in the Irish league tables but has appeared as the best all-girls school in the past. Like the primary school, an unusually wide range of subjects are available to study, from the arts to the sciences. It is a prime feeder of Trinity College Dublin and UCD. The student body is made up of a mix of local girls, and boarding students from the rest of Ireland, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas and Australia. The school was greatly benefitted in 2004 with the opening of the the Miltown Luas stop at the back gate of the college. The service runs through many of the more affluent south-Dublin suburbs, as well as servicing the prime shopping spots of Grafton Street and Dundrum Shopping Centre.
Alexandra College is seen as the principal girls school among the set of Irish fee-paying schools understood to be the literal playgrounds of the upper classes, the female counterpart to schools such as Blackrock College. It is associated with the south-Dublin Ross O'Carroll-Kelly phenomenon. This image is one fostered by the majority of the students, who endeavour to comply with the demands of the D4 stereotype. This is the antithesis of the skanger culture. Alexandra College was in fact the origin of the association of the now-iconic deck shoes Dubarrys, known as 'dubes' for short, with the southside image. The reason for this is because of the one-time limited number of brown girls shoes available in Dublin, which were obligatory to match the brown Alex uniforms. Dubarrys were one of the few brands that had such a few for sale, and their distinctive look meant that they were soon adopted by most students as the uniform, disregarding the hefty price tag. Interestingly, this look was soon to be imitated by the other fee paying girls schools and indeed the boys. Helped by their eilte yachting association, Alex girls created a cult classic. Alex-wear is the authority in southside trends; currently Abercrombie and Fitch, American Eagle, Juicy Couture, Ralph Lauren, Ugg boots, fake tan, the 'messy bun' hairstyle, and deliberate use of the speech and manners parodied in the Ross O'Carroll Kelly books, and indeed near veneration of the fictional character.
Charity Work
The profilific 'Children of Ireland' award was last year awarded to five Alex students who went to work in Calcutta to work with the Hope foundation charity, [[1]]. The school devotes up to five full days per school year to raising money for a range of charities decided by the student body. These 'Charity Fun Days' are entirely student-run and very successful, raising up to €4000 per day. Money is raised in a variety of imaginative manners often involving teachers in some bizarre and irreverent manner. This, however has caused friction between the staff and student body resulting in threats of cessation of Charity Fun Days. The students are unfortunately prevented from holding outdoor charity activities due to increasing attacks by rival schools known as 'egging'.
Alex and the Press
Alexandra College has frequent encounters with the Irish press, the most recent being the 2005 cyber-bullying scandal centred around the internet website [[2]]. Previous to this, there was much unsavory coverage over the student demonstration held on the school hockey pitch to protest the selling of much of the sports grounds along with the historic pitch itself to a property developer. The school hockey team went on to win the Leinster finals the following year.