A Vision for the 21st Century

Background

In 2004, to mark the new century and underpin the School’s vision for the future, Castle Park launched an ambitious investment programme designed to create a world class educational facility here in Dalkey that will benefit every pupil in the School as well as the wider community. To support these plans, the Board of Directors decided to sell a small portion of our land, which will see the sensitive development of a small number of well designed residential apartments and townhouses. This development is critical to ensuring the continued preservation of Castle Park at this exceptional location.

Following an open competition the winning architectural design for the new facilities reinforces the community ethos of Castle Park with an internal ‘Street’ at the centre of the re-development. Just as there are different identities located along the ’street’ in the small town or community (residential, business, recreational etc.), on completion Castle Park will have various educational identities including, for example, the Early Years Montessori Dept, Sport facilities, Music School, Senior Classrooms, Library, Assembly Hall etc. sited along our internal ’street’. The re-development will be completed and ready for use in September 2008.

Design, Layout and Facilities

The magnificent castellated building, that has housed Castle Park School for the past one hundred years, will be preserved, restored and continue to be at the heart of the School. Positioned at strategic locations along the internal ’street’ will be a series of state-of-the-art departmental buildings to house new classrooms and specialist teaching areas that are spacious, bright and comfortable. There will be; a dedicated Music School, Art & Design studios, a Science Laboratory (with outdoor environmental education area), a Library, a spacious Dining Room (that will seat around 200), a modern 25m Swimming Pool, Tennis Courts, Sports Hall and astroturf, new Computer Laboratory as well as extensive access to ICT resources including interactive whiteboards in all Form Rooms and specialist teaching rooms.

Construction Phase

The construction got underway early in June when the Headmaster’s house was demolished to make way for this year’s temporary accommodation. For the year ahead we will continue to use the existing main Castle building. A considerable amount of time and effort has been spent sourcing a company to provide a range of high quality temporary accommodation in a secure and safe location. The temporary classrooms, which are bright, constructed to a high standard, well ventilated and spacious are connected internally by secure, wide corridors. Specialist facilities for Science, Art, Music, ICT and PE are being provided together with our extensive ICT resources, including the interactive whiteboards as a teaching and learning tool in all teaching rooms.

Our extensive extra curricular activities of over 30 hobbies and the After School Care facility until 6.30pm daily will continue as usual. We also have the front pitch for sport and recreation. Of great benefit to parents and visitors will be the uninterrupted use of our existing car park for the duration of the construction period.

Conclusion

As we move towards this historic augmentation of the School’s facilities, we are confident that any temporary inconvenience during the coming academic year will be well worth it once we have our prestigious and ultra-modern resources in place for our pupils. We are confident that when this final phase of the current development plan is complete, Castle Park will lead as an exemplary primary-age setting in the world of education.