Coachford College


Coachford College is a secondary school located in Coachford, County Cork, Ireland. Situated in the Lee Valley, 18 miles west of Cork City, the catchment area stretches from Kanturk to Bandon, and from Ballincollig to Macroom. The Principal is Ms. Áine Máire Ní Fhaoláin, the Deputy Principals are Mr. Diarmuid Hickey and Mr. Edward Williamson.
Patrick O'Connor was Principal of the college from 1984 to 2017. Coachford College is part of Cork Education and Training Board.
There are currently 770 students in the college and over 70 staff .
There have been subject inspections recently including Music and SPHE. There is an annual awards ceremony in November which highlights the achievements of students from Coachford College.
The school was an early adopter of social media. The school was used moodle from 2007 to 2017 whereby a number of teachers had notes and assignments available to students electronically. Nowadays, the school utilises Google Classroom with each student having access to an official school email address. Furthermore, the school uses VSWare to assist parents in accessing student attendance and academic progress. Facebook has been used by the school for a number of years to communicate with parents, students and alumni. The Facebook and Instagram page contains news and photos from activities at Coachford College.
Enrolment in Coachford College is in accordance with their admissions policy. Primary Schools in the catchment boundary area are visited each year in September with an open day in late September. Coachford College is the sole provider in the catchment boundary area and most students from primary schools in the area attend Coachford College. 114 students started in Coachford College in September 2015, 134 starting in Sept 2016, 137 starting in Sept 2017, 142 students starting in Sept 2018 and 152 students starting in 2019..
A new school has been announced for Coachford College which will accommodate 1000 students, reflecting the enrollment of the college. Construction is expected to begin in the coming years.
Male students having the option of playing hurling or football while female students can play camogie, basketball or ladies football. The school also has/had an equestrian team, a golf team, athletics team as well as a frisbee team.. A rugby team made its debut in Nov 2017. The school also has various quiz teams in many subject areas. The school hosts an annual dance competition in January called The Great Coachford Dance-Off which is organised by TY students with the proceeds being donated to charity. €30,000 has been donated to Marymount Hospice since 2016. Details of the event are available on the college YouTube channel