St Joseph's College, Dumfries


St Joseph's College is situated on the Craigs Road in Dumfries, South West Scotland. It is a Roman Catholic secondary school. The school began as a Catholic boys' boarding school run by Marist Brothers. It is near St. Michael's Primary School and is one of four secondary schools in Dumfries.

History

St Joseph's College was founded in 1875 as both a boarding school and the first Novitiate for the training of Marist Brothers in Great Britain. Brother Walfrid, the man who founded Celtic Football Club, also helped to found the school. The school became part of the state school system in 1981, but still accepts Catholic students as priority. The school was a boys' school to begin with, and the first female pupils were admitted as day pupils in the early 1970s.

Buildings

The school was originally located elsewhere in Dumfries but was moved to its current location when a local businessman bought the land and donated it to the Marist Brothers. Numerous expansions to the original build have been made: the assembly hall, extensions to the mathematics and French departments, a new separate building for the Religious Education classrooms, and another new building which contains the dining hall and physical education halls. After the school became public, the buildings transferred to Dumfries and Galloway Council in January 2008, following the sale of part of the school playing fields at Maryfield, for the new medical centre at Gillbrae. The Marist Brothers then had no involvement with the school.

Campus

The school campus is made up of three buildings: the physical education and cafeteria building, the Ewan Duncan Building and the main school building housing the classrooms for all of the other subjects. The grounds contain gardens and lawn at the front and back of the main building, and a playing field area roughly the size of three football fields and several hockey and tennis courts are also included.

Notable former pupils