Sandymount High School was a coeducational secondary school on Herbert Road, Sandymount, Dublin 4 which operated for over 50 years before closing in 1999.
Sandymount High School was founded in 1947 and was initially controversial because, as a non-denominational school, it wasn't owned by a church but by the Cannon family,[1] who also provided the two headmasters the school had: father and son Patrick and Conall Cannon. Patrick's wife Eileen Cannon also served as headmistress.[citation needed]
The school's student body included those from a local council estate called Beech Hill, the offspring of parents disenchanted with denominational/same sex schools, students on the Malahide/HowthtoBray rail corridor and foreign nationals who paid tuition fees.[citation needed]
While the school had a gym — basically exercise classes — for Intermediate Certificate students, it had no compulsory sports or sports team for a period.[citation needed] Otherwise rugby union was the main school sport for both Intermediate and Leaving Certificate male students during the early 1960s.[citation needed]
A rival school opened next door several years later: Marian College, run by the Catholic Church. It was originally intended to be co-educational and named Riverside College, but both the name and its co-educational character were changed at the insistence of John Charles McQuaid as he disliked the influence of Sandymount High.[2]
The school was closed in 1999 and the land sold for development.[3] The site now contains a gated community called Cannon Place.[citation needed]
Notable former pupils include Fionnula Flanagan,[4] Charlie Bird,[5] Eamonn Dunphy,[6] Dervla Kirwan[citation needed] and Ronnie Delaney.[citation needed]
53°20′01″N 6°13′32″W / 53.3335°N 6.2255°W / 53.3335; -6.2255
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