Coláiste Chríost Rí is a young school - forty four years young! And still vigorous. But our roots go further back.

Blessed Edmund
In a Waterford city stable, the opening of a school in 1802 was a quiet but historic event. But it was noisy! An ill-assorted gaggle of of pupils - some with their pipes and tobacco - crowded into the cramped classrooms. Blessed Edmund Rice's Brothers had opened their first school.

The Presentation Way
Demand for the Brothers' kind of education grew, and in 1811, they came to Cork. Over a century later, Sean O'Faolain describes his education by the Brothers in the Lancs. He was educated, he says, in a crazy building - originally a factory, or a barracks, or a poorhouse - packed with pupils from the leaning lanes of Cork, Featherbed, Cut-throat, and Three Hatchet. And under the Presentation Brothers, the boys did literally toe the line: 'every second boy was barefooted, with the mud of the streets drying between his frozen toes.' But, says O'Faolain, 'the charm of that school was that we all worked together as in a family.' And work the Brothers and teachers did - 'grinding the three Rs into us, unforgettably - Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic.'

Turner's Cross
In 1938, five Brothers, two teachers and one cleaner-lady opened a school in Turner's Cross. They called it Scoil Chríost Rí. This Primary School offered Secondary education to older boys. In 1957, the Secondary students moved to separate but cramped accomodation, first in Kinsale Road, then in Sawmill Street, before finally settling in the then spacious, brand-new building in Capwell Road. Coláiste Chríost Rí opened its doors for the first time in 1960.

Full-grown
In 1981, we came of age. We were twenty-one! Quietly crossing the threshold into adulthood, we took our place among other esteemed Cork schools. Now, the infant college of the 1960s and the youthful school of the 1980s has become a mature, full-grown establishment ready for the challenges of the new millennium.

Our Prospectus
Use the links below to browse through the Coláiste Chríost Rí prospectus ...