Newbridge College

Newbridge College, the Dominican College Newbridge, is a co-educational private fee-paying voluntary secondary school in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, run by the Roman Catholic Dominican Order. The Dominican Friars founded Newbridge Dominican College in 1852 as a boarding school for boys. Today, still run by the Dominican Fathers, Newbridge College is a mixed day school with a student population of almost 1,000 pupils. It is also the home of a resident Community of Dominican Friars - the Priory and Church being centred between the two wings of the College buildings. History Foundation The Dominican College in Newbridge was founded in 1852 by Fr Dominic Walker OP and Fr Nicholas Freyne OP, who established the Dominican College of Saint Thomas Aquinas OP as a result of the high and increasing demand for secondary Catholic education owing to Catholic emancipation in Ireland at the time. In its first year of establishment, Newbridge College had an enrolment of 50 students. A cap was placed on the number of pupils enrolled. This restriction was lifted in 1894 and the roll grew to 100 students.