Co-educational Launch

Official launch of Chanel College as a Co-educational school.

A huge moment in the history of the school this morning as we welcomed our patrons, the Marist Education Authority Schools (MEAS), 1st year boys and girls (for the first time), parents and the entire Chanel staff into our beautifully repurposed Colin Room.

This marks a new chapter for Chanel as we dedicate ourselves to inclusive education and academic excellence.

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Please feel free to read Mr Gill's speech in full...

Good morning everyone, and you are all very welcome.

First and foremost, to our incoming First Year students and their families — welcome to Chanel College. Today is ultimately about you and the beginning of your journey with us, and we are delighted to have you here.

I also want to extend a very warm welcome to our staff, members of our Board of Management and our invited guests. In particular, I am delighted to welcome our Chairperson of the Board of Management, Ms Sandra Stapleton; our school chaplain, Fr Cormac McNamara; Ken Byrne of the Marist Education Authority of Schools; Deirdre Kinnahan, a member of both our Board of Management and the National Administrative Council; and David Corrigan of the National Administrative Council.

We are delighted to have you all with us to share what is a very special morning in the life of Chanel College.

 But having acknowledged our guests, I want to come back to the most important people in the room this morning — our students.

Students are at the heart of everything we do in Chanel College, and ultimately every decision we make and every change we undertake has to be about creating the best possible experience and opportunities for them.

For the group sitting in front of us this morning, starting secondary school is a significant day in any young person’s life. There will probably be a mixture of excitement and nerves in the room this morning — and that’s perfectly normal.

But for this particular group of First Years, there is something else too.

You are making a little bit of history.

 Chanel College has been part of this community since 1955.

For more than 70 years, generations of young people have walked through our doors. The school has changed enormously over those years — new subjects, new facilities, new opportunities and new generations of students and teachers — but its fundamental purpose has remained remarkably consistent: to provide a good education, rooted in our Marist tradition, and to serve the young people and families of this community.

A school with that kind of history should be proud of its traditions.

 But respecting tradition does not mean standing still.

Schools have to evolve because the communities they serve evolve too.

Over recent years there has been considerable discussion about the future provision of education within our local community. Parents, families and the wider community have had opportunities to express their views about the type of education and the type of schools they want for their children.

For us in Chanel College, listening to that conversation was important.

It encouraged us to look carefully at ourselves — at the school we are, at the community we serve and, importantly, at the school we want to be for the next generation.

That led to our own extensive consultation with students, staff, parents and families within the wider community about the future of Chanel College.

And ultimately, it led us here.

Today, for the first time in our history, we welcome girls and boys together into First Year at Chanel College.

 It is a significant change.

But I think the best way to describe it is not as a departure from what Chanel College has been, but as an evolution of it.

The values that have defined this school do not change today.

Our commitment to providing an excellent education does not change.

Our commitment to knowing and caring for our students does not change.

Our Marist identity does not change.

And our ambition for Chanel College does not change — an ambition to provide our students with excellent teaching, the widest possible range of opportunities and facilities that reflect the quality of education we want them to experience.

 What changes is who now gets the opportunity to be part of it.

And I think that is something worth celebrating.

There is another element of renewal around us this morning.

We are gathered today in what we now call the Colin Building, and in this particular space, the Colin Room. The previous location of our Colin room has been converted into our Home Economics Room.

The name “Colin Building” honours Fr Jean-Claude Colin, founder of the Society of Mary — the Marist Fathers. Our original school building will now be known as the Chanel Building, carrying the name of St Peter Chanel, the Marist missionary and saint after whom our school itself is named.

Those two names connect both parts of our campus to the Marist tradition that has shaped Chanel College since its foundation.

This building also has its own history within this community, and many people locally will have memories associated with it. We respect that history.

Today simply marks another chapter in the life of this place.

A space which has served people within this community in the past will now serve another generation of young people through education.

There is something very appropriate about beginning our co-educational journey here.

As Chanel College evolves, this part of our campus is evolving too — old spaces finding new purposes, while remaining rooted in the same community.

And what you see around you this morning is part of a wider commitment to continually improve the environment and facilities we provide for our students. We want the physical development of Chanel College to match our educational ambition for the young people who attend it.

But buildings, of course, don’t make schools.

People do.

 And that brings me back to the most important people in this room this morning — our new First Years.

In years to come, people will talk about 2026 as the year Chanel College became co-educational.

They will talk about the first girls who attended the school.

They might talk about new facilities, new buildings and all the changes that accompanied it.

But you won’t remember this year as a chapter in the history of an institution or school.

You’ll remember your friends.

You’ll remember teachers who encouraged you.

You’ll remember games, trips, school shows, classrooms, successes — and probably a few mistakes along the way.

You’ll remember the people who made you laugh.

And hopefully, when the time eventually comes for you to leave us, you’ll remember Chanel College as somewhere you felt that you belonged.

That is what we want for every young person who comes through our doors.

And I want to say something particularly to the girls joining us this morning.

You are the first.

That is something nobody will ever be able to take away from you.

But we don’t want you to spend the next six years feeling like “the first girls in Chanel”.

Very quickly, we want you simply to be Chanel students.

This isn’t about girls joining somebody else’s school.

From this morning onwards, this is your school too.

And to the boys sitting alongside them: you have an important part in this story as well.

You are the first boys to begin your secondary education in a co-educational Chanel College.

Together, you are the first class of a new chapter.

My hope is that in a surprisingly short period of time, what feels historic and new to all of us standing here this morning will feel completely normal to you.

Because ultimately, that will be the measure of whether we have done this well.

 Before we mark the occasion formally, I want to acknowledge the enormous amount of work that has brought us to this morning.

Our staff and in particular Ger, have embraced significant change and have worked extremely hard in preparing for the year ahead.

Our Board of Management and our Patron have supported the school throughout this journey. Their support, encouragement and commitment have been enormously important in helping us to reach this point and to realise the changes we are marking today.

And many people have worked quietly behind the scenes over recent months to prepare our school and our facilities for today.

I am extremely grateful to all of them.

 But most of all, I want to thank our incoming students and their families for placing your trust in Chanel College.

In 1955, Chanel College began a story in this community.

Seventy-one years later, that story continues — but today, we begin a new chapter.

So to the Class of 2031, boys and girls, welcome to Chanel College.

Welcome to your school.

And welcome to the next chapter.