Clontarf Academy

It’s great to have all of the boys back again for 2026 and we have certainly hit the ground running. After a good break our boys have come back to school with a positive mindset. This has been demonstrated in their attendance with an average of over 90 per cent for the first three weeks of term.

This year we have the biggest cohort of Year 12 students we have had since commencing at St Pat's in 2023, with 14 boys tackling their final year of study. In Week 3, we hosted our Employment Officer, Declan Waddington to run through a short leadership session. These sessions are a great opportunity to reset for the year and as a group, work on how to drive some key values for 2026. 

This year our Year 12 boys want to have a focus on being good role models, caring for others and demonstrating accountability. Each of the boys will sign a pledge to work on these together and we cannot wait to see this in action throughout 2026 and beyond. As well as deciding on these values, the boys looked at the benefits of completing Year 12 and how to utilise the support Clontarf offers throughout the year and beyond. We enjoyed a session at X-Golf to unwind and release and bit of our inner ‘Cam Smith’. It’s fair to say, this only highlighted the importance of having a solid Year 12 as there are certainly no up and coming pro golfers in our cohort!

Each year it’s always great to welcome our new cohort of Year 7’s into the Academy. In '26 we have six Year 7’s and they are already in and around Academy life with the boys coming in for feeds, playing table tennis and attending morning training sessions. 

We head off on our annual Clontarf Year 7 Induction camp at the end of the week where the boys get a deep dive into what support Clontarf can provide them throughout their school journey and beyond. It’s a great chance for Clontarf staff and the boys to build relationships and enjoy the range of Clontarf ‘101’s”.

We have had great buy-in for our morning trainings and after school activities this year, averaging over 20 for morning trainings twice a week. We have adjusted our afternoon activities to have a major activity once a week with over 20 boys coming along to a session at Flip Out. We will be hosting a range of fun activities throughout the term including squash, table tennis carnival, lawn bowls and our traditional session of Junior v Senior Week 10 Laser tag.

The boys have loved the new look Clontarf Academy Room. We just want to give a big shout out to the maintenance crew for their hard work over the summer break in opening up our room and making it a more usable space. Your hard work does not go unnoticed.