St Paul's has 550 schoolboys and prepares pupils for the Irish Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate. Teaching support facilities include two computer rooms, four science laboratories, a technical graphics room, and a woodwork room. The school has a music department and school choir, which performs a Christmas carol service and a summer concert each year. Senior students perform in the school's annual musical.
Governance
The school is overseen by a board of management, appointed by the trustees, and comprising representatives of the trustees, parents, and teaching staff. Operations and teaching are directed by the Principal, assisted by the Deputy Principal.
Grounds and sports
The school had grounds of over, including all-weather grass pitches and grass playing fields. The sports grounds of the college are also used by local sports clubs such as Clontarf Gaelic football and hurling teams, as well as soccer teams. It was announced in 2015 that the Vincentian order planned to sell half the college land for development. Planning was applied for, granted on appeal by An Bord Pleanala, refused by the same body after a judicial review, and new plans approved in March 2020. Pupils play rugby, soccer, Gaelic football, hurling, basketball, golf, and athletics.
Order facilities
Within the grounds of St Paul's is the administrative centre for the Vincentians in Ireland, and the Order's Provincial, the superior for the province including Ireland, resides there.
History
St. Paul's College, was developed on the a site at Sybil Hill, a location on the border of Raheny and Clontarf, which was formerly the residence of Reverend Benjamin Plunket, the retired Church of Ireland Bishop of Meath who was the nephew of the 1st Earl of Iveagh and Lady Ardilaun from whom he inherited the entire Saint Anne's Park estate. Unable to afford to keep the large estate, Plunket kept the Sybil Hill property and sold the remainder of the St. Anne's estate to Dublin Corporation, which developed it as a public park and housing. The property and land of Sybil Hill was sold to the Vincentians and they founded St. Paul's there in 1950. Following the burning down of the Belgrove Football Club pavilion in 1975, the college gymnasium became the venue for the Grove Social Club until it ceased operations in 1997. St. Paul's College also had a swimming pool on its land, which was run both for the school and as a public pool; this was closed on 31 August 2006 and the land sold for development, since completed.
Principals
The principal teachers to date have been: Fr. Walshe, Fr Lyne, Dominic McQuillan, Ciaran McCormack, Michael Behan.
