Friends and loved ones of those who died in the US balcony collapse have begun paying emotional tributes.

I KNOW one of them fell off a train on his way home from school and two people have told me his shoe-laces were tied together. I know he never came back to school, and no-one ever mentioned him again, recalls Victoria White.

The mother of a young student who underwent surgery for serious head injuries after he collapsed at the end of a school rugby match has told the High Court she was upset when the school later advised her he could not stay there.

Clongowes Wood College stand between Blackrock College and their back-to-back Senior Cup aspirations, after Noel McNamara’s charges held off a strong showing from St Andrew’s College to book their place in the March 16 decider.

All systems go for a re-match of the 2013 Leinster Schools Senior Cup final after holders Blackrock College were drawn against St Michael’s College in the quarter-final draw at Old Wesley RFC yesterday.

2008 champions Belvedere College sent out a message of intent in Balbriggan yesterday afternoon, as first-half tries by Adam Foy and Josh Hutchinson provided the foundations for a comprehensive 28-3 opening round victory over Wesley College.

From fashion designers to actors and businesswomen to models, the next generation of young Irish people has thrown up some significant talent across a range of professions. These young people are among a pool of highly-accomplished achievers whose remarkable successes to date are bucking recessionary trends and putting their country back on the map.

Gonzaga College in Ranelagh in Dublin has been listed as Ireland's top school for progression to university, according to the Sunday Times' Parent Power Survey.

ONLY three schools outside Dublin feature in a list of 25 schools which sent most students to college, but which took social and other factors into account for the first time.

WHAT has emerged in recent weeks about the cover-up of sex abuse complaints in the Diocese of Cloyne has been nothing short of shameful.

IRELAND will get one last shot at redemption when they take on Italy in the final outing of the U18 Six Nations Festival at Cork Institute of Technology today (2.30pm).

IT TOOK a surging second-half performance for Belvedere College to overcome St Andrew’s College 25-13 in the Powerade Leinster Schools Senior Cup first round at Templeville Road yesterday.

Niall Murray, Education Correspondent

DOODLING may be the work of idle hands but it is far from frowned upon in one school which has assembled a collection of very special scrawls, scribbles and sketches.

BLACKROCK College, on the trail of a 64th Leinster Schools Senior Cup title, booked their place in the semi-finals at Donnybrook yesterday.

CRESCENT COLLEGE, Comprehensive, winners of the Coca-Cola Munster Schoolgirls Senior Hockey Cup for the first time this year, play host to the Kate Russell All-Ireland tournament tomorrow and Friday.