 The school is located on the outskirts of the town and is named after the 15th-century Franciscan friary (commonly referred to as an Abbey), the ruins of which lie a few hundred metres from the school.Courses offered include the Junior Certificate, The Leaving Certificate, Transition Year, Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP), Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) as well as a range of Post-Leaving Certificate courses (PLCs) It is also one of the top feeder schools for Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT).Like most schools now operated by the VEC, the AVS has moved away from a strongly vocational syllabus towards a more general curriculum including modern languages and sciences.