| St. Mary's School |
St. Mary’s Primary New School opened for the 2012-2013 school year. It is a sixteen classroom school catering for two classes at each level. It is co-educational and caters for over 400 children from Junior Infants to Sixth Class under the patronage of the Bishop of Meath.
The new school has been the result of many years of campaigning and planning and will open a whole new chapter in the history of primary education in Enfield. The new school replaces the old primary school that dates back to 1953. It was built as a three roomed school to replace the older two-roomed school that stood in front of it. Three more rooms were added in 1984. From 2004 onwards there was a steady increase in the population of Enfield. Temporary accommodation was added each year to cater for the extra numbers attending the primary school. Following investigation it was decided to build a new school to replace the old school and the temporary accommodation instead of renovating the six rooms and adding an extension.
The staff and pupils vacated the old school on 14th of October 2011 and the builders began work immediately. All pupils were based in temporary accommodation for the remainder of the 2011-2012 school year. The new school was handed over to the Board of Management by Glasgiven Contracts on 24th of August 2012 and was ready to receive pupils on the 29th of August for the new school year.
The children, staff, parents, board of management and the local community are delighted to have such a wonderful educational facility in the area. We know that the story of education in St. Mary’s Primary School is about more than the building. The life of the school is really about the people involved with it but the new school gives everyone a context in which to live, grow and learn.
St. Mary's School Commemorative Booklet 1953-2003 The building of St. Mary’s old school started in 1952 and was completed the following year in 1953. It was originally a two-roomed school, built to replace the old two-roomed in front of it. Roger McDyer was the Principal and the assistant was Helen Grey. With the building of new houses, particularly on the Johnstown Road, the number of children attending the school increased and a third teacher Joan Lynam, a past pupil of the old school, joined the staff. As there was not yet a third classroom she took her class in St. Patrick’s hall. The supper room was used as a classroom during school hours. An extension to the school opened in 1958 when Josephine Daly replaced Helen Grey. In turn Patricia Brennan replaced Josephine Daly and shortly afterwards Mary Foran replaced Patricia Brennan. The supper room in St. Patrick’s Hall was used again until a prefabricated building was erected in 1972. Bernadette Kenny was appointed as a fourth assistant teacher. Three new classrooms, a general-purpose room and a teacher’s staff room were opened in 1984. When Ken McManus retired in 2004, Enda Flynn replaced him. By now the school staff had increased to 7 teachers. This escalating was due to the number of housing estates which were built before and during the “Celtic Ireland” years. As more people settled in Enfield, the once small village is now a small town. This increase in pupils meant that prefabricated buildings were added year by year, the latest one was erected during summer of 2010.
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