Even though it opened in September 2007 St. Mary’s Senior School is and probably always will be, known as the “New School”. The Department of Education gave the approval for the Senior School in March 1999 and it took nine years of a rollercoaster journey before the doors opened to welcome pupils. It was a period of many ups and many more downs as we edged agonisingly towards our target. Eventually after what seemed a lifetime the new school was ready and in September 2007 we finally opened a beautiful state of the art school for the first time.

The new school is a fantastic building with all the facilities you would expect in a modern school. We pay tribute to the numerous officials in the Department of Education who did so much to bring our dream to fruition. We also say a heartfelt “thank you” to Cookehill Developments without whom the present school would not have been achieved. We especially thank Mr Bill Mulrooney and Mr Brendan Fitzsimons whose unbelievably generous support was a keystone to our success.

Our huge playground and playing fields are the envy of nearly every school in Ireland and thanks to the wonderful work of our caretakers, David Clarke and Mick Mills, the school grounds are among the best presented in the country.

These are exciting times in the history of St. Mary’s and I feel absolutely confident that with the continued wholehearted support of the local community in conjunction with the dedicated work of the wonderful staff we already have in St. Mary’s that the future of St. Mary’s Junior and Senior Schools is assured.