Scoil Chaitríona (cailíní) is situated in Coolock, a suburb of Dublin.
It was founded in 1958 by the Sisters of Mercy who were requested by the Archbishop of Dublin to found a school for the families who were being rehoused by Dublin Corporation in the area. At first the pupils were taught in the basement of the Convent and in the following two years the school was built. At one time the school had almost 1600 pupils. This included children from the ages 4- 12. Later it was decided to divide the school into a Junior School (Naíonáin) and a Senior school (Cailíní). The Senior School is a girls school catering for the parishes of Coolock and Artane. At present there are 222 pupils on the roll. The classes are second to sixth.
There are nine mainstream classes, two Special Needs Classes, three Resource teachers, four Special Needs Assistants, a Caretaker and a Secretary. Ancillary staff include a teacher of Italian (5th and 6th classes, as part of the Modern Languages in Primary School Project), an Attendance Monitor, three housekeepers and part time Resource Teachers.
The school comprises 11 classrooms, Learning Support and Resource room, Principal’s office, Secretary’s office, a Library, a Staffroom and a Playgound. Shared facilities with the junior School include the hall, the school playgrounds and a field.
The first lay Principal took on this post in September 1995. The Trustees of Scoil Chaitríona are the Sisters of Mercy and the Patron is the Archbishop of Dublin.
There are two Home School Liaison Co-ordinators assigned to Scoil Chaitríona (cailiní), Scoil Chaitríona (Naíonáin) and St Brendan’s B.N.S. There is a an active Parents’ Association who help out with such events as First Communion, Graduation, Fundraising and Paired Reading.
Extra Curricular Activities include Cumann na mBunscol (Primary School Sports), Comenius (A European Union funded partnership with schools in France, Italy, Spain and Sweden), Swimming, Basketball (Junior Basketball League), Spanish (after school).
Mercy Education is committed to ongoing whole school development in collaboration and partnership with the Board of Management, staff, parents and the wider community. Catherine Mc’ Auley believed that no work could be more productive to the development of society that the education of the young. Like her we strive to educate the young so as to make them self reliant and capable of valuing their own work. Our Mission Statement echoes this sentiment:
TO EACH CHILD WE GIVE SELF - CONFIDENCE AND BELIEF IN
THEIR OWN GOD GIVEN TALENTS THAT THEY MAY ACHIEVE
THEIR FULL POTENTIAL IN THE WORLD.
