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 begin a school for the large numbers of children who were rehoused with their families 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 itself was built. At one time the school had almost 1,600 pupils. This included children from ages 4 to 12. Later it was decided to divide the school into a Junior School (naíonáin) and a Senior School (cailíní). The Senior School is a girl’s school catering for the parishes of Coolock and Artane. At present there are 230 pupils on the roll. The classes are from second to sixth.
There is 19 teaching staff. This includes a walking Principal, a Deputy Principal, an Assistant Principal, a Learning Support Teacher, 2 resource Teachers, 2 teachers of Special Needs Children and five Post Holders. There are three Classroom Assistants, a School Caretaker, and a school Secretary. Other ancillary staff includes a teacher of Italian, three cleaners and attendance monitor. The school comprises of a main building housing 11 classrooms, a learning support room, the Principal’s office, a library, the Secretary's office and a staff room. Shared facilities (with the Junior School) include the school hall, the school yards and the field. There is one pre-fabricated classroom which still needs to be used as a classroom.
The first lay Principal took on this post in September 1995. However, the trustees of Scoil Chaitríona are the Sisters of Mercy and the Patron is the Archbishop of Dublin. The land on which the school is situated belongs to the Dublin diocese.
There are two Home School Liaison Coordinators assigned to Scoil Chaitríona (cailíní) and Scoil Chaitríona (naíonáin) and St Brendan's National School Artane. They liaise with both teachers and parents. There is an active Parents association who helps out with such events as the First Communion Breakfast, the Graduation Mass, Fundraising and helping in such projects as paired reading. We are lucky to have a School Chaplain. Fr Hunt visits regularly and celebrates the Beginning of Year Mass among other celebrations. All children are prepared for the Sacraments of First Holy Communion and Confirmation, unless parents make it known that their wishes are different.
At present the Board of Management consists of a Chairperson, two Teacher Representatives (including the Principal), two Parents (a father and a mother), two Archbishop's Nominees and one other.
Extra curricular activities include preparation for Santry School Sports (Cumann na mBunscol), Comenius (a European Union funded partnership with schools in France, Italy, Spain and Wales), Swimming (members of I.S.S.A), Irish dancing and Basketball.Italian is taught to fifth and sixth classes as part a D.E.S. initative. Spanish is taught after school.
