Ciaran joins minister to turn sod on new site for St Mary’s

By Anne-Marie Connolly, Principal, St Mary's Special School

On Thursday last, March 21, World Down Syndrome day, it was only fitting that St Mary’s Special School pupil Ciaran Craig, assisted by his mother Ann and Minister for Education Norma Foley should do the honours and turn the sod for our new school, located on a new site on the campus of St Finian’s College.

The turning of the sod ceremony represented a momentous and historic occasion for the entire school community of St Mary’s. It will be a tremendous addition to have a modern purpose-built educational facility to meet the needs of our pupils and ensure best outcomes for all.

Our new school building will be a home for the promotion of excellence in teaching, learning and assessment in special education for generations to come. The locating of St Mary’s, a special school, and a large mainstream secondary school on the same campus is a historic and landmark development locally in education.

As referenced by Minister Norma Foley in her speech to mark the occasion, the shared campus model for St Finian’s College and the new home for our school St Mary’s is "best practice" for modern education.

The shared campus will offer wonderful opportunities for integration, inclusion, and indeed reverse inclusion going forward.

St Mary’s

St Mary’s is a special school for ages five-18, providing education to pupils with designated abilities termed moderate and severe and profound general learning disabilities and those with autism.

Continuing to build on the legacy of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary, who founded the school in Southhill in Delvin in 1964 (60 years ago this year), ours is a warm and welcoming school where individual pupil strengths, talents and achievements are recognised and celebrated.

We were delighted to have Sr Kathleen O’Connor and Sr Ann Devine from the order join us last week. The Sisters continue to do tremendous work in living out their ethos and commitment to our school community and remain centrally involved in the spiritual and pastoral life of the school.

The work and mission of the school has been fully supported by the diocesan authorities. Most recently, Bishop Deenihan’s immediate predecessor, Dr Michael Smith, made the generous decision to give St Mary’s school the new site on the grounds of St Finian’s. The decision was then brought to fruition by then college president of St Finian’s, now Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois, Bishop Paul Connell, who, alongside current Bishop of Meath, Tom Deenihan, has been a constant source of support – for which we are most grateful.

We at St Mary’s work in partnership with parents, community, and outside agencies including the National Educational Psychological service, the National Council for Special Education and the Children’s Disability Network Teams.

We were delighted that Mandy McGarvey from the NCSE, Sandra Delaney Gorman from NEPS, and Eileen Tobin from the local CDNT in Springfield could join us on the occasion of the sod turning. Thank-you also to the many supportive parents that were in a position to join us on the day. Ni neart go cur le cheile.

This new school will include occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech and language rooms, indoor sensory rooms and outdoor sensory gardens; pupils will also have direct access to their own outdoor green space and play areas from within their classrooms.

I became principal at St Mary’s in September 2022 and it has been a privilege to lead this community of learners. Our school population has grown steadily and we have an additional class opening in September, when there will be eight classroom teachers and 25 special needs assistants. This year we have been allocated school nursing support as part of the NCSE pilot nursing scheme. The hot schools meals programme was introduced last September and has been a great success, resulting in significant improvements in terms of further enhancing pupils’ abilities to access the curriculum in a meaningful manner.

The staff team in St Mary’s are highly skilled, dedicated and committed, and as referenced by Minister Foley in her speech, the occasion of the sod turning on Thursday was to celebrate buildings – and more importantly – the people who inhabit them, including our dedicated staff and inspiring pupils.

It was wonderful to have so many of our pupils join us on the day to meet the minister and display their talents and abilities. Pupil Darija from junior infants presented Minister Foley with a beautiful piece of artwork created by our pupils, and Ciaran and Laura greeted and communicated with her using a combination of Lamh sign language and their AAC devices. Matthew Bridge had previously met Minister Foley, alongside his father and board of management member, Edmund Bridge, and she was delighted to be reacquainted with both.

This is an exciting time for St Mary’s. The team will continue to grow, develop and achieve excellence in line with the founding vision and ethos of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary.

I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of our entire school community to thank Minister Norma Foley and her department for funding this project and for joining with us on such a special day, and to Minister of State Minister Peter Burke, who also joined us on the occasion, and his colleagues in government who have been a constant support to our school community.

This project is coming to reality now and I thank everyone involved.

Thank you to St Finian’s principal, John McHale, and deputy principals Aisling Ryan and Emma Carey, who have provided us with such a warm welcome to what will be our new shared campus.

We look forward to working in partnership to achieve best outcomes for all of our pupils for generations to come.