About
Scoil Bhríde History
In 1979 Kilcullen Boys National School and Cross and Passion Girls National School were amalgamated. As a larger space was required, a new building was constructed and in 1980, sixteen teachers and over 500 pupils moved into Scoil Bhríde, where it still stands today. The original schools were located in the grounds of the church and what is now the library. The site for the school was donated by the Sisters of the Cross and Passion Congregation who also donated the land for the surrounding sports facilities.
Student numbers decreased during the 1980's but began to grow again with the building boom in the early years of the new millennium. From 2003 to 2014, we gained at least one class/prefab per year as the numbers in the school grew at a rapid rate. In 2014, construction work began on our extension which includes 10 classrooms, a very large hall, a specifically designed autistic spectrum unit and extra learning support and resource rooms. During this time, the original building was updated with new electrics, flooring, roofing and a new office area was constructed.
The new building was formally opened by the Archbishop of Dublin, Eamonn Walsh in February 2015. We are continually improving our school and it's grounds. We have a beautiful new indoor exercise trail in the link corridor and our running track that was constructed in 2019 is of huge benefit to the entire school community. We also moved the outdoor classroom to a much sunnier spot and is enjoyed by students, especially during warmer weather.
Our garden continues to bloom and we recently added a bug hotel. All classes in 2023 grew vegetables such as potatoes, peas and lettuce in our new beds at the front of the school. In the school year 2023-2024, our enrollment is 650 pupils.
Scoil Bhríde Staff & Classes
Class Teachers
Junior Infants
Roisín Melia
Shelley O' Brien
Seamus Hanafin
Senior Infants
Gary Kenny
Isobel Monaghan
Cloda Kelly
First Class
Eimear Humphreys
Leah O' Sullivan
Jean Reid
Second Class
Lorna Walsh
Shane Power
Denis Reilly
Third Class
Tadgh O' Sullivan
Michelle O' Driscoll
John Molloy
Deirdre Hoctor
Fourth Class
Chloe Campbell
Megan Gleeson
Odhran Lloyd
Fifth Class
Muiris O Raoghaill
Ciara Stanley
Seamus McEnhill
Marguerite Power
Sixth Class
Niamh Barker
Audrey Burke
Mark Murphy
Robert Corish
Sonas
Clodagh McGrath
Katherine Carroll
Luisne McMahon
Special Education Teachers
Féile Morris
Carmel Collins
Deirdre Chute
Eileen O' Donnell
Elaine Carney
Marie McCoy
Ronan Elliffe
Louise Cronin
Louise Ryan
Special Needs Assistants
Ruth Aspell
Sarah Baars
Sarah Cleary
Orla Collins
Susan Coyne
Jane-Ann McGettigan
Sinéad McGrath
Timothy Morgan
Ashling O' Connor
Alicja Olejniczak
Lorna Phelan
Deirdre Power
Caroline Purcell
Lorraine Reid
Caitriona Ross
Síofra Sweeney
Board of Management
The new Board of Management for Scoil Bhríde had it's first official meeting on Wednesday, 17th January, 2024. The Board's term of office continues until December 2027. Members of the eight-member Board of Management are:
Chairperson: Mr. Howard Berney
Parent Nominee: Ms. Leomi Mulhern
Parent Nominee: Mr. Liam Raftery
Community Nominee: Ms. Siobhán Tutty-Bardon
Community Nominee: Mr. Martin Murphy
Teacher Nominee: Ms. Mary Tomlinson, Deputy Principal
Principal: Dr. Sarah FitzPatrick
Treasurer: Kelly Cooke
The Board manages Scoil Bhríde on behalf of the Patron, the Archdiocese of Dublin. The Board meets approximately every six weeks, i.e., typically, two meetings per term. The Governance Manual for Primary Schools (2023-2027) outlines the responsibilities of the Board and procedures governing its work. An Agreed Report is published after each Board Meeting to support strong communications with parents, staff and the school community. From October 2024, the Agreed Report is finalised at the end of each Board meeting for online publication the next day.
Agreed Reports: 2023-2027 (Most recent first)
Classes: Mainstream
There are 27 mainstream classrooms and 10 Special Education rooms. All of these rooms are bright, airy and well ventilated. All classrooms are equipped with a wide variety of teaching and learning resources, including a Promethean Interactive Whiteboard and Visualizer in each mainstream classroom. There is also a bank of Chromebooks (at least 3 in every room) available for student use in each classroom in the new building. In the summer of 2016, new carpets were laid throughout the school and the electrics and heating systems were upgraded.
Classes: Special - Sonas
SONAS - Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Classes
Our ASD unit was renamed Sonas (Well Being in Irish) in 2015 following the construction of our new state of the art facilities. Sonas includes three classes, for students from Junior Infants to Sixth class in surroundings especially designed for their needs. The large classrooms are physically structured in accordance with the TEACCH Model, with specific areas for individual learning, group work, play and lunch. Our facilities include an outdoor sensory garden with rubber tarmac, playground equipment, a ball pool, cooking facilities and a multi-sensory room with fibre-optic lights, bubble tube, projector, mirrors, a variety of textiles and mood music. There is also a large Sensory Integration Room that contains a variety of equipment to develop fine and gross motor skills.
Facilities: Halls
One extra large hall that can be divided using a partition in the new building as well as two smaller halls in the original building. (Note: The large hall in the ASD unit is also available during school events such as Active Schools Week, Sports Day etc)
We are very lucky to have three halls that undoubtedly enhance our teaching and learning in Scoil Bhríde. They provide us with large indoor spaces for P.E, games, concerts, rehearsals, and fairs. Our largest hall is equipped with sound proofing and also contains two large storage rooms enabling us to store a wide variety of equipment for the many sports that we play in this school. We also have a projector installed in the Senior hall in the old building for class and presentation use. Many classes use the small halls for movement breaks instead of moving furniture within the classrooms.
Facilities: Outdoor Play Areas
Our outdoor play areas include three large tarmacadam areas; large playing field, Running Track.
There are three very large play areas on tarmacadam so the children have lots of space to play on throughout the year. The classes are divided according to class groupings and there are many yard markings that help to make play time more enjoyable. During finer weather, there is ample space on our playing field for children to spend their yard time on the grass.In 2019, we also installed a running track with a rubberized surface. This circulates the playing field and children regularly use this track to run the daily mile. Children are also timetabled to use the track during lunch.
Facilities: IT Resources
Our mobile technology includes Chromebook and iPad trolleys for studennt use along with dedicated computer room.
There are 30 computers in our computer room, one for every child. The teacher is able to monitor the activity of each child on the teacher's computer and as we are on the schools broadband service, you can rest assured that all students are only permitted to view age appropriate content. Internet sites and programmes that are unsuitable for primary school children are blocked using the NCTE filters. We also have a Chromebook trolley that goes from room to room containing 28 devices. Additionally, we have an iPad trolley with 16 devices. These are mainly used by the Junior classes as the teacher device enables the teacher to launch apps and control student use from this device. They can also be screen shared to the Promethean Interactive Panels. Finally, our most recent investment was in STEM learning. We have 10 iPad version 9 devices. These are used for group projects such as digital storytelling and coding. Projects that we are working on include the Green Screen, Adobe Spark, Stop Motion and Lego Spike!
Facilities: Wheelchair Access
All areas wheelchair accessible; elevator; ramps and toilet/shower facilities
Since our renovation, we can say with confidence that our entire school is wheelchair accessible. There are designated parking spaces in the car park, accessible toilet/shower facilities and an elevator to classrooms upstairs.
Facilities: Outdoor Classroom
Our Outdoor Classroom includes benches for learning outdoors in the finer weather.
Our outdoor classroom was moved in 2019 to a much sunnier location near the link corridor. Here classes have the opportunity to read a book and complete fun activities such as drama, music, SPHE etc on our new benches.