Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh was founded by the Mercy Sisters in 1860 on the grounds of Rushbrooke Convent, adjacent to the Convent Farm. At that time it was located on a quiet country road and consisted of a 2 classroom building.
The school began to expand in the early 1950’s and the original school was knocked and a new 3 classroom school built. It was expanded by two classrooms in 1960 and in 1970 the first pre-fab was added. In 1979 a new 6 extension was added which consisted of classrooms, a PE Hall, Staff Room, 2 Multi-purpose rooms and an office. There were 14 Teachers and 360 children in the school in 1997.
The local population began to grow rapidly following a building boom in the Rushbrooke area in the early 2000s. Today there are 50 teachers, 14 Ancilliary Staff (Secretaries, Caretaker and 10 SNAs) to meet the needs of 730+ children.
The DES was first asked by the BOM to consider providing a new school in 1999 because of the forecasted population boom. A Design Team was appointed in 2000 and plans were drawn up for a 7 classroom extension. This was never built and new plans were ordered in 2002 for a larger extension. Further reconsideration was made by the DES in 2005 and a new set of extension and refurbishment of the existing 1980s block was ordered.
Finally, in 2008, it was decided that the school required a new building to house 24 Mainstream Classes and 2 ASD Special Classes.
The new building finally started in June of 2011 and was completed in June 2012. We moved in for the September 2012 school year.
It is a beautiful school with bright spacious classrooms, halls, basketball courts, tennis courts, a school garden, multiple play areas, a library, a prayer room, accessible bathrooms, wheelchair friendly doors, resource rooms and so much more. Our 2 ASD classes (Coiscéim) have expanded to 4 with a sensory room and state-of-the-art Occupational Therapy room.
