Welcome to our school community!
There are over 700 second level schools in Ireland and amongst their ranks, 300 voluntary secondary schools. Although Coláiste Mhuire enjoys strong links with our diocese in Elphin, we are not a diocesan school and neither are we a member of one of the Catholic educational trusts established within the last decade or so. Rather, Coláiste Mhuire is almost unique in the fact that we are one of the few second level schools nationwide, whose beginnings originated within the local community, was funded by the community, and is still run in trust by members of that same community.
The establishment of a second level school in Ballygar was primarily the brain-child of Mr Tadhg O’ Connor, a visiting Department of Agriculture civil servant in the area. Mr O’ Connor noticed the lack of opportunity for local children to progress to second level and set about making this aspiration a reality. By working with other interested parties in the Ballygar community, Coláiste Mhuire opened its doors for its first cohort of students in September 1948.
In 2016, our school community invited members of the O’ Connor family and wider community to celebrate Tadhg’s lasting educational legacy in Ballygar. A memorial in his honour, unveiled on that day, hangs proudly in our School.
For nearly 70 years Coláiste Mhuire, located in the heart of Ballygar beside the beautiful Aghrane forest, has proudly served the educational needs of the local community. We look forward to carrying this tradition of teaching and learning in to the future for generations to come.