Education in Abbeyside.
Formal Education began in the village of Abbeyside in 1891. The local school was built at The Pond which is close to the water on the Abbeyside shoreline of Dungarvan bay. This school consisted of two large rooms with about 84 children in each room. Two teachers taught in each classroom. There were two open fires in the school, one in the boys’ room and one in the girls’ room. Children sat in long desks and there would be about seven pupils in each.
In 1900 the children were taught algebra, geometry, mensuration, general science, writing and arithmetic. History, geography, music and drawing were extra subjects. In 1922 Irish became the official language of schools and all subjects had to be taught in Irish.
In 1957 the school at the Pond closed due to overcrowding and teachers and pupils moved to the new school up the road in Sheares Street.
The new school known as Scoil Mhuire had the boys and girls together in infants but they were segregated after that into Scoil Mhuire B for boys and Scoil Mhuire C for girls.
In 1969 there was as an amalgamation between the school in Ballinacourty and the Abbeyside schools. To this day a bus is provided for pupils to come from Ballinacourty to Scoil Mhuire Abbeyside. Mr Michael Foley was appointed principal with Mr Pat Veale as Vice Principal. Mr Veale later became principal from 1972 until his retirement in 1995.
The school became synonymous with singing with regular choirs in Féile na Scoile.
Finbarr Keohan became principal from 1995 until 2012 during which time the school grew from approximately 340 pupils to over 478. There was an influx of pupils from many European countries and a building programme in 2000 built on 6 extra classrooms. Many initiatives were embarked on such as the Abbeyside School Book Fair which brought in much needed funds and provided the community with a great local book event.
What follows are some photographs from the past.
Photos kindly supplied by Waterford County Museum.
