Brief History of our School

St. Brigid's National School is situated in the proud parish of Boardsmill. It is a catholic school where children of all denominations are welcomed. Early records suggest that originally there were two hedge-schools in the locality, one in Kilmurray and one in Dalystown. Around 1838 a number of local people formed a school committee and an application was made to the Commissioners of Education in Dublin for permission to build a school in the area. That application was granted and a plot of ground, the location of the current community hall, was purchased.

Work began in 1839 and the school opened in 1840. The first teacher appointed was a Mr. Patrick McCann. A roll number, the school's official identification with the Department, of 1827 was given to the school at that time. It seems that both boys and girls were educated together at that time in that one room and there could have been up to 100 children attending school there. The school was known as Batterstown School. An application was then made to the Commissioners of Education to build another room and this was also successful. A seperate Roll number, 3443, was awarded to this room and this it seems was deemed to be a girl's school.

Work on the school at our current site began in 1953 and it was officially opened on 4th October 1954 by Mr. Richard Mulcahy, then Minister for Education. The Taoiseach of that time, Fíne Gael's J.A. Costello also attended the official opening and even cancelled a cabinet meeting that day to attend. The Taoiseach was a first cousin of Reverend Monsignor John Mc Keever PP Trim. A new roll number was given to the school, 17947K, and this continues to be the roll number used today. Principal of the school at that time was Mr. Peadar Lehane. At the time there were almost 60 pupils. Since then enrolment at the school has increased to a current figure of 194.

Since then several extensions have been added on resulting in the wonderful facilities that are here today. The seeds that were sown by those visionary men and women from Boardsmill over 175 years ago continue to grow to this day.