History of the School

Scoil Chaitríona was opened in 1960 under the care of The Mercy Order. The sisters came to live in Coolock House in 1963 when it was reconstructed as a convent. The foundress of The Mercy Order, the venerable Catherine McAuley lived in the Georgian House that is now the convent as a young girl, from 1809-1829.

When Catherine McAuley founded The Mercy Order in the early 19th century, one of her foremost objectives was to provide education for young people. She believed that ‘no work could be more productive of good to society than the education of the young’. She strove to educate the young to make them self reliant and capable of valuing their own work.

Although there are no sisters still teaching here, the ethos of The Mercy Order is still imbued in the aims of the school.