Brief School History
The school began in 1949 as a girls’ school under the Trusteeship of the Sisters of Mercy. It prepared students for the Intermediate and Leaving Certificate examinations over a five-year cycle. The school took its first intake of boys in 1955. In 1993, a lay principal was appointed. In 1994, a six-year cycle was added with the introduction of the Transition Year Programme. In the same year the school was designated Disadvantage under the Disadvantage Area Scheme. In 1997, the first Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) students were enrolled. In 2002, the school offered the part-time programme Back to Education Initiative (BTEI) and in subsequent years FETAC Level 5 and 6 commenced.
In early October 2007, Mary Immaculate Secondary School came under the trusteeship of CEIST – Catholic Education, an Irish Schools Trust thus providing a new moral and legal trustee framework enabling the school to continue to offer post – primary Catholic education into the future as a viable option and as an integral part of the Irish school system.
In the summer of 2008 the Sisters of Mercy gifted their convent building to Mary Immaculate Secondary School. The convent building, formerly known as Tivoli House, was refurbished and now is home to classrooms, computer rooms, administration office, principal’s office, meeting rooms, and comms room.