A Brief History
Education in Arvagh, as researched by the late Francis J. McCaughey, can be traced back to the 5th July 1840. Originally the school building catered for a separate boys’ and girls’ school before they amalgamated to become co-educational in 1967.
The Arvagh area is unique in its geographical location between 3 town lands, 3 baronies, 3 counties and 3 provinces. This unique idea is very aptly depicted on the ornate mural that adorns the wall at the entrance to our school.
The school building, as it is, was officially opened on 5th November 200 I. It is a unique building in that it is not totally new because it incorporated the old school, this fusion of the old and new makes it a most interesting concept. The school was previously known as Arva No. I N.S. but following our move into the new building, the school is now known as St. Mary’s N.S. We have adopted the seanfhocail “Mol an 6ige agus tiocfaidh siad” as our school motto.
A further extension was built in 2009 and it was commemorated with a mural painted by all pupils.
We celebrated the Centenary of our School on the October Bank Holiday Weekend 2015. We launched our Centenary Book at a special Mass and had an open evening in our school looking back at the last I 00 years of education.
It was a fantastic occasion. Centenary Books are available from the school offices