Scoil Naisiunta Dun Na Mainistreach
School Details
Location
About
Scoil Mhuire Abbeyside Primary School is a mixed Catholic national school situated on Sheare’s Street in the coastal village of Abbeyside, Dungarvan, County Waterford. It serves the local parish and surrounding rural areas, welcoming children of all faiths and backgrounds. The school provides a broad, inclusive curriculum supported by modern facilities, including interactive whiteboards in each classroom, a spacious school hall with a stage, and extensive outdoor playing fields for physical education and sport. The learning environment is deliberately small‑class focused, with junior and senior infant rooms limited to twenty pupils or fewer, enabling personalised attention. A dedicated special‑education team delivers systematic team‑teaching in literacy and numeracy, and a state‑of‑the‑art Réalta ASD unit accommodates twelve children with autism, with opportunities for integration into mainstream classes. The school also offers a sensory room, two autism classrooms, before‑ and after‑school services, and a range of extracurricular activities such as Gaelic football, music lessons, and cultural events, fostering a well‑rounded experience for its 471 pupils.
History
Formal education in Abbeyside began in 1891 at The Pond, a two‑room school serving up to 84 children per room. In 1957 the original building closed and pupils moved to a new site on Sheare’s Street, becoming Scoil Mhuire. The school later amalgamated with the Ballinacourty school in 1969, introducing a bus service for those pupils. Over the decades the school expanded its enrolment, facilities and programmes, including a major building programme in 2000 that added six classrooms and the introduction of the Réalta ASD unit in recent years.