Set in the heart of Dublin City on the eastern side of St. Stephen’s Green, Loreto College Junior School, St. Stephen’s Green is an all-girls, fee-paying Catholic school with a strong Christian ethos. It operates under the trusteeship of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known in Ireland as the Loreto Sisters. The Loreto Education Trust Board delegates the administration of the school to the Board of Management.
This website will give you a flavor of our family environment where girls from the age of four get an opportunity to develop their gifts and talents.
At Loreto College Junior School we follow the National Curriculum set by the Irish Department of Education and Science. We have a commitment to high-quality teaching and learning in a spirit of partnership. Our school is a caring community in which pupils have the opportunity to grow academically, creatively, emotionally, physically, and spiritually in a healthy and safe environment.
We share the school campus with our senior school, where our girls can continue their education to Leaving Certificate level, and provide facilities of the highest standard.
Our school is a friendly, welcoming place where staff, children, and parents experience a sense of warmth and belonging. It has a charming intimacy, which makes it very special.
The school endeavors to embody the educational and religious philosophy of the Loreto tradition. This philosophy is centered in God, rooted in gospel values, and derives its specific expression from the insights and visions of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Mary Ward (foundress of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary – known as Loreto in Ireland) and her core values of Truth, Freedom, Justice, Sincerity, Joy, and Reflection.
We strive to ensure that our school community is a place where the potential of each individual is recognized and respected, where excellence is pursued, and where staff, parents, and students co-operate for the common good. This is encapsulated in our Mission Statement.
Our school is a caring Christian community in which students have the opportunity to grow academically, creatively, emotionally, physically, and spiritually in a healthy, safe environment.
Our school is a place where children can develop their gifts and talents and use them in the loving and responsible service of others.
All students are cherished equally, regardless of ability or creed. They are unique and we recognize, support, and develop the potential of each pupil in consultation with their parents.
On September 5, 1833, Mother Teresa Ball and a small group of nuns took possession of No. 58, Harcourt Street, Dublin. Here Mother Teresa proposed to open a Day School. Eleven years earlier, Mother Teresa had founded Loreto House, Rathfarnham and she now extended her work of education to the city.
On September 23, 1833, the school opened its doors to receive pupils. Mother Teresa had been told that there was a great demand for such a school but, on an opening day, only one pupil presented herself. However, by January 1834, there were 27 pupils. As more accommodation was required, No. 53 St. Stephen’s Green, was purchased and the school moved from Harcourt Street to the Green on October 6th, 1841. By 1846 there were 20 boarders and 30-day students in “The Green.” On January 11, 1844, Daniel O’Connell visited the Green and enrolled his two grandchildren.
In 1878 the Government set up a Board of Intermediate Education to re-organize and co-ordinate Secondary Education in Ireland. The Board drew up syllabi covering a wide range of subjects and divided them into three courses: Junior, Middle, and Senior Grades. Examinations were set at the end of each year and a generous scheme of rewards was provided with Exhibitions, Medals, and Prizes to be won by outstanding candidates in each Grade. For some time Catholic schools remained outside this scheme, however in 1880 the Loreto schools, including the Green, sat the Intermediate Examinations for that year. The Loreto pupils carried off several Exhibitions, Medals, and Prizes.
During the late nineteenth century, the record of the Green was a glittering one, with pupils winning Exhibitions, Medals, and Prizes. In 1897, Green pupils won five Exhibitions and First Places in Classics, in Greek and Latin, as well as a Prize for English Composition. In addition to the Intermediate Examinations, the girls sat for the examinations of the Department of Science and Art, South Kensington, London, in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Magnetism and Electricity, Sound, Light and Heat, and in Geometry. They also sat for examinations in Freehand Drawing, Model Drawing, Drawing from Cast, and Geometrical Drawing. Many of the girls learned the piano, the violin, and the harp, and took the examinations of the Incorporated Society of Musicians, London, the Royal College and Academy of Music, London, and the Local Centre examinations.
In 1899, Mother Michael organized University Classes in the Green. The Royal University had been founded in 1878, but it was only an Examining Body. Women were allowed to sit for the examinations but were not allowed to attend lectures in the University College on St. Stephen’s Green, South. Courses were provided in the Green in French, German, Modern Literature, History, Jurisprudence, Mental and Moral Science, Philosophy, Metaphysics, as well as in Catholic Doctrine and Apologetics. No. 54, St. Stephen’s Green, was purchased and that house was allotted to the University Students. From that time forward, the establishment was known as “Loreto College.” In 1908, the National University of Ireland was established and University College, Earlsfort Terrace was opened to women students. Until 1911, when Loreto Hall, 77 St. Stephen’s Green, opened, University students stayed on in the Green and attended lectures in U.C.D.
In 1907, a new three-story block was erected at the back of No. 53, with a Concert Hall on the ground floor, a Science Room and three classrooms on the second floor and top, there were nuns’ Cells. By 1922, a new era had begun in Irish Education. The Free State Government set up a Department of Education, which organized a new system of Secondary Education, with a six-year course of studies and two examinations within that period, the Intermediate Certificate Examination and the Leaving Certificate.
There were other developments, too, at that time. The Loreto Examination system was set up, with programs for each Grade and examinations at the end of each year set by examiners for the Loreto schools. The Loreto Games League and the Loreto Debating Society were also founded at this time.
The school buildings have been extended many times over the years. During the 1920s the Superior, Mother Albertus Culligan, an Australian, built a refectory for the boarders in the old 54 garden. Over it, she erected a library. The next extension came in 1956 when the old music cells were demolished and a four-story building was erected. This comprised a shoe room and a new laundry on the ground floor, four new classrooms on the next floor, an art room, another classroom and new music rooms on the third floor, and top, a large dormitory. The Concert Hall was also enlarged. A further extension was made when St. Vincent’s Hospital was transferred to Elm Park. It then became possible to buy No. 55.
In 1986 a fire partially destroyed the College and Convent tragically claiming the lives of six Loreto Sisters. A decision was taken to move the school temporarily to Harcourt Street where an office block at number 79 was leased for two years. In 1988 “The Green” was reopened with entirely new sections added to the original buildings.
