Before the formation of the Dept. of Education in 1835 or 1836 schooling was almost non-existent except for a number of—what one called—hedge schools. The Church of Ireland had one in Ballyhogue and one in Ballybuckley beside Clonmore Church (in Ned Long’s house). Mrs. Foley kept a hedge school in Borrmount for small children and one in Ballyhogue in a house owned by the Murphy family of The Racecourse.
Bree’s first school started in the old church down Bree Lane. It was a two-roomed school with a partition in the middle. The first teacher was James Kirwan.
In 1953, a new school was built in Bree. Jonathon Moriarty was the principal at the time and there were 120 children and 3 teachers.
In 1991, due to the increase in the school population to 180 pupils, a new extension was added to the school, comprised of four classrooms. When added to the two existing classrooms (the third existing classroom was converted into a staffroom), the school now had six classrooms in total.
In 2014, four more classrooms were added as part of a new extension.
In 2016, another classroom and a new principal’s office were built.
Number of pupils: 218
Principal:
- Mark Kelly
Deputy Principal:
- Anne O’Dowd
In School Management Team:
- Catherine Byrne
- Larry Coffey
Teachers:
- Essie Morris
- Marian Breen
- Caroline Miskella
- Colm Moore
- Aileen Laffan
- Nora Wall
- Róisín Shannon
- Aisling Carberry
Special Needs Assistants:
- Betty White
- Aidriel Byrne
Secretary:
- Melissa Dawson
Cleaner:
- Christine Redmond
Board of Management
- Chairperson: Fr. Michael Byrne
- Principal: Mark Kelly
- Secretary: Mark Kelly
- Treasurer: Damian Smith
- Teachers’ Nominee: Larry Coffey
- Parents’ Nominees: Mike Doyle and Bernie O’Leary
- Patron’s Nominees: Sadie Whelan and Clare Doyle