“Women in time to come will do much”- Mary Ward
The institute of the Blessed virgin Mary, better known in Ireland as the Loreto order, was founded in England by Mary Ward in the 17th Century. Born in 1585 this remarkable women worked tiredlessly to ensure that “girls could receive the education they needed for their furture, wheter in religious or lay life”(Browne, 2008). The order was taken to Ireland by Mother Frances (Teresa) Ball who in 1821 set up in Dublin the IBVM Loreto branch of the Mary Ward Institute.
In 1966 Sisters of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Loreto Order) came and opened a Secondary school in Milford called Loreto College on the 14th of September 1966.The school was a fee paying schoold and the original enrolment was 41 students which were all girls and consisted of both boarders and day students. The numbers then increased throughout the year to 48 female students 36 of which were boarders and 12 of which were day pupils. The School was run by 7 nuns at this time.
In 1966, Donogh O’Malley, the Minister for Education at the time announced there will be free education beginning 1967. When free education and transport was introduced in 1967 for secondary schools it changed education forever. This change in Irish education policy made a significant impact on schools across the country, Loreto college in particular.
This change in the educational policy of ‘free education’ had resulted in the change of Loreto College Milford from being a single-sex school to changing to a co-educational school in 1969. Loreto College became the first ever co-educational convent in Ireland in 1969. Boys were welcomed for the first time and Milford remained through the years, the only Loreto school in the Republic of Ireland to enrol boys. The reason for this change was because of the change in the educational policy but also the demand in the area for another secondary school was high.
Student numbers increased dramatically through the following decades. The schools serves quite an extensive catchment area comprising of the Rosguill and Fanad Peninsulas, Milford, Kilmacrennan, Rathmullan, Carrigrat, Cranford, Ramelton and recently reaching into the Letterkenny area.
Loreto College remained the name of the secondary school until 1996 when the status of the school then changed to a Community school when the Department of education and skills purchased the school and its extensive grounds and Loreto Sisters departed, with the exception of the much loved, Sr. Colmbanus who only retired and left Milford to return to Bray Co.Wicklow in 2009.
Loreto at present has an enrolment of approximately 800 pupils with approximately 50 staff.
Principals through the years: Mother Pierre Owens 1966 – 1969; Sr. Madeline O’ Connell 1969 – 1973; Sr. Camilla de Roiste 1973 – 1978; Sr. Marie Celine Clegg 1978 – 1985; Sr. Anna Brady 1985 – 1988; Sr. Miriam Larkin 1988 – 1990; Sr. Rionach Donlan 1990 – 1992; Mr. Andrew Kelly 1992 – 2015; Mrs. Margaret O’ Connor 2015 – Present ;
Sr. Marie Celine Clegg
After graduating from a science degree, she taught for seven years at Loreto in Milford, Co Donegal, which has since become a community school. “My passion for education really began there,”(Clegg, 2000).
“I loved teaching and the whole teaching experience and that has stayed with me even though my life in education has since moved on in other directions.”
A year each in Loreto on the Green in Dublin and Loreto in Dalkey, Co Dublin, followed by Donegal and Clegg, she was subsequently posted back to Milford as principal where she remained for a further seven years. By the time she left in 1985, the school had almost doubled in size to 850 pupils.
(Irish Times, 2000)
Pictured: Three of the original seven Founding Sisters made a return visit to Loreto Community School to mark the date when the school opened on 12th September 1966.
Photographed are: Sr. Anne Farren, Sr. Mary Owens (formerly Mother Pierre who was the first Principal of the school), Sr. Breda Mc Carthy, Maeve Green, Sr. Ide Kiely, Mrs. Margaret O’Connor and Ms. Geraldine McGee.
Loreto Community School Milford 