Our Lady of Good Counsel Girls’ National School The Story of Our School

In the 1870’s Ferrybank was part of the parish of Slieverue. Fr In the 1870’s Ferrybank was part of the parish of Slieverue. Fr. Dunphy, the Parish Priest believed there was a need for a school in the Ferrybank area.

Fr. Dunphy wrote to Fr. Gailhac in Béziers, France and asked him to send a group of sisters to Ferrybank to establish a school.

The Sacred Heart of Mary Sisters arrived by boat and set about establishing a community and a school.

The photograph shows the Sacred Heart of Mary Sisters outside the Convent in Ferrybank in 1872.

Bishop Francis Moran blessed the foundation stone of the new primary school in March 1879 and later that year St. Brigid’s school opened.

The remains of that building may still be seen in our school yard.

In the 1950s Ferrybank was growing and the Sisters saw the need to build a bigger school. Our Lady of Good Counsel GNS opened in 1959.

The Sacred Heart of Mary Sisters continued to manage the school until 2002, when they decided to hand this responsibility over to the Diocese of Ossory.

Sr. Catherine McCarthy who retired in 2004 was the last of the Sacred Heart of Mary Sisters to teach in the school.

In 2010, the school’s Board of Management extended and completely refurbished Good Counsel School.

Today, over 200 pupils attend Good Counsel and we are very busy.

We have a very happy school community and we work hard to fulfil the motto of the Sisters who founded our school, ‘That all may have life’.