€7.5 million development for Kilkenny school

The Loreto Secondary School received the exciting news that the Department of Education has committed €7.5 million to further develop the already fantastic school facilities on the Granges Road. This development will consist of a 2,000m2 extension with a suite of specialist and general rooms.

Principal Colm Keher and Chairperson of the Board of Management Tony Joyce

After a period of negotiation, the Department of Education has agreed to fund the construction of a suite of rooms including two Science labs, one Graphics room, one Design and Communication Graphics room, a Textiles room, four general classrooms and locker space for 250 lockers. In addition, the extension will include the provision of four new special class units. 

16 past pupils of the All Ireland Camogie squad visit the Loreto for the annoucement of the new development

In 2015, Loreto opened a special class for students with Moderate General Learning Disabilities and the class has gone from strength to strength with demand for places very high.  The new suite of rooms will allow the school to cater for four additional classes, including Autism units, further strengthening Loreto’s commitment to inclusion.  This suite of rooms will include four main classrooms, a large shared space, four ‘quiet spaces’, a living skills room, sensory rooms and garden.

Over the past number of years, the school has steadily expanded its curriculum with the addition of new subjects such as Graphics, Design and Communication Graphics, Politics and Society, Leaving Certificate P.E., Agricultural Science and Computer Science and now offers a total of twenty optional subjects for Leaving Certificate.  This expansion has put pressure on specialist rooms and the school made the application to the Department of Education on the basis of its current needs and its enrolment of just over 1,000 students.

Principal Colm Keher, Catherine Peters, Parents Rep on the Board of Management and Tony Joyce, Chairperson of the Board of Management

Colm Keher, Loreto principal, said he was absolutely thrilled with the news.  He said, " I expect that the extension would be completed by September 2025 and would be a fantastic addition to the school."

He thanked the Department of Education who shared Loreto’s vision of what is required to meet the needs of students in the context of a modern curriculum. 

Tony Joyce, Chairperson of the Board of Management, was equally delighted and said that the Board and senior management team in the school had been working on the project for a year now. "It is lovely to see that the hard work has paid off’, he said. 

The Board is now commencing the process of tendering for a design team and it is expected that the project will be in its planning phase for almost two years before construction commences.