History
Bishop Galvin National School is a Co-educational School in Orwell Park, Templeogue. It operates within the rules of the Department of Education and Skills and is under the patronage of the Archbishop of Dublin. It caters mainly for children, in the age range eight to twelve, in the Parish of St. Jude the Apostle, Willington, Templeogue, Dublin 6W. While Bishop Galvin N.S. is a school with a Catholic ethos, it also has due recognition for all other religions.
It is named after Bishop Edward Galvin, a native of Newcestown Co. Cork, who became a missionary priest. He was co-founder of the Columban Fathers and spent most of his missionary life in China. The school stands on its present site as a result of a land grant by the Columban Fathers to the parish of Willington which, in the early seventies, was being administered by the Rev. Andrew P. Boland the first chairman of the school board.
The school opened in 1975 with 102 pupils and six teachers. The first Principal was Seán Healy. He retired in 1994 and was succeeded by Jimmy O ‘Dwyer. Jimmy retired in 2006 and was succeeded by Eamonn Treacy. Kathryn Corbett was appointed principal in November 2016.
By 1979 numbers attending the school dictated that a second school be built in the parish. This school, Bishop Shanahan N.S., caters for children from Junior Infants to Second class, while Bishop Galvin N.S. takes children from Third to Sixth class.
At present, there are almost 500 children in our school, with 26 teachers. This includes 18 mainstream teachers, 7 Special Education Teachers and an Administrative Principal. The teaching staff is supported by 5 Special Needs Assistants, a caretaker and a secretary.
The school has a proud tradition in Information Technology. It has a dedicated computer room and all classrooms have Interactive Whiteboards. Ipads are available for groupwork. We host an annual Visual Arts Exhibition, which proudly displays the work of all our pupils. Our art room has a kiln, which enables pupils to produce beautiful pottery pieces. Musicals and Talent Shows are also part of school life, where all pupils have the o pportunity to perform on stage. Whole school singing is a unique aspect of our school, where all pupils come together in the hall and sing traditional and modern songs.
Bishop Galvin N.S., has a proud sporting tradition and teams regularly reach Cumann na mBunscol finals in Croke Park. In recent years, we have had great success with our cross country teams, who compete in a number of events in early Spring and our Athletics teams compete in Santry each year.
We are proud of the success of our past pupils, Ciara Sheehy (Athletics), Steven Kinsella (Soccer) and Kevin Mac Manamon (GAA).