Sacred Heart Church,
Ferrybank    

Some of the students in the School today

Before the arrival of the Sacred Heart of Mary sisters in 1879 , there was already a “poor school” in Ferrybank run by two old ladies  who were anxious to pass on the responsibility to a group of sisters.

Ferrybank, at this time, had fallen on hard times. Where once it had two ship building yards, a posting station and a large number of craftsmen, poverty was now rampant and morale at an all-time low.

The tax on the toll-bridge that separated Ferrybank from the City of Waterford denied the people of Ferrybank access to churches and schools. The administrator of Slieverue, Fr. Joseph Murphy, saw that education was a prime necessity in the area and approached Fr. Gailhac, a French man who had instituted the Sacred Heart Sisters, to consent to the opening of a convent in Ferrybank.

And so it was that the sisters took on responsibility for education in Ferrybank, establishing both a Primary and a Secondary school.