Our History

Dún Laoghaire ETNS opened its doors on the 31st of August 2017 with 21 junior infant children.

When the Department of Education and Skills announced that a new school was to be opened in Dún Laoghaire in 2017 there was great excitement amongst the parents of the area. In partnership with Educate Together these parents eagerly leapt into action to get the support and expressions of interest that were needed to secure the patronage of the new school. To great joy the patronage of the school was awarded to Educate Together.

Thanks to the generosity of the Trustees of Monkstown Community Centre the school was very fortunate to secure temporary accommodation on the campus of The Red Door School in Monkstown Grove, Monkstown. Anne Marie Lillis was appointed to the post of principal at the end of June 2017. Following her appointment Anne Marie worked closely with Paddy Monahan the school’s first manager and they set about offering places and doing what was necessary to get the school ready for the first day of school.

It was a busy summer with an information evening, registration meetings, and the overseeing of a prefab renovation. With the support of parents, there were two big clean up days of the school grounds at the end of August, and with the grounds looking spick and span a teddy bears picnic was held on the Sunday before school opened to say hello to the youngest members of the DLETNS new school community.

Staffing on the first day of school was Anne Marie and mainstream class teacher, Louise Holst. To celebrate the school opening the staff and families were joined by Adelaide NicCharthaigh, Paddy Monahan and Liz Martin from Educate Together.

In September, Niall Wall replaced Paddy as school manager until the school’s first board of management was established with the following members on the board: Bryan Lucey (Chairperson), Niall MacMullan (Patron Nominee), Katie O’ Brien (Parent Nominee), Thomas Mason (Parent Nominee) Joan Moore (Community Nominee) and Rónán MacMuiris (Community Nominee).

Anne Marie and Louise were joined later in the year by special education teacher Stephanie Munnelly for 3 days a week and part-time secretary Cliana Smyth.

The support of parents was crucial and they helped in many ways during that first year including gardening, the Learn Together curriculum, international breakfast morning, grandparent’s day and movie nights to name a few. 

Fast forward a couple of years, and DLETNS continues to be a thriving school with three classes (Junior Infants, Senior Infants, and First Class). We have three full time teachers, one part-time teacher, two SNAs and a part-time secretary. The first PTA was established in January 2019. We hope to take on a new class of Junior Infants in September 2020, and every September until we reach capacity. We are still located in our temporary accommodation on the site of the Red Door School, but have been told where our permanent school building will be built – 9 Bentley Villas – in the heart of Dun Laoghaire. We hope you enjoy looking around the website to get a feel of things, who we are and the things that we do.

Contact Details

Address:

C/O The Red Door School,
Monkstown Grove,
Monkstown,
Co. Dublin

Phone:
086 466 7017

Email:
info@dletns.ie