The School of Our Lady & St. Joseph
Our school was established at the end of 1855. At first, part of the church (in the converted shed) was curtained off during the week to form a classroom and a school for girls and infants had been opened. There was no money available to pay the salary of a schoolteacher so some ladies of the parish organised themselves into a rota to teach the children. In 1856 there was an attempt to found a new community of nuns, led by Father Lockhart’s mother (a widow) and she was joined by two others who taught in the school but when Mrs Lockhart’s health failed this initiative had to be abandoned.
The opening of this school was of special significance. The primary intention of founding the school was, of course, to teach the faith to the children of the parish and to nurture their spiritual development and to give the children some basic, general education. At that time, large numbers of parishioners were poor and illiterate and it was most important that some sort of elementary education should be provided for the children, as the state did not get involved in education until 1870. The Catholic Church played a most important role in providing schools for Catholic children and financing their running.
When the first floor of the newly-acquired factory was converted into a church, the ground floor became the parish school. By October 1856, the school also had a resident schoolmaster who lived with the priests. At that time the school was known as Kingsland Roman Catholic Primary School and later as Saint Joseph’s Catholic School, Kingsland.
In 1863 the Sisters of Providence (a Rosminian order) came from Loughborough to take over the school. In 1865 Mr Kelly’s house and timber yard were bought by the Institute of Charity and handed over to the sisters. New school buildings were erected on the site of the timber yard and the school and church heated by a hot water system, which was then quite the latest thing. The parish as we know it was then virtually complete.
The Birth of the Parish / The Departure of Fr Lockhart
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