St. Patrick’s National School, Shercock was built in 1893 with two classrooms. A third room was added to the original building in the early forties to accommodate extra pupils following the closure of Lecks National School. The arrival of Carton Bros, Manor Farm Processing Plant, in 1970 had a profound impact on the life of the school. In 1975 the new housing estate was built in Lisdrumskeagh, largely to house the factory workers and their families. Also in 1975, Dhuish National School was closed and the pupils transferred to Shercock National School.
The present school building was completed in 1995. This building consisted of 6 classrooms, a learning support room and a staff room. Manor Farm’s workforce has now grown to 700, with many of the employees coming from the Philippines, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The new millennium has seen the school becoming multicultural, a fusion that has been seamless and welcomed by all.
In 2014, in order to accommodate the growing numbers, a new classroom was added to the building. Our present school has 7 classrooms, two Special Education Support rooms, Secretary’s reception area, Principal’s Office, staff room and two storage areas. Our enrolment in September 2016 was 202 pupils and due to this further increase in school population, we were successful in an application for an additional classroom in 2017. This new extension began in January 2020 and it will be completed by June 2020.
St. Patrick’s National School is a Catholic Primary School under the patronage of the Bishop of Kilmore. It is managed by a board of management which is representative of the community in which it serves. The board is very active in ensuring that the school be maintained to a high standard and that the children are given the best education possible.
Our motto is “Ag Gluaiseacht Ar Aghaidh le Chéile” and this is our fundamental philosophy, where pupils, parents, staff, management and community work together in partnership to strive to make our school the best that it can be.