The picture above is the old Junior and Infant School in Bedford Street.
In 1846-47 Fr. John Rigby founded a parish school near St. Mary's church in Gibbet Street. Over the next thirty years the school, known locally as St. Marie's, flourished and grew until numbers made it necessary to erect a new building in Bedford Street. By 1895 there were over 700 pupils and the older children moved to Clarence Street as a separate Junior school. The St. Mary's schools existed in their 19th century buildings until the early 1960's when replacement schools were built on Swires Road.
1985 finally saw the amalgamation of the Infant and Junior schools as St. Mary's Catholic Primary School - a 5-11 school serving the families and parishes of St. Marie's, St. Alban's and St. Columba's.  With over 150 years of history we have a great tradition and many proud, personal and collective memories to cherish. We acknowledge these and the debt we owe to the many families, clergy, staff and managers/governors who had the foresight and will to found, support and shape St. Mary's.  Today we carry the vision forward and endeavour to provide the best quality Catholic primary school education that we can, thereby enabling our children to deepen their faith, journey closer to God and each other, and develop as caring, happy and successful citizens.  Described by OFSTED as "an outstanding school", part of our approach involves being open to others and keeping parents and the community informed of the many activities and successes we are involved in. 

A photo from the archives of pupils who attended our school in 1932.

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