“To be Family & To Build Family”

We, the members of the Holy Family Secondary School community, invite you to browse through our website.

Our Catholics girls only secondary school, founded by the Holy Family Sisters, has as its central educational focus the philosophy of the founder, Fr. Pierre Bienvenu Noailles, the development of the whole person in the setting of a nurturing family.

Therefore, whilst we encourage our girls to maximize their educational potential, we also strive to create young women who have within them a strong spiritual compass to help live meaningful lives.

We are proud of our Holy Family heritage of education in Newbridge, and strive to provide a happy school atmosphere in which individuality, self-development, respect, tolerance and gentleness are part of the fabric of our school.

“Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine”

Mission Statement

Holy Family Secondary School is a Catholic, girls-only, all-ability, diocesan day school, under the patronage of the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin. Our school provides an education based on the vision of Pierre Bienvenu Noailles, founder of the order of the Holy Family Sisters of Bordeaux. In accordance with this vision, we promote the Christian virtues of faith, hope, love, gentleness, respect and tolerance, and we emphasise togetherness and family.

Guided by these Christian virtues, and dedicated to the pursuit of excellence, it is our mission to provide a safe, caring, inclusive learning environment in which to foster the spiritual, intellectual, academic, aesthetic, physical, emotional and social development of each pupil so that she may fulfil her own unique potential and may leave our school with the capacity and the willingness to contribute to the building of a society characterised by these Christian virtues.

It is also our mission to foster a strong, positive partnership with our parents, parish, past-pupils, and the wider community.

“L’esprit de famille se résume tout entier dans ce mot: charité.”

(P.B. Noailles)

(The Holy Family spirit may be summarised in one word: love.)

Philosophy and Aims

In the spirit of its founder Pierre Bienvenu Noailles, Holy family Secondary School promotes, encourages and enables the intellectual development of our pupils, supported by Christian values. To fulfil this aim, particular attention and emphasis is given to nurturing the values of kindness, compassion, reflection, as well as those values held dear by Pierre Bienvenu Noailles, which are respect, gentleness, togetherness, inclusion and family. It is hoped that, in becoming well-informed, self-directed, spiritually mature young women, the young ladies who leave our school will have the capacity and willingness to contribute to the building of a society characterised by gospel values.

As a school devoted to learning, we are constantly reviewing and developing our programmes, practices and facilities. Our challenge is to blend the best of our traditions with innovation in a changing world. In support of this, the school places great emphasis on the professional development of staff. Curriculum goals and teaching methods are regularly reviewed as are our general structures and procedures. Integral to this process is the valuable advice and input of parents and pupils.

All of us who work in Holy Family Secondary School see ourselves as partners in our learning community. We look to the future of the school and that of our pupils with great hope and high expectations. We acknowledge and value the dedicated work of our school staff.

“God, our school is a mosaic of pieces large and small, of may colours and shapes whoses differences when blended, make a thing of beauty not possible for one piece alone.”