I am delighted to welcome you to the CRC School website. The Central Remedial Clinic School aims to provide an atmosphere and environment in which each pupil will develop educationally, socially, physically, emotionally and spiritually to the maximum of his/her potential. I hope the website will give you a good sense of the work done by both the staff and our students.
Our school has a very long, proud and interesting history. The Central Remedial Clinic was founded in 1951 by Lady Valerie Goulding and Miss Kathleen O'Rourke to provide physiotherapy for victims of a polio epidemic in Dublin. Its first location was a two roomed flat in Pembroke Street, Dublin 2. It soon became evident that larger accommodation was essential and with funds collected by voluntary helpers - Prospect House in St. Aidan's Drive, Goatstown was purchased.
Other services for children and adults with disabilities grew from this and in October 1956 a special national school under the Department of Education was established with one teacher and fourteen pupils on roll. The Central Remedial Clinic School was born. For the next decade, it remained a one-teacher school with between 10 to 14 short-term pupils attending while receiving medical care and therapy in the Clinic.
Important changes occurred in the mid 1960's and onwards which effected changes in the character of the Central Remedial Clinic School, e.g. pupils of mixed physical disability were admitted to the C.R.C. School, including children with Cerebral Palsy; with improved medical knowledge came a dramatic increase in the number of Spina Bifida children reaching school age. The C.R.C. and the CRC School moved to its present position in Clontarf and had a new catchment area - Dublin City and County, north of the river Liffey. The number of teachers increased from one to three.
Since that time, the school has grown in size and staffing numbers. The school which once just catered for children of primary school age with a physical disability, now includes children of preschool and post primary age with multiple disabilities with physical as their primary disability. With this growth in the profile of our pupils comes an impressive wealth of knowledge and skills in our teachers and SNAs. Many of our pupils have complex medical needs and with the support of the CRC Nursing Department and our highly trained SNAs, these pupils are able to attend school. Our teachers and SNAs are also highly training I assistive technology which is used throughout the school.
We are very lucky to have a great school community comprising of our fantastic pupils, their families, our amazing teachers, SNAs, secretaries, caretaker, Board of Management and support from the CDNT teams and the wider CRC Clinic including Nursing, Catering and Facilities.
We are so proud of our school and all the pupils. Their achievements are evident throughout the pages of this website.
I invite you - whether you are the parent of a child already in the school, the parent of a past pupil or the parent of a perspective pupil or any visitor to the website - to take a few minutes (or hours) to have a browse and experience all the fantastic work and FUN that happens on a day to day basis in our school.
If you wish to visit our school in person, please contact the school and we can arrange a visit.
Wishing you all the very best,
Mary Collins , Principal