A Swanage primary school with generations of family connections is marking its 90th anniversary by inviting everyone back to help celebrate its remarkable history.
St Mary’s RC primary school will open its doors in Northbrook Road, Swanage, on Saturday 11th July 2026 for a special open morning from 10 am, featuring guided tours, birthday cake and the chance for former staff, pupils and members of the community to share their own memories of the school.
The Purbeck House hotel was once the convent of the Sisters of Mercy who ran St Mary’s RC school from buildings in its gardens
Founded by the Sisters of Mercy
Before that, there will be a special day for the children on Friday 10th July 2026 with a party lunch on the school field, and old fashioned games like The Farmers in the Den, while an evening party will be held the same day, with an open invitation to all staff and former staff of St Mary’s.
The events form part of a year of celebrations marking nine decades since the school was founded in the town centre by the Sisters of Mercy in 1935.
Originally based behind Purbeck House, now the Purbeck House Hotel, the school occupied a picturesque site with gardens, an orchard and woodland where children played.
The first eight sisters, led by Mother Superior Mary Anastasia O’Hara, arrived in Swanage in May 1935 after Colonel Francis Savage, an Australian Roman Catholic who had settled in Swanage, left his house to them for the religious education of 30 poor children.
His house, Shamrock Lodge, was not really large enough, so the sisters sold it and bought Purbeck House which had originally been built by Swanage quarry owner George Burt in 1875.
The proceeds from Shamrock Lodge enabled the nuns to buy the new property along with its six acres of land for £5,500.
The modern new school in Northbrook Road was built with a green roof
Nuns take their seats for a performance by the schoolchildren in the 1940s in the grounds of the school’s original Purbeck House site which the sisters renamed as Priory House
Took almost a month to clean
Purbeck House had been empty for 15 years and took almost a month to clean it to a standard where the nuns could use it as a convent, with children being taught in classrooms behind it.
Nuns continued running the school until 2000, when Sister Alphonsus retired as the last of five headmistresses from the Sisters of Mercy.
The school remained on the site until 2014, when changes to Dorset’s education system, turning the first school into a primary school, meant the cramped site was no longer large enough – children in years 5 and 6 were already being taught in Swanage Youth Hostel.
St Mary’s relocated to its purpose built premises in Northbrook Road in 2014, where it now educates around 180 children aged between five and 11, alongside the preschool, Little Birds.
St Mary’s headteacher Alan Frame says the school has strong values of helping others and working together
“Former staff come back as volunteers”
Headteacher Alan Frame said:
“Having our roots as a Catholic school gives us a wider aspect in terms of school life – we are not just about about learning, life here is about helping people and working together, and it gives the school clear values.
“Six members of staff went to school here, and many of the children’s parents came here before them – there’s quite a large number of people, staff and students, who either came here, or had parents here.
“People have an investment in the school because of that, and we also get very good support, with volunteers coming here from the whole community.
“Former staff often come back as volunteers – one of the former headteachers, Maeve Baker, comes back every week to read with the children, while another former head, Maria Gadston, drives the minibus and comes on school trips.”
St Mary’s Ark was brought to the new site from the former school behind Priory House
“Remind us of our heritage”
Alan Frame added:
“A lot of our staff have been here for 10 years or longer, which gives us a lot of stability. We have volunteer helpers from all the churches in Swanage who take Wednesday assemblies, so the school is not just the Catholic church, it’s all churches together, which is really healthy.
“We put a large focus on sports and arts, we are Dorset County Netball champions at Under 11 and have been for three years in a row, and we are also Dorset Indoor Athletics champions.
“Often in a school you live in the moment, but actually the journey of the school is over 90 years now and that can get lost, so we will use this anniversary to remind us of our heritage.
“The children are looking forward to the anniversary party and are enjoying the occasion, it makes them feel they are a part of history and understand that one day, future generations will be looking at their school photos and wondering what life was like in 2026.
“St Mary’s is a really settled school at the moment and our job is to keep that journey going. Guardianship of the school is the key thing for the future, to preserve the special ethos we have here.”
Deputy head Becs Meteau with the stained glass window saved from the original school building
The new school has a beautiful backdrop to its sports fields, of the Purbeck Hills
Generations of family lives
Deputy head Becs Meteau, whose own father was one of the school’s earliest pupils, said the anniversary was an opportunity to celebrate not just the school, but the generations of families whose lives had been shaped there.
Becs Meteau said:
“We would like to extend an invitation to people to come along to celebrate with us, whether they went to school here or just want to see what goes on here, we’d love the community to join us and share any photos and memories they may have.
“We started our celebrations back in September 2025 with an anniversary Mass, and each of the staff members have been doing assemblies through the year to introduce the children to what life would have been like 90 years ago in fields like sport, music and world affairs.
“We’d like to thank the community for being so supportive over the years and to families, we have a very special community and staff who work together.
“Last year, we took the children round town to places or people that were important to them – Clifftop Care Home, the cricket club, the seafront, the millpond, the tennis club, they fanned out across the town and it made me realise how much the children know and love their town.”
Reception class at St Mary’s School is packed with fun ways to learn
The reception playground allows integration with youngsters who attend the Little Birds preschool next door
“It was a quaint old style school”
Becs Meteau added:
“Although there are no children at the school any longer who remember the old site, many of their parents went there like me.
“There were lots of lovely things about Purbeck House, it was a quaint old style school, with a convent and a chapel, beautiful gardens, an orchard and woods at the back where children used to play.
“But it had none of the modernity of this new school – two of the classrooms were huts in the playground, and in the last year we were there I taught years 5 and 6 in the Youth Hostel.
“We have kept a stained glass window which came down from the previous school, as did St Mary’s Ark which is in the playground, and it is nice to retain those special parts of our history.
“The Sisters of Mercy did a lot to help Swanage during World War Two when people were bombed, and added an extra dimension to the life of the town. I think people were quite sad when there were no longer nuns in the town, they were a lovely group of ladies.”
The founding nuns from the Sisters of Mercy, pictured in the 1930s
Bombers foiled by Holy water
The school was machine gunned by German planes during World War Two, on the day that Wesley’s cottage, close by the school, was hit by a bomb.
A bullet hit the school wall just above Mother Oswald’s desk, minutes after she had instructed the girls to crawl towards the door.
She was, however, hit by flying glass as the windows were shattered and bore the scars for the rest of her life, but everyone else was uninjured.
For future air raids, children were taken down to the cellar, but not before they were blessed with holy water – and according to Mother Oswald, she even managed to ward off a German plane heading right for the school by flinging holy water in its path.
Swanage Chapel at Priory House, pictured in 1948
Further information
- Find out more about St Mary’s primary school
