Most people who have had connections with the Faythe School will know that there was an 'old' school and a ‘new' school. The old school was completely knocked down in 1944 and the new school was built.
An old photograph of the Faythe taken sometime pre - 1921 shows the entrance to the school quite clearly. In the line of terraced houses there is a high wall in which there are two arched gateways, one big and one small. The smaller entrance was for the children and the nuns who walked to school, and the other was for the carriage which took the older nuns to school.
These gates were locked at night as the nuns could now return home to the Convent. Written over the larger gate were the words `St. John of God Schools'.
The wall with the two gates was not as wide as the railings of the present day building. There were at least three extra houses on the south side of the school. In 1925 these houses were occupied by Nolans, Staffords and Rossiters. Mr. Billy Stafford of the Folly was born in one of these houses. They were later demolished for the building of the new school.
Once inside the little gate the pupils were in a play ground. The school itself was small, set back well from the road, and there was no door into it from the Faythe side. The windows of what was known as the 'synagogue' overlooked this playground. The synagogue' was the part of the building that had been used as a chapel by the Christian Brothers. It was probably this room that has given rise to all the rumours that the school is haunted. A 'ghost' story has always been told that a Christian Brother died and was buried under the school. Now to dispel the rumour, here is the true story. Rev Bro. Samuel Bernard Rigley came to Wexford as superior to the Brothers in the Faythe in 1856. He died on 9th September in 1873 and was buried in the Faythe School grounds. When the Brothers moved out of the Faythe the remains were removed and re-interred in the grounds of Joseph St. School 18 months afterwards. It is claimed that his body was incorrupt. No other person was ever buried in the Faythe School, so all stories of dead monks, brothers or anyone else taking nocturnal walks are must find their places with other Wexford "ghosts".
The synagogue was the home of Junior, Senior and First Class girls. All these children and their teachers were packed into one room. From this front playground one had to turn left and go through a little gate to gain access to the school building itself. Now the school could be entered through a porch where coats were hung which led directly into the 1st Class section of the synagogue. On the left of this porch as you entered was the "baby room" which had a separate entrance from the yard.
This room was not part of the original school — it was built on later. A wooden stairs led from the back of the baby room. Pupils seldom used this stairs. At the top of it were the nuns’ lunch room and the office. The office was more or less a parlour where visiting clergy etc., were entertained. Another porch from the yard led into a passageway between the boys’ school and Our Lady's School. — Our Lady's School was the name given to the rooms where 4th, 5th and 6th Class girls were. From there a stone stairs led up to 2nd and 3rd classrooms, and the oratory. The oratory was a little chapel within the school. It was long and narrow and could seat about fifty people. The windows of the oratory overlooked some of the back gardens in the Faythe. It was the scene of many religious ceremonies in the school.
Down at the back of the yard was the girls’ cloakroom. The girls had to leave their coats there and run as fast as they could back to the school if it was raining. The "cead agam dul amachs" must have been adventurous because the toilets were quite a trot away as well. There was an outdoor tap in the yard and a shelter with just a roof over it to separate the boys' yard from that of the girls.
