Girls' school, Diegem.
In 1880 the De Reine family gave part of its extensive property to the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy of Mechelen to establish a retirement home for ladies; in 1919 the adjoining building on the right was bought to set up the independent girls' school; new buildings were erected for it in 1931.
The retirement home closed in 1963; the building was later taken over by the school and is now part of the Parish Primary School, on the corner with the Woluwelaan; the building was, however, thoroughly renovated, and the other school buildings were recently completely rebuilt.
A grotto chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, which had to make way when the Woluwe was vaulted over, was rebuilt in 1931 across the street against the façade of the school. Its present appearance, however, differs greatly from the original: the grotto, built of rock from the local sand pits, is now enclosed by a rectangular brick chapel under a pseudo-mansard roof, marked by bevelled front corners and round-arched openings.
A hundred years of Catholic education
In response to the school law of 1879 the De Reine family made cottages available, and on 1 June 1880 the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy from Mechelen opened a school with two primary classes and an infant class. In 1900 seven sisters worked there, with 143 children in the primary classes, 150 infants and a workshop for 30 girls. The municipality adopted the school in 1895; new rooms were added in 1931. In 1938 the council cut all subsidies, but on the governor's orders they had to be restored.
In May 1963 came the news that the sisters would leave Diegem; by Christmas the convent and the rest home stood empty. The headship went to Jeanne Genis-Lombaerts, ‘Miss Jeanne’. From 1965 boys were admitted, first in the lowest classes and from 1968 in all of them. In 1977 the school merged with the Sint-Gertrudis school in Machelen, and on 10 June 1979 a hundred years of Catholic education in Diegem was celebrated.