School History

Work began on the building of a new school in the town land of Lakeview in 1929 (the oldest section of the present school).

This was completed in 1930 with the official opening on October 6th as shown in an entry on the Daily Report Book (girls) of that month:

6 adh Deireadh Foghmhair 1930

Fosgluíghleas an teach scoile nua seo inniú

Bhí 52 I láthair

P.S Ó Móráin S.P


It is reported that the building cost €3,000 - the parish contributed €150 and the remainder came from government funds.

Boys and girls were separated once again.

In 1931, a new principal was appointed to the girl’s school.

Helena McSweeney who had acted as assistant teacher since 1919 was the new principal, a post held until 1940 when Eibhlin Divilly succeeded her.

Assistants during this period were Bríd Ridge (1932-1936) and Pauline Larkin (1936-1943). Eibhlin Divilly remained as Principal until 1963 when she was succeeded by Mary O’ Loughlin.

In 1943 Bríd Hughes from Oileáin Árann was appointed as assistant teacher, a position she held until her retirement in 1984 - a remarkable forty one years of service to the parish.

The boys’ and girls’ schools were amalgamated in 1970 under the principalship of Seán Glynn, Woodquay, who succeeded Tom O’Connor as Principal of the boys’ school in 1962. He retired in 1978 and was succeeded as Principal by Mary O’ Loughlin who acted as Principal of the girls’ school before the amalgamation.

She in turn retired in 1991 to be succeeded by Pat Coen.

Enrolment figures from the old Claregalway girls’ school show that there were approximately 100 girls enrolled around the turn of the century.

This number decreased gradually during the 1920s and 1930s and was in fact halved by the 1940s when the enrolment was 50 girls.

By 1955 the number had risen to 74 only to start a downward trend again to an all time low of 43 in 1968. Around the time of the amalgamation of the boys’ and girls’ schools in 1970, sixty nine boys and fifty four girls were enrolled but the following twenty years were to see an enrolment explosion due to a house building boom and the popularity of Claregalway as a place of residence for young families. The number of children on roll increased from 123 in 1971 to 300 in 1993.

As enrolment almost trebled in twenty years, extra teachers were appointed and a major extension of five classrooms, staff room, general purpose room etc. was added in the 1980s. Far from the turf fires, cold rooms, substandard toilet facilities and lack of proper water supply in the old schools the children now had comfort of central heating, en suite toilets, modern furniture and running water in all classrooms. A further extension of two classrooms and a staff room were added on in the mid 1990s. The appointment of a remedial teacher brought the number to twelve.

1975 saw a big change in the management of schools when teachers and parents were granted positions on the new Boards of Management. The Boards comprised of Bishops’ nominees, teachers and parents’ representatives, now had the responsibility of managing finance, maintenance, appointment of teachers and the overall running of the school.

The Irish language was not acknowledged as a national school subject until 1922 when it became an obligatory subject for a least one hour per day. All school records up to 1923 are in English. The language flourished during the 1940s and 1950s and families received a “deontas” (grant) for speaking the language. An inspector visited the school and examined the children orally to ascertain if Irish was the “language of the home”.

The grant was originally £2 per child but was increased to £5 and later still to £10. Families that received the grant were entitled to Gaeltacht grants for house building, repairs ... The use of the Irish language was widespread in Claregalway with the village of Montiagh being renowned for its beautiful Irish. Acht na Gaeltachta was passed in 1995 and this defined the boundaries of the Gaeltacht areas. The large influx of people, mostly non native Irish speakers into Claregalway from the 1970s through to the 1990s meant that only a small percentage of children coming into school were from homes where Irish was the home language. This led to a dilution of the use of the language particularly in the playground. Recent trends show that the language is making a comeback and a large increase in the amount of the grant encourages families to have Gaeilge as “home language”.