'Today a vision has been realised' principal says of Scoil Cholmcille's opening

As principal Paraig Cannon described it, “Scoil Cholmcille's fourth incarnation” took place in Letterkenny yesterday with former Minister for Education, Mr Joe McHugh TD, performing the official duties.

The Convent Road primary school completed a new extension and complete refurbishment in August of last year. 

The building project cost more than €5.5 million, resulting in a state of the art, 21st  century primary school building, equipped with a new sports hall, new library, 24 new digitally equipped classrooms, 13 new support rooms, four new lined play yards, 44 internal car park spaces and beautiful newly landscaped grounds. The school was awarded Best Public Building in November 2022.

In 1894 two Presentation Christian brothers arrived in Letterkenny from Cork to open a primary school for the boys of Letterkenny town. They were invited by Bishop O'Donnell of Raphoe. They lived in a teacher's house beside the school which is the present day Pastoral Centre.

The school beside the house was called St.Eunan's Monastery School and it's still there today but was known then as Sunny Hill. It consisted of a large room in the middle with a smaller end room at either end. It was officially opened in 896 by Dr O'Donnell with 70 pupils attending.

The number of pupils in the monastery school increased and it was necessary to accommodate some classes in the local Trinity Hall in 1952. Sometime after that they moved to Wolfe Tone Hall which was located behind Hearty's Hotel at the Market Square. This is the present day site where Green's Shopping Centre is located.

Then in February, 1956, the boys were transferred to St Columba's School - the building we now know as the ‘Old Boys School’. This would have been the girls' primary school before they moved into their new building that they still use today, called Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál.

The boys' school was renamed Scoil Cholmcille. By 1973, there were 373 boys on the roll with five Christian Brothers and nine lay teachers on the staff.

In 1974, work began on a new building on Convent Road. This is the building we are in today. The new school was able to enrol all the infant boys who had up until now attended Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál for Junior and Senior Infants.

As the population grew, it was found necessary to build an extension which began in May 1976 and by September 1977, it was finally possible to house all sixteen classes under one roof. By 1981 the school had 23 teachers

“The first school building opened 127 years ago in 1896,” MrCannon said. “It had two teachers, 70 pupils and consisted of a single but large room in the middle, with a smaller end room at either end! Today, we have 612 pupils, 40 teaching staff, 9 Special Needs Assistants, two School Secretaries and a Caretaker.

“Today a vision has been realised; a vision that has been promoted and built upon by many past and present Boards of Managements, Parents' Associations and a generation of staff members, many of whom are with us today. Today we open a 21st Century School building capable of providing state of the art accommodation and facilities required for an effective 21st century primary school experience.

“Today, the school has 44 members of staff, including 9.5 SNAs. We have over 550 pupils, 480 more than the first enrollment over 125 years ago! We have children from 33 countries attending our school and they come from the four continents of the world, Asia, Europe, Africa and South America. We have children from India, Philippines, United Kingdom, Croatia, Brazil and Egypt to mention but a few.”

Joe McHugh said: “Scoil Cholmcillle continues to raise the bar in relation to diversity, inclusion and equality. The school community was in need of a modern building to meet the growing demand and also to provide a creative learning environment for both students and teachers.

“I am honoured to have played a part in both the school's education journey and construction journey, and I wish the school well as it continues to offer a safe learning environment for this generation and the next. Congratulations to Paraig Cannon and his team in Scoil Cholmcille, the Board of Management, parents and students for their unending dedication to this project.

“In an ever changing world, I believe that generations to come will look as fondly on Scoil Cholmcille, as I do today.”

“Scoil Cholmcille's success can be attributed to the way in which changes in society have gone and the way in which education were met and how the school has adapted to meet them,” said Mr Paschal Blake, Chairperson of the Board of Management of Scoil Cholmcille. “From its humble beginning to the fine facilities we now have on Convent Road, the school always strives to meet contemporary needs of its pupils and its families and its staff.”

On Tuesday, Reverend Bishop Alan McGuckian officially blessed the new school, with the unveiling of a painting of Colmcille, who the school was named after abbot and missionary traditionally credited with the main role in the conversion of Scotland to Christianity.

Later in the morning, we invited our long time friend and table tennis coach Mr. Paddy Delap to officially unveil our beautiful new sculpture ‘The Tree of Unity’. The sculpture located in the forecourt of the school was commissioned by the Department of Education and funded under the Per Cent Art Scheme. The tree contains 100 words that capture the ethos of their school. The canopy is a mutation of birds in flight. It was designed by Mr Kevin Kevin Killen.

The school invited long time friend and table tennis coach Mr Paddy Delap, the proprietor of Clarkes Newsagent in Letterkenny, to officially unveil their new sculpture.