A very warm welcome awaits you here in Curracloe National School. We strive to create a friendly, happy, loving, nurturing space with a strong focus on the individual needs of each child. We place a very strong emphasis on well-being.
We are very proud of our beautiful school and our whole school community. In recent years, we have received our Active School Flag, Junior Entrepreneur Flag, Green Schools Flag, Daily Mile Flag and our European Citizens Award, to name but a few of our achievements.
Our school community includes six teachers, two special needs assistants, school cleaning staff, our caretaker, our secretary, our Parents’ and Guardians’ Association members, our Board of Management, our parent body and of course our wonderful children. We are very lucky to have the support of our local community members in Curracloe. We are under the patronage of the Catholic Bishop of Ferns.
A peek around the rear of our school, reveals the amazing sense of space that we are so privileged to have. Our basketball courts, sports playing fields, playground, fairy garden, outdoor classroom, quiet area and our climbing frame are all very popular with the children in our school. The invigorating fresh sea air drifts up from Curracloe beach.
Inside our school, our well-equipped, modern classrooms are well stocked with resources and all boast interactive whiteboards. From our large indoor sports hall, to our calm and tranquil sensory room, we pride ourselves on keeping our school equipped with everything we need to meet all of the children’s needs.
Well-being
The well-being of our students and the whole school community is a priority of foremost importance in the day-to-day running of our school.
We have been using the Weaving Well-being Programme in our school for a number of years now with great success. Weaving Well-Being gives children the opportunity to weave positivity into their daily lives through a range of activities in a variety of areas. These areas include identifying and using their authentic character strengths, boosting positive emotions, developing and nurturing positive relationships and connections, building practical resilience skills (including mindfulness) and developing self-efficacy through empowering beliefs.
Well-being in our school is of paramount importance and this has been embedded into our culture here in Curracloe National School. This focus on well-being is having a very positive impact on our whole school community.
History of Schools in Curracloe
While there was mention in Griffith’s Valuation of a “Parochial School” and also the possibility of Hedge Schools in the area, the first details of a National School in the Curracloe area refer to the 1852 school. It was situated almost directly opposite the present entrance to Curracloe United’s grounds and consisted of a thatched, single-room building with one door and two windows. Internally it measured 30.5 feet long by 11 feet wide (9.3 metres x 3.5 metres). Incredibly, in this small space, 70 to 90 pupils would sit on long forms around 3 long tables. The building itself deteriorated over time and inspections recommended replacing it with a new building. A site in the village was approved for a new school and work began in 1894. The 1852 school was officially closed in 1896.
For most of its 42 years, it was a single teacher school, with an assistant occasionally being appointed if the enrollment exceeded 70 pupils. Mr Laurence Kavanagh from Screen was appointed as its first Principal in September 1852 on an annual salary of £17. His daughter taught needlework to the girls and was appointed as a teaching assistant in 1871. Like several other assistants, she was removed from the payroll when the enrollment fell below 70. Mr Kavanagh retired in 1877 and was replaced by Mr Michael Furlong.
The 1894 School in the village was a two-room, two-teacher school for most of its history. Up until the late 1960s, there was no electricity or water supply to the school. Every morning four of the 6th class children would carry water in two buckets from a well below the present Soccer Club entrance. Later on, indoor toilets were added to replace the existing outdoor dry toilets.
In 1970, The Department of Education planned to close Curracloe NS and amalgamate it with Castlebridge NS. This plan was successfully opposed by the Curracloe school community and the school remained open. As the ’70s progressed, enrollment in the school increased and for the first time ever a third teacher was appointed. A prefabricated classroom was acquired to accommodate the extra pupils. Fundraising and planning were ongoing at this time with the aim of buying a site and building a new school for the area. Eventually, in 1985, the present St Margaret’s National School was opened.
The last Principal to serve in the 1894 school was Mr Conal McBride. His two immediate predecessors as principal were Mr Eamonn McNicholas and Mr James McKenna. The old school building became the local Community Centre and is currently in use as a Community Playschool.
In 2008 an extension to the current school building, comprising two bright new classrooms, P.E hall, office and staffroom, was added, resulting in the bright, spacious modern school we enjoy today. This project was overseen by Leilia Keating (Principal) Leilia was succeeded by Mr. Pat Hackett (2009-2016)