Had a peak of 700 students in the 1980s
THE first Catholic primary school in Shannon is to celebrate its 50- year anniversary with a weekend of celebration and the launch of a jubilee booklet.
St. Senan’s school was first based in Drumgeely Hall and was built to educate the children of those who moved to the area from around Ireland and the world to work at the airport.
Speaking to the Limerick Post, principal Sally O’Neill, said that at the first enrolment in 1962, there were 11 pupils at the school.
“It was opened in the same building as St. John’s, the Protestant school, and Carmel Kenny was the first principal when Shannon was removed from the parish of Newmarket-on-Fergus and became a town in its own right,” Ms O’Neill explained.
“Shannon was quite unique in Ireland as there were people from many countries and cultures living in the Drumgeely area, where the town began, and so the school was quite progressive and took on its own identity.
“It made for interesting times”.
Ms. O’Neill explained that former principal Brendan Vaughan, guided the school from 1964 to 1997, and saw pupil numbers grow to a peak of about 700 in the late 1980’s. They subsequently began to fall again when families moved away from the Drumgeely area as the town expanded in the direction of Limerick and more schools were opened.
There are now 110 pupils at St. Senan’s.
“We now have a small school atmosphere with eight teachers so the children all have their own space and areas to play in the yard”.
This Saturday night, March 3, a reunion for former pupils and teachers will be held in Wolfe Tonnes GAA club in Shannon, where a book marking the jubilee will be launched, entitled ‘Leanaí inniu, Leaníad amarach’.
It will include photos from throughout the years, a document of the first programme for the school in 1962 and various letters and correspondents from past pupils.
It is hoped that pupils from the first years of the school will attend, though most have left Shannon and are dispersed throughout the world.
On Sunday, a mass will be held at Mary Immaculate to mark the occasion before a tree is planted in the school grounds marking a new beginning.
Guests will then be invited to the school hall for refreshments and to reminisce and remember their school days.
