History of Barnashrone National School

Barnashrone National School is situated at the foothills of The Slieve Bloom Mountains approximately 5km from Mountmellick and 8km from Portlaoise Town. The school has been at the current site since 1958. It replaced an earlier building which had stood next door since the 1860s. School records date back as far as 1864 with the discovery of a girl’s register on school premises in 2010. Records from the early 20th century show that children paid a halfpenny a day to attend school.

The existing school structure opened on September 1st 1958. There were 64 children in attendance on that day. As the population was growing in the mid-1950s, it was deemed necessary to campaign for the erection of a new school capable of facilitating these growing numbers.

The first principal of the new school was Mr Thomas Flynn. He had previously taught in Clonbullogue NS before moving to Mountmellick. He was assisted by Susan Breen who spent 40 years as Deputy Principal, retiring in 1968. On her retirement, Mrs Bridie Conroy assumed a teaching position in the school and was appointed principal sometime in the early 1970s.

In 1973, Breda Fitzpatrick joined the school teaching staff. She assumed the role of principal in 1998 following the retirement of Mrs Conroy.

In 1999, the Parents Association funded and built a flat roof extension which was added to the rear of the school, as a general purpose room.

Ms Aileen Delaney began teaching in Barnashrone in 2003 and upon the retirement of Mrs Fitzpatrick in 2008, Ms Delaney took up the role of Principal. Mr Noel Reynolds joined the teaching staff in February of that year and assumed the role of Deputy Principal.

At this time, the school had two permanent mainstream posts, a shared Learning Support post and 1 full-time SNA. There were 39 children enrolled.

In 2010 with increasing enrolment numbers and reducing pupil teacher ratios, a third mainstream classroom teacher was assigned to the school and the building was extended to accommodate this.

Further growth including the inclusion of 2 special classes for children with ASD has seen the school grow from its original 2 teacher status to where we are today.

A temporary modular structure was erected in 2019 with 2 classrooms, sensory room, quiet rooms, kitchen and storage areas. The Department of Education have approved the building of an extension to replace this modular structure and work will commence on this in the coming school year.

Today the school has a teaching staff of 8 full-time and 1 part-time teacher with Ms Delaney taking up the post of Administrative Principal in September 2022.

This comprises of 4 mainstream classroom teachers, 2 special class teachers, a fulltime and part-time special education teacher, a teacher for children for whom English is not the language of their home. There are 7 SNAs and several bus escorts. There is a school secretary and a dinner lady who facilitates the distribution of hot meals to our 81 pupils daily. There is an after school club facility for younger children in Junior and Senior Infants.

The growth in the population of Portlaoise town has had a significant impact on the school community with several of our current pupils travelling from Portlaoise daily on a Bus Eireann service.

This growth along with the arrival of several young people from Ukraine in 2022 has seen the school become a vibrant community with members from all over the world.

This small rural school is now a microcosm of Irish society where children from every corner of the world bring their rich traditions and their languages and integrate with the indigenous population of Irish children laying the foundation stones for the Ireland we are becoming.