Coolanarney N.S.

The first mention of a school in Coolanarney is related in a story to the Folklore Commission.The children had gathered information from elderly locals and one of their stories mentioned a school which operated in Bunnakeeran in the 1860’s and 1870’s. The teacher’s name was John Gildea and school was carried on in people’s houses. The children brought two pence each to pay the teacher for the day’s work.This information was confirmed for us by a grand-daughter of Mr. Gildea’s; a Mrs.Rita O’Byrne from Canada who called to see us in our school in 1998.

There was a temporary school founded in Cully in the 1870’s also and eventually a permanent school was founded in the area in July 1886. It was a stone and mortar school-house with a slated roof and outdoor toilets. A Mrs. Mary Kennedy was appointed as Coolanarney N.S.’ first teacher and she was paid £27 per year. Local aid for the teacher was to be at least £12 per year including £2 towards a free residence for her and £1 for a garden.

The school in which we are at present was built in 1964 and stones from the walls of the old school could be seen in our football pitch up to 2 years ago, when they were removed as they would be dangerous if someone fell on them. 

Our school has two classrooms in the main building and a prefab out the back which we got three years ago, when our school got a third teacher for the first time.