St. Joseph's N.S. Ballymitty

History of School

1950: St Joseph's National School was built. This building replaced the old school, which was located beside the St. Peter’s Church. The new school had two classrooms and two teachers - Headmaster Paddy Garvey and Mrs Brennan.

1954: Seán McKenna was appointed as Principal.

1960's: An extra room was built on. A new teacher Monica Ferguson started.

1964:
A new teacher Mairéad French started.

1969: Tullycanna N.S. and Hilltown N.S. amalgamated to become one school. Now the school had 182 pupils. Mrs. Fenlon was the new teacher. There was an extra classroom (prefab) outside to cater for the large numbers.

1982/83: Two new classrooms, a General-Purpose (GP) Room and a staff room were built.

Mid 1980's: Most classes were large with 30+ pupils.

Early 90's: The G.P. room was used a classroom to meet the demands of large numbers.

2000: Teachers Deirdre Franey and May Lawlor joined the staff. Seán McKenna retired after 46 years of teaching. Mairead French became Principal.

2003: Isabelle Flynn joined the teaching staff.

2005: Our school was awarded the Green Flag for Environmental Awareness and Respect.

2007: We were awarded a 2nd Green Flag for Conservation of Energy. Teacher Mary Davey passes away in September of this year. Eleanor Kehoe joined the teaching staff.

2008: Fr. O'Leary left as Curate and was replaced by Fr. J.J. Doyle who was the Chairperson of the Board of Management.

2009: Fr. Doyle was replaced by Fr. Kevin Cahill. Mairéad French retired after 43 years of teaching and Isabelle Flynn took over as Principal. Orlaith Kehoe joined the teaching staff. A 3rd Green Flag - for Water Conservation - was awarded to the school.

September 2010 - June 2011: Bríd Casey joined the teaching staff. A new three-classroom extension with an upstairs Learning Loft, a Storage Room, a Secretary's Office and an Entrance Hall are added to the school.

January 2011: Trish O'Grady became our new school cleaner when Marcella Cahill retired after 25 years of service.

September 2011: Isabelle Flynn retired and Mary Regan became the new Principal.

December 2011: Stanley McDonald retired after 16 years of service.

January 2012: Róisín McCarthy joins the teaching staff.

February 2012: May Lawlor retires after 12 years of service.

August 2012: Fr. Denis Browne became the new curate in Ballymitty and Chairperson of the Board of Management.

September 2012: Audrey McCarthy became the new Principal. Bairbre Diamond joined the teaching staff. Rose McLoughlin was employed as an SNA (Special Needs Assistant).

October 2012: Denise Fitzharris joined the teaching staff.

September 2013: The three-classroom extension was officially opened on Friday 13th September by the Most Reverend Denis Brennan, Bishop of Ferns.

October 2016: Tríona Bohanna joined the permanent staff to replace Ms. Eleanor Kehoe.

March 2017:Fr. Denis Browne was replaced by Fr. Martin Pender as the new Curate in Ballymitty.

September 2018: Our first class for pupils with Autism opened called An Choill Bheag (The Little Forest) with Bríd Casey as teacher and Christine Casey and Síona Nolan as the Special Needs Assistants (SNAs).

October 2018: Rachel Butler became a permanent member of the teaching staff.

May 2019: School receives approval to begin the process of building a two classroom ASD suite with support rooms and sensory garden.

September 2019: The Principal Audrey McCarthy became an Administrative Principal. The second class for pupils with Autism was opened called An Choill Mhór (The Big Forest) with Melanie Carthy as Special Needs Assistant. The school now had a teaching staff of 11 and 4 SNAs, the largest it had ever been.

March 12th 2020: All schools across Ireland close due to the spread of Covid 19. School remains closed until late August 2020.

August 2020: Trish Foley and Shelly O'Grady become permanent members of staff. Edyta Szymkiewicz and Geraldine Cassidy are appointed as the new Special Needs Assistants in the school.

August 27th 2020: School opens for pupils after over 5 months of closure due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

November 2020: Mrs. Mary Hayward takes over as Chairperson of the Board of Management.

January 2021: On January 6th 2021, school remained closed after Christmas holidays due to Covid 19.

June 2021: Áine Foley became a permanent member of the teaching staff.

Sept. 2022: Our new An Choill building opens for pupils with autism. This building has two new classrooms, a central activities space, a learning room, a sensory room, a storage room and toilets and a wet room. A fantastic addition to our school!

June 21st 2023: Our new An Choill building is officially opened by the pupils of An Choill – in particular the first 4 pupils who started in An Choill in 2018 – Josh Connor, Conn French, Ben O’Neill and Tommy Harpur. Bishop Ger Nash gave a blessing upon the new building.

Mar 22
2024
Half Day Closure for Easter Holidays
Mar 23
2024
School closes for Easter Holidays
May 06
2024
May Bank Holiday Weekend closure
May 18
2024
First Holy Communion
Hilltown, Ballymitty, Co. Wexford, Y35 YW81.
051 561324
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