Celebrating 40 Years of St. Senan’s

In 2018 we celebrated the 40th Birthday of our school. It opened in 1978, replacing the The Mercy Convent School, located in the church grounds. There were six teachers when the school opened – Sister Rita, Sister Alphonsus, Mrs Dee, Mrs Moynihan, Mrs Fuller and Mrs McCauley. Their school was much smaller then. There were only 2 corridors when it opened. More corridors were built as the school got bigger.

The school has grown over the last 40 years becoming an important part of our parish and the town of Enniscorthy. many new initiatives have been launched and continued to great success in St. Senan’s under many teachers. At the core of St. Senan’s is the education of each individual child, the support of the family and the community we support.

We held a mass to celebrate 40 Years of St Senan’s Primary School. 27th February 2018. You can watch the highlights from that celebration here

Former Deputy Principal Maeve McCauley gave the keynote address at our celebration- You can watch that keynote speech here

We are incredibly proud of our school, of our pupils and their achievements, of our staff and of our place in our community. We look forward to another 40 years plus, serving the children and families of Enniscorthy.

A movie montage of 40 Years of St. Senan’s can be watched here.

Teddy Bears Picnic

On 13th June as part of our 40th Birthday Celebrations we held a Teddy Bears Picnic in our school field. The children brought their Teddy Bears, and invited their families to join our Teddy Bears Picnic. The parents and some staff had a fun game of Rounders, and we released 40 biodegradable balloons to celebrate 40 years of St. Senan’s. We call had a great day.

This is a short video of some of the fun we had that day at our Teddy Bears Picnic

Children of ’16

In 2015/2016 we began a year long project to commemorate the 1916 Easter Rising in Enniscorthy and nationwide. We launched a school wide project “Children of ’16”.

As Enniscorthy had a big part to play in the Easter Rising, we gathered stories from parents, grandparents, great grandparents and others who had family members involved in the events of 1916 in our community.

Songs of ’16 at St. Senan’s

It’s not unusual for singing to ring out in classes at St. Senan’s Primary School, Enniscorthy. This year however, modern songs are taking the back seat to songs which are 100 years ago in the singing. Many students at St. Senan’s can tell you of their own ancestors, who took part in The Easter Rising in 1916 in Enniscorthy, grandparents and great-grandparents who bore the wounds of battle.

A school wide project called “Children of ‘16” comprises many class activities from mapping significant sites from 1916 and a film making project, to rewriting the Proclamation of Independence for a new generation. The flagship project, however, has the children singing – literally. In a matter of weeks, the school hall will become a recording studio, and the children will become music stars, as they record their own versions of famous historic songs. At the helm, is local professional singing teacher, Joanne McCabe. Joanne teaches each class about their chosen song and rehearses them in preparation for recording. The enthusiasm from the children is palpable, as they hum 1916 songs along the corridors to and from yard time.

As well as singing the stories of 1916, the children will tell their own stories, stories of the Children of 2016. The CD, “Songs of ‘16”, will feature rewordings of modern songs, as penned by the students themselves, alongside the traditional songs. The CD will be launched on 3^rd March at the school by Nicholas Sheridan, presenter of RTEs News2day. Nicholas is a past pupil of St. Senan’s.

Here are a selection of the songs from our CD:

• Legion of the Rearguard
• The Seven Signatories
• On the One Road

500 Years of Enniscorthy

In 2010 Enniscorthy celebrated it’s 1500 year anniversary. In May all of the schools in the town took part in a parade to celebrate the 1500th Anniversary of St. Senan’s founding our town. Pupils from our school dressed in costumes to represent the life of St. Senan and carried structures to represent a church and a home of that era. Our Fifth Class created a huge sea monster. Legend tells how how St. Senan defeated a sea monster. Some pupils also dressed as pikemen and women to commemorate the 1798 Rebellion.