By Gerry Coen

Corrandrum, or Cor an Droma in Irish, means ‘the bend of the ridge’, with ‘the stone wall of the ridge’ suggested as an alternative by the Irish Placenames Commission. In 1904, £237 was granted for the building of Corrandrum National School on an expenditure of £355 10s. The schoolhouse was to be built according to Plan No. 2, to accommodate a maximum attendance of 80 pupils. The first day of registration led to bigger numbers than this.

The school was originally built on land donated by John Burke and his family, Corrandrum, in the early 1900s, and was opened to pupils in April 1907. It was a new school in the area – previously the children of the area attended Bawnmore, Corrandulla, Lackagh or Corofin schools.

In the early years Corrandrum School was known as ‘The Leacht’ – so called for the pile of stones built beside the school gate. This pile of stones was said to be built in memory of a soldier killed in the nearby Battle of Knockdoe in 1504. Initially, Corrandrum was a one-roomed, two teacher mixed school, which had an average of 90 pupils – a second smaller room was added in the late 1920s. Children from the three neighbouring parishes of Cummer, Lackagh and Annaghdown attended the school. The first teacher in Corrandrum was Mr. Joe Carter from Moylough. Mr. Carter lived in the Heneghan house in Carrourouane while teaching in the school. Mrs. Hanly from Corofin assisted him.

At the time an open turf fire heated the school and the parents of the children attending supplied the turf. The water for the school consisted of a bucket of water, carried by two of the bigger boys from the local well. This one bucket provided water for the school for the whole day. At school, each pupil received a book, a card and chalk on which to learn the day’s lessons.

Almost immediately the then principal, Joseph Carter, began to look for an additional room to be built to accommodate the number of students. In 1909, Mr. Morgan, schools’ inspector, described the school’s condition as ‘very good’ and added that an ‘additional accommodation in the form of a classroom is much needed’. One year later (1910) and the classroom had still not been added. Mr. Morgan now reported ‘the accommodation provided in this school is inadequate and a classroom is much needed’. The second classroom was not completed until almost 15 years later. The old schoolhouse at Corrandrum was demolished in the 1970s.

Between 1964 and 1965, Rhatigan builders constructed the new school in Corrandrum on the play area of the old school. This land had been allocated to the school in 1936, when the lands in the townland of Kilcahill were divided. The building of this new school cost approx. £19,000 to complete. The local people in the area – by organising carnivals etc., colleted the required amount of £1,800. From three carnivals the committee found they had a surplus of £700. At their final meeting Patrick Flaherty proposed that the additional £700 go towards buying land in the future for a football pitch. This proposal was met with unanimous approval.

This new school was a three-roomed school with three divisions at the back. There was a small play area at the side of the school. In the late 1970s the Corrandrum NS Development Committee was formed to oversee the future improvement of the school. The chairman, Ollie Furey, secretary, Brian Hanly, and Treasurer, Martin Cahill, set about raising the funds necessary to add a fourth room to the school and to develop a sports pitch and play area. This extension cost £18,000 and again £1,800 was raised locally. The funds were raised through Annual Open Sports Days, Sales of Work and dances in the area. The local community again surpassed itself and approx. £7,000 was raised.

As the new room covered the space of the existing play area, it was necessary at this stage to purchase land for the football pitch – the land being bought for £3,500. The facilities were further improved by adding a tennis/basketball court and constructing walls around the school’s perimeter. Through Martin Connolly’s initiative, football training now began after school hours in Corrandrum – Mattie Newell, Ollie Furey and Michael Cahill ably assisted him. Soon Corrandrum was in contention to win a Raftery Cup Final and with the school grounds in top shape, some matches were played in Corrandrum. With the approval of the teachers, the Parents Association were responsible for the extra-curricular activities of the school. The early 1980s saw many changes: Celine Hession began teaching Irish dancing during school hours, the school bus service was started under the guidance of Tommy Gannon, with local man Johnny Greaney providing the service, Bridgie Glenane began athletics training, and the struggling young athletes discovered it was a long course around Mike Heneghan’s field even then. School uniforms were introduced in 1985.

In the summer of 2000, all asbestos which had been used in the construction of the school was removed. In 2001, an application for a grant towards extending the school was applied for. The Department of Education had no objections to it and advised to begin the planning stage. A plan was drawn up with approval by the Department. At the same time the government introduced a new scheme for building extensions to schools. It was called the Devolved Building Scheme, whereby it would provide the finance to the Board of Management and the Board could use it to build whatever building projects it considered essential. Patrick J. Newell was then employed to design a new extension, which he did very well. After a tendering process, John Ryan Construction was employed to construct the extension. The timetable for this major construction was extremely short, as most of the work had to be carried out during the summer holidays. Work began at Easter 2007 and was practically completed by October. As time was so short, work was carried out seven days a week, even during the Galway Races.

The extension included a large general purpose room, two new modern classrooms, resource room, learning support room, office, corridor, and staffroom. Toilets, as well as all modern facilities, were incorporated into all existing classrooms. As the project progressed, it was realised that more money would be required to complete such a fantastic job. We are very thankful to the Department of Education as they provided extra funds.

On 29 May 2008, the revamped school was officially opened and blessed by Archbishop Michael Neary, followed by Mass, concelebrated by the Archbishop, Fr. Hughie Loftus, Fr. Oliver McNamara and Fr. Michael Connolly, a former pupil of the school. A host of guests and past pupils expressed delight in these wonderful facilities now available for future generations at their alma mater, Corrandrum National School.

Corrandrum National School

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