Our School
Coralstown N.S. was officially opened on 25th October 2007 by Rev Dr. Michael Smith, Bishop of Meath.
This new building replaced a small two teacher school situated on the old Mullingar Kinnegad road. It consisted of four new spacious classrooms, a G.P. Room, Staff Room, Library & Office. Another new classroom along with a Principal’s Office was added in 2011.
Coralstown N.S. is situated in beautiful countryside with a range of trees in its landscaped grounds.
Our Facilities include a Basketball Court, an Astro Turf play area, Playground, Play Equipment and colourful yard markings for stimulating creativity and play for the children outdoors.
The school also has a Polythene Tunnel, which it won, through a national competition with the Incredible Edibles sponsored by Agri-Aware. Children plant and sow flowers and crops each year which they then take home in June. The area around the tunnel is also designated as a Wild Life area where plants for Bees and pollination are cultivated. This area also has bird tables and this year it will have the addition of a “Bug Hotel” and a “Log Pile” to provide shelter for insects and small animals to hibernate for the winter.
Other resources available in our school include a suite of iPads, Laptops and PC's where children have the opportunity to practise their digital literacy skills, develop new skills and use these skills to enhance their learning. All classrooms are equipped with an Interactive Panel and visualisers where our Teachers incorporate digital technologies into daily teaching and learning.
In September 2021 Coralstown N.S. opened a special class for children with ASD.
It is known as the ‘Acorn Class’. Its name is taken from our school emblem of an ‘Acorn’ and as we all know from ‘small acorns grow mighty trees’.
We hope the children who attend the Acorn Class as well as all the other children who attend our school will one day grow to become mighty trees when they leave our school.
Our school Motto is
"Happy to learn,learning to be happy"
Our Ethos
Coralstown is a co-educational catholic school that operates under the patronage of the Bishop of Meath. Together the staff, the Board of management, the parents/guardians and the parish community provide Religious Education for the pupils in accordance with the doctrine, traditions and practices of the Catholic Church. We attend mass in St. Agnes church on the first Friday of each month.
Our Catholic Ethos permeates throughout the school day through our actions, attitudes and practices. Opportunities for prayer and the celebration of the liturgy and the sacraments are created. We also provide a welcoming inclusive community that is respectful and tolerant of all religious traditions and beliefs.
Our Mission
Coralstown N.S. is committed to establishing and nurturing a safe, happy and caring learning environment, where everyone is respected, valued and enabled to approach life with confidence.
Our Aim
Coralstown N.S. is a Roman Catholic school, which is established in connection with the Minister. We aim to promote the full and harmonious development of all aspects of the person of the pupil: intellectual, physical, cultural, moral and spiritual, including a living relationship with God and with other people.
The school models and promotes a philosophy of life inspired by belief in God and in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Catholic school provides religious education for the pupils in accordance with the doctrines, practices and tradition of the Roman Catholic Church and promotes the formation of the pupils in the Catholic Faith.
THE MEANING OF CORALSTOWN
Coralstown is a name given to an area much larger than the actual townland of this name. The Irish translation was generally given as ‘Baile an Coreil’, the townland of the quarry. However the correct translation is Baile Cearuill, the town of the Corrells. Records show that at 11th July 1663 Edward Correll owned the 569 acres in the townsland of Correlstown and it was from this family name the townland derived its name.
HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL
Kinnegad was established as a separate parish in 1826. It consisted of Kinnegad, Clonard and Coralstown and each had a church. Both Clonard and Kinnegad had a school each and Coralstown had three schools – Knockaville, The Downs and Coralstown. Knockaville amalgamated with The Downs in 1969.
The present school in Coralstown was built in 2007 with a new classroom added in 2011. The old school on the Kinnegad road was built in 1932. Mr. Mick Geraghty recalls attending the old school in the last week of it’s existence in April 1932. This school was a two-storey building, which was later demolished and a teacher’s residence built in its place. This house is now the residence of Patrick and Gay McLoughlin. Mick recalls leaving the old school, being cleared out onto a roadway and to the sound of music played on a gramophone record as the children entered a brand new building.
The first school in Coralstown was located near the Post Office. In fact it was not a school but the church of Coralstown which was used as a school on weekdays. A man named Roger Cooper was the teacher. He had no time piece but he regulated opening and closing times by the passage of regular stage coaches. About 1830 a Mrs Dopping of Lowtown House, who was the landlord of the surrounding areas gave a site for a school at Crossanstown. Mrs Dopping also provided a site for a church nearby. Both the church and the school were situated in the townland of Crossanstown. The church which was quite close to the school continued in use until 1872 when a new church was erected at Heathstown and this church and cemetery remain close to the lives of all of us to the present time. The site of the old church was levelled and the old school was built on the foundations of the old church.
PRINCIPAL TEACHERS
The first principal of Coralstown school was Mr Roger Cooper, who lived in The Downs. He was succeeded by Mr Henry Glynn in 1845 and he remained in Coralstown until 1862 when he moved to The Downs. The next headmaster was Mr Patrick Monaghan, a great grand uncle of Fr.Tom Faulkner. The successor to Mr. Patrick Monaghan was Mr. Patrick Shanahan a native of Cork. He has previously taught at Clonard and Kinnegad. He remained until his retirement in 1925. For the next 37 years the principal teacher was Mr. Patrick Boland. Master Boland was the first occupant of the teacher’s residence in 1932. The next principal of the school was Mr. Brendan McNamara who later moved to Kinnegad. After Mr. McNamara left, there were two principals – Mr. Bernard Judge, a grand-uncle of Mick and Tom Geraghty, and Mr. John Kelly. Mr. Judge became principal in Kinnegad and Mr. Kelly became principal in Raharney. The first female principal was Mrs Doreen Sheridan and she was succeeded by Mrs O’Rafferty. She was followed by Mrs Mary Hartnett in 1973. Mrs Hartnett remained until her retirement in Dec 2009. Ms. Caitriona Hand was then appointed Principal and she was followed in 2011 by Mrs. Lena Ní Dhuinn. Mrs. Ní Dhuinn resigned as Principal to take up a position as Inspector with the DES in December 2017 and was replaced as Principal by Mrs. Mary Daly in April 2018. Mrs. Daly remained until her retirement in Dec 2023 and was succeeded by our current principal Mr. Michael Ward.
PAST PUPILS
Up to the 1980’s most children walked to the school. It is recalled that some families walked three miles to and from Clonfad to school. Children from the neighbouring parish of Killucan were close enough to walk from areas like Riverstown and Porterstown. Past pupils include Senator Camillus Glynn and the writer Kit O Ceirin (nee Foley) who with her late husband combined to produce two books. One is ‘Wild and Free’ and related to fruits, herbs etc that could be found growing wild. The other is ‘Women of Ireland’, a biography dictionary of famous women. One of Westmeath’s best footballers, selected on the Westmeath team of the Millenium was Paddy Cooney of Coralstown. Many past pupils of the school entered religious life. Former pupils who became priests are Mons. Denis Flynn P.P. VG Kells, Rev. Thomas Donnellan P.P. VF Trim, Fr. Denis Dunne P.P. Moyvore, Fr. Denis Coyne P.P. Clonmellon, Fr. Andrew Flynn P.P. Ditton, England, his brother Fr. Michael Flynn U.S.A., Fr. Patrick Flynn C.C. Summerhill, Fr. Patrick Flynn Holy Ghost Father, Fr. Sean O’Brien SMA and Fr. Hugh Lennon, Cape Colony, South Africa. Many of the school’s past pupils became nuns and among these were the Kelly sisters of Griffinstown, the Murphy sisters also of Griffinstown, the Lynam sisters of Kneadsbridge, Mary Flynn, Crossanstown, Sr. Pauline O’Brien and her sister Maureen, who is living in New Zealand and Sr. Brigid Boland a daughter of former teachers Patrick and Brigid Boland, who spent much of her missionary life in Kenya. Incidentally the above mentioned Kelly family of Griffinstown are believed to be the oldest residents of Coralstown. There are seven known generations of the family in Coralstown going back to Thomas Kelly who is recorded in the Tithe Allotment Book as residing at Griffinstown in 1830.
THE CHURCH
The church in its present location was built in 1872. Fr. Thomas O’Reilly, who was parish priest then and his name is inscribed on a plaque in the church. The site for the church and graveyard was given by the Earl of Longford who owned a lot of land in the area and his descendant the Rt. Hon. Thomas Pakenham still owns forestry locally. The first mass was held in the Church on Christmas Day 1872.
Sources;
The source of this information is Mick Geraghty of Killucan, Co. Westmeath and he has used the following primary sources;
Book of Surveys and Distributions 1668 Ad
Griffiths Valuation Book 1854 AD
History of the Diocese of Meath (Vol.2) 1860-1993