Education
Lauren, Saoirse, Carrie, Chloe & Éanna
Lauren, Saoirse, Carrie, Chloe & Éanna
St Joseph's N.S was built in 1904 and has been serving the educational needs of the community since then. The original school has been changed quite a bit since the school was first opened in September 1905. The original school comprised of four classrooms and a cookery room. In 1949-1950 the school was re-finished at which time toilets and classrooms were added.
As well as girls, the school also taught boys until they made their 1st Holy Communion at the end of 1st class. Then they went to the boys school.
The nuns had very high standard of education, which includes choral singing, cookery and needle work.
St Joseph's school continues to grow with fantastic facilities including an all-weather pitch, a laptop room, P.E hall and a broad and varied education.
1. Kinvara boys school opened in 1841
2. Doorus (mixed) opened in 1841
3.Northampton (mixed) opened in 1853
4. St.Joseph's Convent girls school opened in 1878.
5. Killina (mixed) opened in1886.
…” I remember cycling to secondary school and the roads were very rough. We used to get a puncture nearly every day. At primary school the teacher had a big stick and used it to hit the children. Some students mitched school because they were afraid. I didn’t get much of the stick. In summer, walking to primary school we took off our shoes and walked in our feet to mind our shoes…”
“...In school not many went beyond sixth class and students sat what was called a Primary Cert. Also you did an exam to get a scholarship into boarding at second level College. I got a scholarship for boarding but I had to stay at home on the farm as I was the 2nd oldest in the family and as I had no Mammy myself and my older sister did all the jobs at home. I went to Seamount as a day pupil. We had to pay to go to school…”
Kathy Tannian
Seamount College and lands had been bequeathed by Ms Elisabeth Nally-Hynes to the Sisters of Mercy. They wanted to put the building, which had been vacant for some time, to immediate use.
Seamount College, Kinvara was an all girls boarding school in 1954 and was ran by nuns. The girls had a very big advantage compared to boys because boys had to travel to Gort to complete a two year course in the VEC technical which only opened in the 1940. Seamount is also called Rinn an Mara which means in english star of the sea. Seamount is looking over the sea and all of the fishing boats.
When it was a boarding school on the weekends they did not wear their uniform but any weekday they had to wear it. On Sunday they were allowed out of school but only for a couple of hours to do what they wanted. They also went home at Christmas to see their families.
Interview with Marie Griffin who began attending Seamount College in 1969, aged 13.
Interviewed by her grand-daughter Chloe, here are some areas of interest as she told her about her time as a boarder in Seamount College.
In the summer the pupils would dig a hole in the ground to keep the milk cold.
In the winter they would put the glass bottles of milk in front of the fire to keep them warm. Sometimes the glass would crack from the heat.
For breakfast they would have bread and jam or bread and cheese.
They were allowed off school for 2 hours on a Sunday.
They only went home at Easter and Christmas.
They used pens and ink to write with, there were ink wells in their desks.
In school they wrote on slates with chalk.
There was a lot of chalk wells.
They would roll the chalk out and let it dry.
They used chalk for hop scotch and pictures.
Lots of girls played hockey.
Some people played the piano
And the fiddle.
During the week the girls had to wear a long black dress with a white top under it.
They wore no school uniform on the weekends.
My Granny was 12 when her Father brought her in the pony and trap from Lisdoonvarna to attend Seamount College. She was very sad to leave home as Kinvara was a long way from home at the time. She had to stay there even at weekends. She went home to the Spa at Christmas,Easter and For the summer holidays. Her 2 elder sisters also attended Seamount. Her father was not wealthy and only had a small farm so he had to save hard to be able to pay the fees for his daughters education. The nuns were very strict and nobody mis behaved.There were not a lot of jobs in Ireland and her 2 sisters had to emigrate to America.