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A touch of early summer was in the air on Monday morning last when Taoiseach, Brian Cowen was greeted by the students, teachers, parents and supporters of Scoil Iosey Naofa, Corville, to officially open their new state of the art IT room, as well as open the school’s new hall extension and raise the school’s second green flag award.
An Taoiseach Brain Cowen had the honour of performing the official opening of Scoil Iosef Naofa, Corville’s new IT facility and school extension on Monday last. The Taoiseach was joined at the official cutting of the ribbon by L/R Denis Ryan (Mayor Of North Tipperary), John Slattery (Principal), Cllr Michael Smith, Cllr John Hogan, Maire Hoctor TD
and Noel Coonan TD.
After the official cutting of the customary ribbon the Taoiseach and his entourage were led to the school’s very impressive sports and recreational facility. There, those in attendance were treated to a terrific performance of “we are the children of Corville school” which set the tone for the rest of the morning.
Students from Scoil Iosef Naofa, Corville, perform a guard of honour as An Taoiseach, Brain Cowen arrived at the Roscrea national School on Monday last to officially open the school’s new IT facility, as well as the new school extension and the Taoiseach was also asked to help raise the school’s second green flag.
Bishop Willie Walsh who commenced his education in the same school over 70 years ago was given the honour of performing the official blessing of the new IT facility. Bishop Walsh prayed for encouragement and strength for the teachers and for health and wisdom for the pupils.
Principal John Slattery welcomed everyone to the official opening of the school’s extension and said it was a huge honour to have the leader of the country in attendance to perform the official opening. The principal thanked the Taoiseach for all his support and encouragement and he also thanked Sr Marie and all the local councillors and especially Cllr Michael Smith for all their help and encouragement. Principal Slattery said the new extension would not have been possible without the co-operation of all the parents and he thanked them for their trust and belief in what the school wanted to achieve. Most of all the Principal thanked the pupils. He said it was the great smiles on the faces of the pupils that greeted him and his staff on a daily basis that makes Corville National School, such a fantastic place to work in. The Principal concluded by thanking Ms Samantha MacMahon for co-ordinating the “Green School Project” which would be honoured later in the morning and he thanked what he referred to as “an amazing staff” for their tremendous support and commitment to the various projects that the school gets involved in.
Sr Marie, Chair of the Board of Management was next to speak. Sr Marie talked briefly about the history of the school and gave everyone in attendance an extra special welcome for what was truly an historic day for Corville National School. Sr Marie acknowledged the work of Principal John Slattery whom she said worked tirelessly to preserve the true Christian ethos of the school. Sr Marie said “days like today” would not be possible without the determination, vision and enthusiasm of the Principal and Sr Marie thanked the Principal most sincerely for all the effort and determination he put into various school projects whether they involved, IT, sport, music, literacy, special needs, green flag etc. Sr Marie thanked all the staff of the school and said that their approach to learning meant that the pupils enjoyed coming to school which in turn allows each child the capacity to develop their full potential.
Ms Samantha McMahon, Green School Co-Ordinator, together with the pupils of the school that formed the “Green School Committee” took to the stage and talked about the success of their “Green School Project”. The short presentation was a lesson to all in attendance about the importance of energy conservation as well as recycling and paying more attention to the environment around us.
An Taoiseach, Brian Cowen said he was delighted to be with the school on what would be recorded as a very important day in their history. The Taoiseach talked about the school’s history and about Roscrea’s tremendous contribution to Irish education over the past 1000 years. The Taoiseach also took time to reflect on his own education and said he was very proud to have a strong link to the town as he was educated in the 1970’s at the Cistercian Abbey, Mt St Josephs.
The Taoiseach gave particular credit to those involved in the transformation of the school in recent years. He said that new classrooms including the new IT facility, the recreational hall and ongoing projects speak volumes about the wonderful resources that are now available at Corville National School.
The Taoiseach gave great credit to the parents for their wonderful work and to the teachers for their great motivation. The Taoiseach congratulated Principal John Slattery on the IT initiative and then he briefly outlined the importance of IT and the numerous initiatives including smart schools/smart economy that the government are pursuing to help maximise the return on IT investment around the country.
As regards the environment and the “Green Flag Initiative” the Taoiseach said this was an area where pupils could take the lead and actually teach the parents. The Taoiseach said that the “Green Schools” is an excellent program and he complimented Corville for their success to date.
After wishing the school every success for the future the Taoiseach presented a school hurling award to Darragh Loughnane and the Camogie award to Jade Loughnane. Earlier in the morning the Taoiseach himself was presented with a special gift on behalf of the school and this duty was bestowed upon Jake Morkan.
All that was left was for the Taoiseach to help unveil the latest Green Flag and Hayley Conlon-Mills had the honour of helping the Taoiseach perform the task as the sun shone proudly and warmly on a school that can take tremendous pride from all their latest endeavours.
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