Buncrana's Scoil Íosagáin marks centenary of Sacred Heart Girls’ School

Buncrana’s Scoil Íosagáin has embarked on a history project to help commemorate the centenary of the Sacred Heart Girls’ School.

Scoil Íosagáin was established in 1991 after the amalgamation of the Sacred Heart Girls’ School and Saint Columba’s Boys’ School. 

Reminiscent of the Dúchas Schools project from the 1930s, the project involves pupils being given a topic every few weeks to take home to ask their relatives, family friends and neighbours about. 

The topics covered so far have been spooky stories, fairy stories, superstitions, Buncrana place names, family nicknames and stories from previous students of the Sacred Heart Girls’ School. The next few topics will be cures, weather folklore, games and rhymes and traditions for important days.

In pictures: Memories of Buncrana’s Sacred Heart Girls School recalled

A spokesperson for the school said there has been a fantastic response so far, with stories gathered from the children in school, from Facebook, visits by 6th class to Buncrana Nursing Unit and visits by 2nd Class to the Golden Lunches in the Exchange. 

“It has promoted great conversations among families, revived storytelling, and given both students and older members of our community great opportunities to engage."

"The information being collected will feature in a book, so everyone can enjoy the stories and memories about our town. It is important to gather and preserve this information before it is lost."

Scoil Íosagáin recently hosted a tea and coffee morning for people to share their memories and photographs.

Past pupils walked the corridors and visited some of the old classrooms. Memories and funny stories were shared and old friendships were rekindled. Following the success of the event, another coffee morning will be hosted in June.

In September, there will be more celebrations and events to celebrate the centenary, with events being organised that will be open to members of the public. Anyone who has stories or information about the old girls or boys school are asked to send them to historyproject@scoiliosagain.ie.