Scoil Colmcille is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

boys'

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconn ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, located on

Letterkenny Letterkenny ( ga, Leitir Ceanainn , meaning 'hillside of the O'Cannons'), nicknamed 'the Cathedral Town', is the largest and most populous town in County Donegal, a county in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. Letterkenny lies on the R ...

's Convent Road, across from the Loreto Convent.

History

The school stands on the site of the town's first Gaelic football playing field. It was built in 1974. At the time of the new Scoil Colmcille's opening over 600 boys attended the school. By 1985 school numbers grew to over 700 and 23 teachers were employed. Boys are housed at the rear end of the school and play in the back yard while girls are taught at the front entrance and play in the adjoining yard. The school choir, led by Mr Frank Breslin, sang to a prime time national audience on ''

The Late Late Toy Show ''The Late Late Toy Show'' is an annual, special edition of the Irish chat show '' The Late Late Show''. Airing annually on RTÉ One near the end of November or early December to coincide with the holiday shopping season, the ''Toy Show'' showc ...

'' in 1995. An event, held at the school in January 2020, was attended by past pupils and locals. Among those in attendance were

Leas-Cheann Comhairle The (; "Head of heCouncil"; plural usually ) is the chairman, chairperson (or speaker (politics), speaker) of , the lower house of the (parliament) of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The person who holds the position is elected by members ...

Pat "the Cope" Gallagher Pat "the Cope" Gallagher ( ir, Pádraig Ó Gallchóir; born 10 March 1948) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Leas-Cheann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann from 2016 to 2020 and as a Minister of State from 1987 to 1994 and from 20 ...

(not a past pupil), Minister for Education and Skills

Joe McHugh Joe McHugh (born 16 July 1971) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has served as Chair of the Committee on European Union Affairs since September 2020. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Donegal constituency since 2016, and previously ...

and former school principal Tom Redden. Those based abroad, such as Deputy Mayor of Islington Troy Gallagher and chef Conrad Gallagher delivered contributions by video. The event was brought to a close by fiddler

Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh (; born 26 July 1959) is an Irish fiddler and the lead vocalist for the Irish folk music band Altan, which she co-founded with her late husband Frankie Kennedy in 1987. Today, Mairéad is recognised as a leading exponen ...

Environmental affairs

The school has won the

Green Flag award The Green Flag Award is an international accreditation given to publicly accessible parks and open spaces, managed under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, a UK Government department, by Keep Britain Tidy, ...

on a number of occasions. A school newspaper, ''The Green Eco'', is produced irregularly.

Sport

Gaelic footballers

Rory Kavanagh Rory Kavanagh ( ga, Ruairí Ó Caomhánach; born 23 August 1982) is an Irish Gaelic football manager and former player with St Eunan's and the Donegal county team. He currently manages the St Eunan's club. Alongside Colm McFadden and Christy ...

and

Kevin Rafferty Kevin Gelshenen Rafferty II (May 25, 1947 – July 2, 2020) was an American documentary film cinematographer, director, and producer, best known for his 1982 documentary ''The Atomic Cafe''. Background Rafferty was born in Boston on May 25, 194 ...

are past pupils of the school, and visited the school in 2012 following victory in the

2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final The 2012 All-Ireland Football Final, the 125th event of its kind and the culmination of the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, was played at Croke Park, Dublin, on 23 September 2012. Donegal and Mayo, widely considered "one of the mo ...

Staff

— the All-Ireland winning Gaelic footballer teaches at the school * Anne McGowan — the community activist, noted for, among other things, chairing the Tidy Towns Committee that brought the award to Letterkenny for the first time in 2015, taught at the school from 1974 to 2012.

Notable past pupils

* Conrad Gallagher — Michelin star-winning chef * Pat Gibson — Quiz player who won the UK version of ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and l ...

'' (2004), ''

Mastermind Mastermind, Master Mind or The Mastermind may refer to: Fictional characters * Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde), a fictional supervillain in Marvel Comics, a title also held by his daughters: ** Martinique Jason, the first daughter and successor of th ...

'' (2005), ''

Brain of Britain ''Brain of Britain'' is a BBC radio general knowledge quiz, broadcast on BBC Radio 4. History It began as a slot in ''What Do You Know?'' in 1953. The main part of the show was the "Brain of Britain" quiz itself, originally called "Ask Me An ...

'' (2006), and '' Mastermind Champion of Champions'' (2010) *

— All-Ireland winning Gaelic footballer *

— All-Ireland winning Gaelic footballer

References

External links

Official website

{{coord missing, County Donegal 1974 establishments in Ireland Boys' schools in the Republic of Ireland Educational institutions established in 1974 Primary schools in the Republic of Ireland Religion in Letterkenny Schools in Letterkenny