Our Mission Statement

Scoil Íosa is a Catholic Primary School under the patronage of the Bishop of Achonry Dr. Thomas Flynn.

We aim to provide a holistic Christian education in co-operation with teachers, pupils, parents, management and the local community.

We endeavour to provide equality for all, mutual respect and an appreciation of individual talents and gifts.

We strive for excellence in learning, recognise the right of each child to a quality education, as we endeavour to enable each one to develop his/her full potential in a warm, caring, positive and happy environment.

'Aoibhinn beatha an scoláire
A bhíos ag déanamh léinn
Is furas díbh a dhaoine
Gur dóibh is aoibhne in Eirinn'.

About Our School

Scoil Íosa is a four-teacher school situated in the townland of Castleduff in the village of Carracastle. This is a rural parish nesting in the corner of three counties, County Roscommon lies to the east, County Sligo to the north but most of the parish is in County Mayo which is on the N5 main Dublin - Ballina road between Ballaghaderreen and Charlestown.

There are four classrooms, junior and senior infants are taught by Mrs. Deirdre Gillespie, first and second class taught by Mrs. Marian Maloney (Principal), third and fourth class are taught by Mr. Dermot Dillon and fifth and sixth class taught by Mr. Michael Bracken . We are fortunate to have a school hall for holding P.E. classes and also school concerts, plays, meetings as well as classes with our visiting music teacher Mrs. Marian Egan, drama teacher Mrs. Margaret Nyland and art teacher Mrs. Kate Roberts. We have a wonderful stage which we use for performing music and drama. In addition to this we have a staff room, an office for our hardworking secretary Mrs.Teresa Murphy, and two smaller classrooms situated in a new portacabin. These are used by our learning support teacher Mrs Ruth Conor, and our resource teacher for travellers Ms. Lorraine Bollard.

School opens at 9.00a.m and finishes at 2.40p.m. Infants may go home at 1.40.

Our History

Before the present system of national schools was established in 1831 following the Catholic Emancipation Act the only primary schools in existence were either hedge schools, where teachers were paid by the children attending, or day schools maintained partly by parents and partly by protestant societies.

A Commission of Inquiry set up in 1826 to report on these hedge schools lists the following hedge schools in the parish:

1. In the church in Carracastle a school held by Patrick Gallagher, R.C. Thirty eight pupils attended and the teachers salary of £15 per annum was paid by children.

2. Lavey: Here the school was held in a barn, the teacher being Laurence Duffy. Twenty five children attending and they paid the teachers salary of £4 to £5 per year.

3. Barroe: Here Michael Kelly, R.C. held a school in a barn. Twenty five children attended and one pound five shillings was paid by the children.

4. Rooskey: Charles Shryane R.C. held a school in a small hut. Twenty four children attended and twelve pounds annual salary was paid.

Originally there were six schools in the parish of Carracastle. Cloonfane National School was the first school to be built in the parish. This was in August 1844. This was followed by Tonroe National School in in April 1861, Lecarrow N.S. in June 1866, Rooskey N.S. in November 1866, Derrikinlough November 1881 and Palmfield in 1886.

A new school was opened in Lecarrow on August 3rd 1888. On December 3rd 1889 a new school was opened in Cloonfane and in 1923 a new school was opened in Derrikinlough.

Lecarrow N.S. was amalgamated with Charlestown N.S. (a neighbouring parish) on 11th July 1968.The present new school in Rooskey was opened in May 1963. On June 30th 1966 Derrikinlough closed it's doors and the children of the area transferred to Rooskey N.S.

In 1979, Cloonfane N.S. was amalgamated with Tonroe N.S. as a first step in the centralisation of the three schools in the Carracastle end of the parish.

The new school Scoil Íosa was opened in 1982, and it replaced the three schools Cloonfane, Tonroe and Palmfield. There is still one other school, Rooskey N.S. in the parish.

The Staff of Scoil Íosa when it opened in 1982.
From left to right; Vincent Coleman (Principal), Chris Coleman, Mary Davy and Paddy Murray.

Click on the button to see photographs of the new school as it was been built.

Our School Crest

In 2001 we decided to have a new school crest. The great thing about this was that all of the children were involved in designing it. Everyone from 3rd to 6th class drew their own crest and then we picked out the favourite.

We eventually decided to have a dove as this symbolises peace. The castle symbolises the name of the parish, Carracastle. We then put in some musical instruments to represent the strong musical tradition of music in the school. Finally there is a book to remind us of our achievements and hard work.

In May of 2004 a new stone with our school name was erected. Click on the picture to see a close up view.