News
School Calendar 2024-2025
The school calendar for the 2024 - 2025 year is now available.
Seachtain Na Gaeilge 2024
Check out some of the footage from a fun, exciting and creative Seachtain Na Gaeilge 2024.
All classes took part in dramaíocht, ceoil, damhsa agus spraoi. Our Junior classes finished off the week with our very first St. Patrick's Day Parade today.
Bainigí taitneamh as an video seo!
Catholic Schools Week
Grandparents Day
All classes love engaging in the various themes for Catholic Schools Week 2024. On Wednesday 24th January we invited Grandparents to 2nd, 4th and 6th class. We had a huge response and the pupils welcomed all grandparents to our school.
The grandparents visited the classroom first where the pupils had some lovely games and pictures to show them, some pupils performed music, singing and dancing while others posed some tricky questions to the grandparents. It was lovely to see the pupils showcasing the place that they learn and develop day in and day out. A great sense of love, emotion and happiness was shared and witness in all the rooms.
The grandparents finished their day off with a lovely cuppa, refreshments and a great chat amongst them. All the staff and pupils found the experience fantastic and we will certainly do it again each year. Many thanks to all the grandparents from far and near who took time out to visit us. Well done to all the staff and parents who helped to make this special day happen too.
Ms. Ashling Murphy
"Our Shining Light Forever"
2nd Anniversary
Both the rainbow and butterflies are strong symbols which represent Ms. Murphy’s regular presence in our school. The colours of the rainbow reflect her colourful and beautiful personality that lit up any room she entered, while the butterfly represents the gentle and caring lady that she was. Ms. Murphy’s butterfly regularly visits our school office to check in on things, but in particular, to make sure our secretary Anne and principal Mr. Hogan are working hard.
Remembering Ashling Murphy
“Our Shining Light”
By: James Hogan
Principal of Scoil Naomh Colmcille Durrow
On Wednesday the 12th January 2022, Ashling Murphy, a kind, caring, loving, funny, energetic and beautiful young lady was wrongly taken from this world as she decided to go for a run along the grand canal in Tullamore. Shock, numbness and disbelief rattled the nation and community on hearing the awful news of the tragic loss of a beautiful young, inspirational and wonderful lady. Ashling was an amazing daughter to Ray and Kathleen, a wonderful sister to Amy and Cathal, a loving partner to Ryan, and a kind, caring young woman to her extended family and wide circle of friends. A talented musician, sportsperson and an inspirational teacher to so many young people. It is true to say, as we approach her 2nd anniversary, that Ashling Murphy has left a strong legacy behind her, even though she had 23 short years with us.
Ashling had a special connection with people of all ages but especially to young people. “Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh siad,” was a quote she loved to share. This will resonate with so many in the future. People and pupils of Ashling will always relate to Ashling Murphy as a respectful, talented and beautiful young lady, “Our shining light” taken from us too soon. Her smile and personality was infectious and you didn’t have to know her to really understand what a great person she was.
From a young age, Ashling was involved in so many community activities and organisations. She gave back so much to her community, county and country. Her love for traditional Irish music began at a very young age and she was an active member and tutor in her local branch of Comhaltas in Ballyboy. She was an exceptional musician who had numerous all Ireland, provincial and county medals from competing at many Fleadh Cheoil. A gifted music teacher to so many people who were blessed to have enriched her talents and skills. Ashling was a prominent member of many national and international Comhaltas tours and orchestras where she shared her knowledge, experience, leadership and professionalism when entertaining crowds while playing her fiddle.
Ashling was in her first year as a graduate teacher working in Scoil Naomh Colmcille Durrow. She fitted into the school culture and ethos as if she was there for years. As a young teacher, her planning, organisation and attention to detail had to be perfect, her excellent teaching abilities, classroom management and amazing bond and relationships with her pupils was magnificent. She encouraged each child to set goals, be the best they could and treated them as her own. Her mission was to give each child the best opportunity in education while creating a fun and loving learning environment. Her bubbly personality and heart warming smile enhanced the positive culture and atmosphere in Durrow School.
Her natural love and passion for music was also carried into Durrow school where she worked. One of Ashling’s dreams, which she never got to fulfil, was to set up a fiddle school in Durrow N.S. However, Durrow N.S have since set up a fiddle school in her memory and now over seventy pupils are learning fiddle. This is a testament to Ashling and it shows that Durrow N.S was very lucky that Ms. Murphy had such a natural influence on all the pupils in the school. As a young teacher, Ashling excelled in every way and inspired so many!!
Ashling had a voice like an angel which enhanced many performances and competitions with her school choirs. The skills she gained from her choir days were carried on through her teaching placements and to her own school in Durrow, where she happily trained and conducted the school choir for various occasions. Ashling’s maturity and personality shone through everything she did. She gave one hundred percent to anything she put her hands to. Ashling was a fashion enthusiast and yet again, she was recognised as an amazing young model by her young followers.
The staff and pupils of Durrow N.S have lost a close family member, but she will always be a part of the staff and her name will never be forgotten! To date, the school is overwhelmed with the fantastic tributes, letters of support, donations and amazing gestures that are sent to the school. All of this has not gone unnoticed and the school is extremely grateful for the support.
Ashling, meaning “dream” as Gaeilge, describes what was her mission in life. She certainly followed her dreams and became a magnificent teacher, talented sportsperson, exceptional musician and an amazing person. As times and days move on, we will all face challenging times. I have no doubt that Ashling will be there to give us all that little nudge when needed. Our thoughts and prayers will always be with her family, friends and partner Ryan. They should be ever so proud of Ashling, of what she achieved and the strong legacy she has left behind. Although she is no longer with us, we will always remember Ms. Ashling Murphy for who she was, the great legacy she left behind and we will continue to keep her name alive.
Our shining light forever, loved and never forgotten.
Táimid agus beimid ag smaoineamh uirthi gach lá, tá leaba óir aici i measc na Naomh anois,
codládh sámh Ashling!
Fly high in the sky our shining light, fly high in the sky Ms. Ashling Murphy
Happy Christmas & Happy New Year From all in Durrow N.S
Christmas Show 2023
Our Junior Infants, Senior Infants, 1st & 2nd class pupils, along with their teachers Ms O Hanlon, Ms Carroll, Ms Corcoran and Ms McDaid, put in trojan work into our Christmas Shows this year. We had a full house of an audience to witness two fantastic shows. "A Snowman at Sunset" and "Baubles". Huge credit goes to our SNA team, Fionnuala and Amy for all their hard work and support with the shows too. Congratulations to all involved. The audience were treated to a fantastic display on the day.
The Pádraig McDermott Stage
Our school officially launched "The Pádraig McDermott Stage" at our Christmas Concert this year. This is to commemorate our wonderful caretaker who did so much for our school and who sadly passed away a year ago. Pádraig was a gifted craftsman who built our stage from scratch. The school decided to name the stage in his honor.
Pádraig's craftsmanship has created so many opportunities and dreams for all the pupils in our school to follow. We thank his family for allowing us to do this tribute to him. Pádraig will always be remembered and loved by everyone in Durrow N.S.
Thank you Pádraig for everything you done for our school and community.
You can see photos of our stage in the Christmas Show Images.
6th Class Christmas Fair 2023
Congratulations to all the pupils in 6th class who hosted a phenonmal Christmas Fair this year. The work ethic, creativity and overall presentation of the products, gifts and goodies were top class. Well done to Ms. Gaughan for all her guidance and support to the pupils too. Floods of people arrived to the fair and went home very very happy with their purchases. Take a look at some of the behind the scenes photos below.
The Christmas Festive Season
has started
Today is the 1st December 2023 and the excitement for the Christmas Festive Season has started in our school. With all the Christmas decorations, trees and lights shining throughout the school, we can certainly say the Festive Atmosphere has begun.
Rumours have it that some "Elves" have made their way into homes in our community. There are some very very excited pupils and staff in our school!!
Today we officially launch our "Advent Christmas Kindness Calendar" which was created by the pupils on our Student Council & Wellbeing committees in our school. They brought great ideas, art and captions to our meetings and we are so proud of what they have produced. Well done to all the pupils involved.
The aim of this calendar is to spread some love, joy, kindness and goodwill in our homes, school and community. There are daily kindness tasks that we all will get involved with. Each family will receive their calendar today and we look forward to the fun days ahead. We hope you enjoy!!
Click here to see our fantastic calendar.
Science Week 2023
All the pupils and staff in our school had an exciting week of discovery, experimenting, predicting and reviewing, all the interesting Scientific facts and experiments that were carried out during Science Week.
Our 5th & 6th class pupils organized and ran a very successful Science Fair where all the staff and pupils in our school got to experience real life science first hand.
Well done to all pupils and staff for the great efforts that were put into Science Week this year.
Click here to check out our photo gallery.
HALLOWEEN FUN IN DURROW
On the last day of term 1 of the school year, there was great excitement in our school for the annual Halloween celebrations. All pupils and staff dressed up for this fun day. Huge efforts were made by everyone and we got to witness all the fabulous costumes in our "Halloween Parade too."
Our fantastic Parents Association were back again and pulled out all the stops to create spooky fun and games in our school hall for every class to enjoy. Huge thanks to the PA and all the volunteers on the day.
We had an amazing day. Happy Halloween everyone.
Check out the pictures below.
Maths week 2023
Maths Week 2023 was a lot of fun and games with each pupil and staff participating in hands on activities and games. Well done to all the staff and pupils for preparing what is always a fantastic week in our annual school calendar.
Click here to see photos of the great week it was.
Double Win For Durrow N.S in County Finals
Congratulations to our Boys & Girls football teams who both won their Cumann na mBunscol County Finals on Thursday 19th October in O'Connor Park Tullamore.
There was a fantastic atmosphere with huge support for Durrow.
The boys team had a very testing match against Daingean but they excelled in the second half to win the game by 2 points.
The girls team showed a tremendous team effort against a very good Ballinamere side. The girl's excellent team playing skills, energy and overall command of the game gave them an 18 point victory.
Huge thanks and credit goes to the coaches of both teams. Mr. Mc Namara, Ms O Connor, Ms Geoghegan, Ms Concannon & Mr. Hogan.
Durrow school and community are extremely proud of every person on the panel. It was a team effort from day one and collectively we progressed through the tournament to win our county finals.
This is a great boost for the school and community. Great celebrations were had all week. Thanks to Cumann na mBunscol for organising a very successful tournament with challenging weather conditions at times.
Comhgarideas do gach foireann!
Cumann na mBunscol County Final Approaching
We are delighted to have both our Boys and Girls football teams in the Cumann na mBunscol County finals on Wednesday 18th October. All road will lead to O' Connor Park Tullamore where our Boys will play Daingean @ 3.30pm and our Girls will play Ballinamere @ 4.45pm. All support will be greatly appreciated on the day.
Best wishes to all teams, players and coaches involved.
Darú Abú!!
GOAL JERSEY DAY 2023
There was great excitement with the pupils and staff coming to school today in their chosen Jersey. Pride for club, county and national teams was exceptional.
Thank you so much to all the families and staff for supporting this great cause.
Enjoy the photos
Offaly Schools Cross Country Championships 2023
Scoil Naomh Colmcille were delighted to be once again taking part in the annual Offaly Schools Cross Country Championships which were held on 5th October 2023 in Tullamore Harriers.
With a strong contingent of 32 pupils from 3rd to 6th class, our school was very well represented and did us proud! Lots of fun was had on the day with a huge team effort from everyone.
Please click here for more information and photos.
Welcome Back to the 2023-2024 School Year
Scoil Naomh Colmcille are delighted to welcome all staff and pupils back to our fantastic school for another fun and exciting year ahead.
We particularly would like to welome our new Junior Infants and their families to our school. We hope you have many great years in our school.
Best wishes to our 6th Class Graduates of 2023 in their new secondary school adventures.
We remind all parents & guardians that our school operational times are as follows:
8.40am - Doors open
8.50am - Classes commence
1.30pm - Junior & Senior Infants home time
2.30pm- All other classes home time
Safety:
Please exercise caution with your children when you are coming to and going from school. Please follow all health and safety guidelines.
SCHOOL YEAR 2022-2023 NEW BELOW
Our School Musical
Sleeping Beauty The Ugly Truth
Was fantastic
Click here to see photos and videos of the amazing event.
SPECIAL MESSAGE FOR THE OFFALY U20'S
All the staff and pupils of Durrow N.S had an Offaly Celebration Day where we recorded a special message to all involved with the Offaly U20 Hurling team who played in the All Ireland Final against Cork on Sunday 4th June.
WORLD DAILY MILE 2023
Take a look at some of the great photos of our pupils taking part in the World Daily Mile 2023. Despite the weather, we had great fun!
School Calendar 2023-2024
Please click here to access our School Calendar for 2023 -2024.
Enrolments 2023-2024
Applications for pupils wishing to be enrolled in Junior Infants in Durrow N.S for September 2023 is closed. As per our Annual Admission Notice, applicants were notified of the decision on their application on Friday 10th February 2023.
"Only You," We remember Ms. Ashling Murphy on her first anniversary
To remember our beloved Ms. Ashling Murphy on her first anniversary, 12th January 2023, the pupils and staff came together and added their own personalized words and music to a song called "Only You," which really describes the true loss of Ms. Ashling Murphy in Durrow National School. This song is specially dedicated to Ms. Ashling Murphy, her partner Ryan and her loving family.
Tá leaba óir aici i measc na nAingeal. Codladh sámh Ashling.
"Fly High in the Sky Our Shining Light, Fly High in the Sky Ms. Murphy"
Our Shining Light Forever
Remembering Ms. Ashling Murphy
Scoil Naomh Colmcille Durrow remember the late Ashling Murphy
The Board of Management, staff, pupils and community of Scoil Naomh Colmcille Durrow continue to grieve the tragic loss of our beloved Ms. Ashling Murphy every day. Ashling will always be “Our Shining Light” forever and we continue to instil the great love of education, music, sport, arts and culture to our pupils, just like she did! A favourite seanfhocal of Ashling’s was, “Mol an Óige agus tiocfaidh sí.” She was an amazing young lady who left a strong legacy behind her and has already inspired many young people. One of the special ways that our school is remembering Ms. Murphy everyday and fulfilling one of her wishes, is the setting up of a fiddle school in honour of her name.
Durrow N.S will remember Ashling on her first anniversary with a special school anniversary mass that will be led by the pupils and staff. The school appreciates and is grateful for all the messages of support that we have received to date. The school will also be supporting the Ashling Murphy Memorial Fund executive committee as they officially launch the Ashling Murphy Memorial Fund on Friday 6th January. For more information please visit https://www.idonate.ie/cause/ashlingmurphymemorialfund.
We acknowledge the interest of so many people in the story of her beautiful life and tragic death but we have decided not to engage in any interviews with the media until the criminal trial has concluded. Durrow N.S requests that the privacy of the staff, pupils, parents and the Murphy family be respected going forward.
Ms. Ashling Murphy will always be remembered in our school, is our shining light forever
agus tá leaba i measc na nAingeal aici.
Fly High in the Sky Our Shining light
Fly High in the Sky Ms. Murphy.
Loved and missed by all in Durrow N.S
Cumann na mBunscol County Champions 2022
Halloween Fun 2022
Great fun was had by one and all where everyone enjoyed the Halloween festivities and games in our school. All the pupils and staff had amazing costumes. Our Halloween parade was super!!. Well done to all the pupils and staff who participated in a fantastic day. Massive thanks to our Parent Association for all their help in setting up the classic games in our hall for all the classes to enjoy.
All the staff would like to wish each and everyone of you a very Happy and Safe Halloween.
Halloween Art 2022
Take a look at some of the amazing Halloween art created by the pupils of our school.
Cumann na mBunscol Final
Our boys football team have reached the County Final and will be playing St. Colmans of Mucklagh, on Tuesday 18th October at 3pm in O' Connor Park. Best wishes to Mr. McNamara and team. We will be there to support you all on the day. Get your flags and banners out and give the team the great support they deserve on the day. Best of luck lads!!
Ballinamere Durrow County Champions Visit Our School
Delighted to have Ballinamere Durrow U16A and Intermediate Ladies county champions teams visit our school last Friday. The girls were excellent speakers and gave some inspirational advice to all our pupils in the school. Thank you for visiting our school!
We are very proud of our schools cross country athletics team who represented themselves individually and our school as a team. Maith sibh buachaillí agus cailíní.
End of year Summer Concert 2022
We had a fantastic concert to end what has been a most difficult year for us all. We usually end our year with a school musical, but this year, we took a different approach. The artists that performed on the night were:
Durrow N.S Fiddle School
Durrow N.S Harp School
Durrow N.S Trad Group
Frank Kelly, Siobhán Godley, Cathal Guinan & James Hogan
The Ard Eiscir Céilí Band
Durrow N.S School Choir
Special Guests: JIGJAM (Past pupil: Jamie McKeogh, Dáithí Melia, Gavin Strappe and Cathal Guinan
Many thanks to our amazing artists and tutors. We also launched our new website and first class pupils launched their book that they made in memory of Ms. Ashling Murphy. All donations on the night went to the Ashling Murphy Memorial Fund. Many thanks to all who supported our concert and raffle on the night.
It was a fabulous concert. Enjoy the short video which highlights the night.
End of Year Concert
Our school were delighted to be able to host an end of year concert again. We had an amazing line up of artists which included: Our Fiddle school, harp school, Trad Group, Frank Kelly & Friends, The Ard Eiscir Céilí Band and the night concluded with the amazing Jigjam and our School Choir. Massive thanks to all who participated, attended on the night, sponsored and supported our raffle and everyone who made donations to the Ashling Murphy Memorial Fund on the night. This special concert was dedicated to our Ms. Ashling Murphy. A great nights entertainment was had by all. Check out our twitter page for some footage from the night.
FLY HIGHT IN THE SKY, OUR SHINING LIGHT, MS. MURPHY
As we lay our dear colleague and family member, Ms. Ashling Murphy to rest today, on the 18th January 2022. The staff of our school remembers "our shining light" with this short video. Ashling will never be forgotten in Durrow N.S and will always hold a place in our hearts.
"Fly high in the sky our shining light, Ms. Murphy."
Forever in our hearts. Love from all your colleagues and family in Durrow N.S.
WE LOVE YOU!
"Our Shining Light" Ms. Ashling Murphy, R.I.P
The parents, staff, pupils and wider community of Durrow N.S are utterly devastated by the passing of our dear colleague and friend, Ms. Ashling Murphy.
Ashling began teaching here in Durrow N.S in March 2021. Presently a 1st class teacher. During her time here, Ashling was a shining light, a very professional and talented young teacher, a lady with extraordinary sports, musical and choral talents, an inspiration to many not only in our school but across the wider community of schools and other organizations in the area.
On hearing the news of this horrific tragedy, the staff, children, greater school community and wider Tullamore area are left in a state of shock and numbness at this time. The school’s priority is the care of staff and children. In this context, we have support for all the staff and children in place through our Critical incident policy and the support of NEPs psychologists on site.
Our Board of Management would like to extend our sincere thanks to everyone who has offered their messages of condolences, including the local schools in the area. The word has spread worldwide and we are so grateful for all the messages and support. They have not gone unnoticed and we will also share these messages with the family in time.
Our thoughts and prayers are especially with the Murphy family, where no words can express how they are dealing with the sudden loss of their beautiful and talented daughter Ashling.
No school or teaching community or any organisation can prepare for such a tragic situation. People, clubs, organisations, schools and other settings are remembering our Ashling in so many ways. This is very touching and supportive to all who are deeply affected.
Ashling's music talent, personality and natural beauty will be greatly missed here in Durrow. We have lost a family member and she will never be forgotten.
Cun críoch, támid ag smaoineamh ortsa anois Ashling, tá leaba agat i measc na naomh.
Fly high in the sky Ms. Murphy. We all LOVE you!
happy_christmas_from_durrow_ns_965.mp4Christmas Wishes from all in Durrow N.S 2021
The pupils and staff in our school made sure to celebrated the run up to the Christmas Holidays with various fun event and activities. Take a look at our Christmas video. (Best viewed in landscape mode)
The staff and pupils of Durrow N.S wish everyone a very Happy, Safe and Peaceful Christmas and lets hope the year 2022 will be a good one for us all
Nollaig Shona Daoibh go leir.
Christmas Toy Appeal 2021
Our student council along with our teacher coordinators, Ms Geoghegan and Mr. Lynam are so grateful to everyone who donated toys to our Christmas Toy Appeal this year. We had a huge response to it and were delighted to hand over all our toys to St. Vincent de Paul today. Congrats to our student council team and thank you to all the families who donated. Super job.
pupil_advent_calendar__1_.pdfChristmas Festivities 2021
As the Christmas season is in full swing, our pupils and staff are making the most of the build up to our Christmas Holidays. Unfortunately due to Covid restrictions, we are not able to have our annual Christmas Concert. Instead, we have introduced our ADVENT CALENDAR OF KINDNESS. This has fun and encouraging activities for all the pupils, families and staff to participate in at home and in school. We are having so much fun to date. Check out our Pupil Christmas Advent Calendar by clicking on the link below.
MS Readathon 2021
PLEASE PLEASE SUPPORT AND ENGAGE!!
For the next two weeks, commencing Monday 22nd November, the whole school will participate in the MS Readathon 2021 campaign. We encourage all pupils to do extra reading at home for their leisure.
Durrow N.S will make a donation, on behalf of all the children in our school, to this very worthy cause.
We ask all pupils to engage in lots of reading over the next two weeks.
A little more information about MS Readathon Ireland.
There is nothing better in this world than reading a book.
Books feed our imaginations and fuel our minds and in the 34 years since we launched the MS Readathon we have yet to find a teacher who doesn't want to inspire more reading amongst their students.
Each year, the month-long Readathon shines a national spotlight on the wonderful power of reading to illuminate our children's imagination, development and learning. And crucially, it also engages children in a truly noble endeavour: raising vital funds for people facing the daily challenge of life with multiple sclerosis.
Last year alone, children up and down the country raised an amazing €430,000 to help people living with MS in Ireland. Schools like yours are at the heart of making the MS Readathon the campaign it is.
MS Ireland is the only national organisation offering services and support to the MS Community in Ireland. As we approach almost two years of cancelled or postponed fundraising events, our 2021 Readathon is more important than ever.
Our interactive MS Readathon website launched in 2020, which has made taking part as easy as possible and is loved by students, teachers and parents alike. We've added some cool new features for 2021 that we know your students will love.
For further information please see our website
Huge Response to our Christmas Shoe Box Appeal
Durrow N.S want to sincerely thank all the families who went to huge efforts to prepare their Christmas Shoebox Appeal for 2021. We had an enormous response this year (Take a look at the slideshow below). Each year we take part, the pupils and families in Durrow always come up trumps. Remember, your Christmas shoebox will put a massive smile on one child's face on Christmas morning. Well done everybody. Míle Buíochas from all in Durrow.
Durrow N.S Student Committees 2021/2022
The votes are in and our newly elected pupil representatives for our Student Council, ICT Committee and Green schools/Wellbeing committee for 2021/2022 school year have been elected.
Click on the link to MEET THE COMMITTEES.
