Opening celebration at St Marys Junior Boys School Nenagh

All are welcome to join in another celebration at St Mary's Junior Boys National School in Nenagh this Friday when the official opening of the school's recently completed new extension will take place at 2pm.
The €750,000 development comprises two pre-school Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) classrooms, an interconnecting multi-sensory room, a specialised playground, two mainstream classrooms and two resource rooms.
Renovations have also been carried out to the existing school, which celebrated its centenary in 2013. These include the restoration of a general purpose room, an extension of a Junior Infant classroom, the addition of an astro turf playing ground, and an extension of the tarmac playground at the back of the school. The flat roof was also raised to become a pitched roof.
Plans for the development came into being around three years ago when the school was asked by the local Special Needs Education Officer (SENO) to consider opening a pre-school for children with autism in the community. It was to cater for both boys and girls aged 3-5 years.
St Mary's board of management and staff met and decided that opening a pre-school would be an exciting development for the school, an opportunity to respond to a real and growing need in the community, where there was no pre-school to cater for the needs of these children.
They decided to call the pre-school class 'Sonas', meaning happiness. The first 'Sonas' opened in September 2013 and a second pre-school class followed in 2014. Now both classes are based in the new, bright and spacious extension to the school with its state-of-the-art resources and facilities. There are six children in each classroom, with one teacher and two Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) allocated to each class.
Principal Mary Slattery said staff and the parents of children are delighted with how the new extension has worked out. “We can now offer the best possible service to the children in our care,” Ms Slattery said.
The enrolment at St Mary's Junior Boys NS has increased from 129 pupils in 2012 to 175 this year. The school presently has a staff of 13 full-time teachers, two shared teachers and seven SNAs. The new classrooms cater for this increased enrolment along with the use made of existing space for play areas on the school grounds.
“The new extension and renovations have given the school a huge boost,” Ms Slattery commented. “Our school is now fit for purpose with the building and the resources to meet the needs of our pupils.”
Ms Slattery took the opportunity to thank all parties involved in bringing the project to fruition. These include Darragh Quinn, Thomas Campion, Richard Foley and BCD Energy for the creative design; Paul Henry and Pinnacle Homes for the excellent workmanship (with a special thanks to site manager PJ Fogarty); Minister of Environment, Community & Local Government Alan Kelly for supporting the school's application for funding to the Dept of Education; Carmel Callery of the National Council for Special Education and the Early Intervention Team for supporting the application for an ASD unit; Fr Des Hillery PP for providing the school with the use of Nenagh Pastoral Centre while the new building was under construction; the board of management and parents council for their dedication and commitment to the building project throughout; past and present members of the parents council for their fundraising efforts; and all staff, pupils and parents for their understanding and patience throughout the building programme.
Minister Kelly will officially open the extension on Friday, when the community will be invited to inspect the new works. Fr Hillery will perform a blessing and the pupils will sing songs. Visitors will also be treated displays of school photographs down through the years, provided with the help of local photo archivist Brendan Treacy and framer John Maher. Some of the old roll books will also be on display for visitors to browse through.
“We invite all past and present pupils and community members of Nenagh to join with us for the official opening and blessing in the school,” Ms Slattery said. “We look forward to meeting you all there and showing you around the school, and sharing with us this very happy occasion.”