St Mary’s Cloughcor celebrates half century

ST Mary’s Primary School in Cloughcor recently celebrated a significant milestone, with a fun day for pupils, parents and staff.

Marking the 50th anniversary of the school’s foundation (it was officially opened on June 23, 1973 on its current site), the fun day saw the whole school community join in the celebrations with various activities. It was also seen as a great excuse to dress up, with everyone donning 1970s attire. In addition, pupils were able to create their own sculptures in the school’s very own poly tunnel thanks to help from Gloria Perry at Urney Creations.

A recently erected eco-garden, enabled through funding secured from the School Pollinator Garden Grant, was also blessed by Leckpatrick Parish Priest Fr Gerry Sweeney. Other festivities on the day included musical theatre dance routines by P6/7 pupils and a mobile petting zoo.

Despite all the frivolity, the event was marked with a tinge of sadness as the school dedicated a special garden to past colleague Rosaleen Duffy. Mrs Duffy was a much-loved classroom assistant in the St Mary’s community before sadly passing away last year.

Andrea Devine, principal of St Mary’s said, “It was a busy, action packed day at Cloughcor but one which will hopefully have led to the creation of happy memories of our 50th celebration.

“Adding to our celebration, we decided to take our annual sports day to Owen Roes, Glenmornan and such fun was had by all. To cap things off, pupils and parents are invited to attend a special 50th anniversary mass at Derry Road chapel on Wednesday (June 28) at 10am.

She continued, “As a school we are continually developing and since opening, the school has grown in size and stature and has competed on level terms in a wide range of activities with other much bigger and longer established schools in the Strabane area.

“We pride ourselves in our excellent staff, supportive governors, caring and co-operative parents and pupils end of year achievements, after school clubs and in the excellent Translink bus service we have forged in the past few years!

“Enrolment figures are growing each year and this is due to the hard work, dedication and passion of our entire school community. Fr Sweeney offers our school spiritual guidance and support and we have developed a close link to the Parish of Leckpatrick. It is an absolute honour for me as principal to work with such a dedicated staff, supportive parents and fantastic pupils! It is my hope that, having reached our 50th milestone that our school will continue to flourish and will continue to provide a caring, learning environment, inspiring success together for another 50 years.”