This article is from page 18 of the 2013-08-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 18 JPG
FIFTY years of second level education will be celebrated in Kildysart on Saturday, August 31.
The golden anniversary celebration will pay special tribute to the Salesian Education brought to the area five decades ago and its remaining influence.
In 1963 two second-level schools opened in the area, which have since merged to create St John Bosco Community College.
An all-girls secondary school was opened at Cahercon and at the same time the long-awaited vocational school opened its doors for the first time in Kildysart Village.
Prior to this, only students whose parents could afford to send them to secondary schools in Ennis or Kilrush received a second level education.
In 1970, seven years after opening, it was decided that the school in Cahercon would go co-educational.
This saw the arrival of five boys across the threshold of this hitherto all female establishment. In the years that followed, the school went from strength to strength reaching an attendance of 250 pupils, 50 of whom were boarders. In 1979 a new school was even built in Cahercon.
In the early nineties a sports hall was added to the facility.
In 2000 more changes came about as the school merged with the vocational school in the village.
By then most of the teaching staff were lay teachers as the numbers of Salesian Sisters had diminished.
A new school was built on the grounds of the original vocational school in Kildysart Village called St John Bosco’s Community College.
The property that was the Salesian Convent and Secondary School was sold marking the end of an era and the reign of the Salesian Sisters in the area.
Many of the current teachers at St John Bosco Community College, including principal Marian CoughlanFlynn, taught at Cahercon or are past pupils of the school.
On August 31 an invitation is being extended to all past pupils, parents, teachers and friends to join in the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Salesian Education in County Clare.
A Mass will be celebrated at St John Bosco Community College, Kildysart, at 7pm by Father Michael Casey Provincial of Salesians in Ireland from Labasheeda and a past pupil of Cahercon.