History of St Declans National School
A survey of the locality carried out in 1836 indicated that there were five schools in the parish.
A national school was established under the Education act in the 1830’s with Mr O’Brien as principal. It was situated on the current Aldi site and was rented from the local landowner, Mr Bourne at a cost of one shilling per annum. In 1842 after prolonged correspondence Mrs O Brien was appointed as assistant to her husband. In 1848 a girls school was opened with Mrs O Brien as principal.
In 1889 a new church was built and it wass decided to open two schools using the old church building. Plans were drawn up, but in a change of heart the girls school was closed and one school served the locality again.
Patrick Geraghty, a native of Duleek, was appointed principal,a position he held until his retirement in 1934 after 44 years service in the school-a remarkable achievement.
A new school was opened in 1953 and it remained a three teacher school until the 60’s. Con Keohane was appointed Principal in 1966. Due to a rapid growth in population, the school was unable to cope with the increased numbers and a 16 teacher school was opened in April 1977. It was built close to the school going population in Garden City. Mr. Keohane continued as Principal until his retirement in 2002. Mr Reidy took over in September 2002. We built four new classrooms and a new secretary’s office in the year 2014-2015. We also extended our current Staff Room and two new yard areas. A new staff car park was put in with a one way system and a Set Down area. We got the exterior of the school landscaped . In the year 2017-2018 we built four new Special Education rooms. We got the exterior of the school painted and the interior of the main school building.
In June 2018 Mr Reidy reired and our new school principal Cian Kearins started in St. Declan’s in September 2018.