History Of Our School

Newtowncunningham

Newtowncunningham, abbreviated to Newtown, is a village in the Laggan Valley of East Donegal. It is located on the N13 road, 18 kilometres north of Letterkenny and 16 kilometres west of Derry city.

Newtowncunningham main street once formed part of the H13 main route connecting Letterkenny with Derry.

A bypass was opened in 1985 diverting traffic around the village.

The site of Scoil Cholmcille is situated between the main N13 bypass and Newtowncunningham village, just 8 kilometres from the Derry border.

 Scoil Cholmcille

The new Scoil Cholmcille opened, on its current site, in 1983.

The original site of the school was directly across the road, where the Newtowncunningham Playgroup is now.

Some photos and historic records from the old school can be found on the Donegal Genealogy website Online School Registers For County Donegal (donegalgenealogy.com).

A two classroom extension was added in 2009, with a further extension of two support rooms in 2014.

Enrolment in the school has steadily increased over the decades. The school currently has 9 mainstream classes (2021) in comparison to 6 in 2007. In 2007 the principal moved from the classroom to an administrative principal.

Scoil Chomcille now has 9 class teachers and 5 special education teachers.

Previous Principals (since new school building)
1983 John Hegarty
1991 – 1999 Bríd McLoone
1999 – 2018 James Doherty
2018 – Nicola Mc Carthy

More School History

We are gathering more information on our school and will add it here. If you have any history please share it with us scoilcholm@gmail.com