School aims to entice family into area

A Gaelscoil in the Galway Gaeltacht will offer a home rent-free for a year to a family with children willing to relocate to Conamara to boost the school’s enrolment – and ensure it is safe from closure.

Scoil Rónáin in the village of An Trá Bháin, Leitir Móir, is trying to recruit new pupils by enticing a family to move to Conamara through the offer of a rent-free home.

The school formed a committee of staff, parents and community activists who are fundraising to cover the cost of renting the home, which is located five minutes’ walk from the school.

The committee hopes to launch a campaign this March to attract a family to move to the area to help boost enrolment this September – and to remove the danger of closure.

Seventeen pupils are currently enrolled in the two-teacher school (teaching principal plus one other teacher). But one of them is in sixth class and due to leave this summer.

There are some babies in the village, but it will be several years before they are of school-going age – and Scoil Rónáin is taking a proactive step to recruit more pupils to help save it.

If numbers drop to eleven, the school will lose one of its teachers. Principal Áine Ní Fhlatharta said three schools in Leitir Móir have closed in the past two decades – and the community was determined to save Scoil Rónáin.

Caption: Scoil Rónáin.

Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play. More information on the fundraiser is available at www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/Scoilronain.