The Local Schools

St Baithin's National School

St Baithin's National School is situated between the old cemetery and the St
Johnston and Carrigans Family Resource Centre . It opened for the first time
on Monday 5th of May 1980. It was then that the pupils of Trentamucklagh
National School, Drumucklagh National School (Raphoe), St Baithin's Old
School all came together to form one new school. The Ballylennon and
Craighadoes roads were served at the time by McGee's bus which brought the
pupils to the school.
Mr Joe McGinley was the first principal of the school until his retirement in
1983 which was marked by a social function in the Old School Hall. Ms Mc
Ginley, Mrs Molloy, Mr Jim Callaghan, Mrs Ann Gallagher, Mrs Kathleen Burke
and Mr Brian Harkin were the teachers at the time.
The next principal of the school was Mr Art McLoone.
In 1997, Mrs Kathleen Burke was the principal of St Baithin's School. There
were 203 children on the rolls at the time.
Ann Marie Meehan is the current principal.
The school celebrated its 25th birthday in 2005. Pupils who had started in the
school in 1980 or who transferred from Trentamucklagh School or
Drumucklagh School or St Baithin's Old School attended the celebration. The
teachers of those times were also invited. There was a Mass first in St
Baithin's Church to mark the occasion. Then another celebration, one of the
nostalgic past, was held in the school itself and involved displaying old school
roll books and also old photographs of children from the various schools. A
social evening with a buffet served in a marquee adjacent was held in the Main
Hall of the St Johnston and Carrigans Family Resource Centre.