Schools & Colleges - St Brigid's Vocational School Loughrea

Contact details

Brief History / Background

St Brigid’s is a second level school under the auspices of Co. Galway Vocational Education Committee (V.E.C.). Vocational Education was first introduced in Loughrea in 1932. Classes were held in the Temperance Hall. In 1958 a new building was constructed in Abbey Street.

The introduction of free education led to the rapid growth of the school and in 1983 the present school was built on a nine acre site in Mount Pleasant.

Since 1983 many additional facilities have been put in place for the benefit of our students and the surrounding communities.  These include playing pitches, changing rooms, sports hall, classrooms and all-weather long jump and high jump facilities.
Students in St. Brigid's are privileged to study in the perfect environment.  The school is situated on a beautiful landscaped terraced site.  It is traversed by a trout stream and flanked by playing pitches and hard courts.  The school is a single storey building comprising 31 rooms, 15 specialist rooms and 16 all-purpose classrooms. It has a large sports hall, furnished and equipped to meet all our students educational needs.

Board of Management

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Personnel / School Staff

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Subjects on Offer

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Enrolment Numbers

The school has a student enrolment in excess of 599 students.

PLC Options

• Resources & Expertise Available: Up-to-date computer facilities, classrooms.
• Highly qualified teaching staff, including qualified literacy tutors.
• Guidance counsellor available to all.

Self-financing classes are run on a demand basis
Programmes are assessed by FETAC (Levels 3-5), E.C.D.L., & City & Guilds
The Centre is linked to Co Galway V.E.C. Adult Literacy Service

Click here for futher details of our PLC courses »

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Sporting Successes

Hurling

Junior Hurling
This school’s Junior Hurling team had a very successful year winning both the Connacht and all-Ireland Vocational School’s Title.
The team defeated New Inn V.S. in the Connacht Semi-final and followed this up with victory, after a replay, over Athenry V.S., in the Connacht Final. This propelled the side into the all-Ireland semi-final where we defeated St. Colm’s Draperstown.
Borrisokane C.C. were over opponents in the all-Ireland final and following an impressive second half showing, St Brigid’s defeated Borrisokane by 3-13 to 3-10. The team was managed and trained by Niall Canavan.

1st Year Hurling
The schools first year hurling team reached the Connacht final. Following victories over Athenry V.S. and Portumna C.S. However Gort C.S. proved too strong in the final – winning by two points. We also participated in the First Year B competition thereby ensuring that all those interested in playing Hurling were catered for. The teams were coached and managed by Seán Connolly and John Higgins.

2nd Year Hurling
Our second year hurlers defeated Portumna in Hurling, however defeats to Gort and Athenry Vocational School meant that we failed to qualify for the 2nd year final.

Badminton

Girls under 19 and boys under 19 Connacht Champions and qualified for All-Ireland finals.

Volleyball

Cadette A boys – All Ireland winners 2006
Cadette C Girls – All Ireland winners
Jennifer Barrett selected Irish Senior womens squad tem.
All-Ireland Cadette boys Champions V Northern Ireland 2006

Athletics

County Galway Vocational Schools Cross Country Champions – Girls, boys and overall.

Track & Field

Rachel Finnegan Connacht Schools Junior girls Cross Country Champions.
Connacht Schools Junior Girls 1500m champion and new record holder.

Intermediate boys Track & Field shield Champions.

Other

• William Finnegan won the Senior Athlete of the Year Award  Male, and his sister Sarah Finnegan won the Senior Athlete of the Year Award Female.
• Camogie Award winners were Aisling Hobbins and Alison Clarke.
• First Year hurling winners were Bernard Burke and David Glennon.
• Jennifer Barrett was Cadette Volleyball Player of the Year & Under 19 All Ireland Volleyball player.
• Therese Manton was Junior Female Volleyball player of the year.
• Claire Lalor was Junior Camogie Player of the Year.
• Nicola Carty was awarded first prize in the Junior Individual Riders section at St Brigid’s first horse show held in Milchem Equestrian Centre.

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Student Achievements

Awards

Brian Sheil, a 4thYear student won an Engineering Award for being in the top ten grades nationwide in the Junior Certificate Engineering Exam. The award is presented by the Engineering Technology Teachers Association.

Damien Kennedy, a Leaving Cert student in St Brigid’s Vocational School in 2006, recently achieved second place in the Galway/Mayo region of the Young Engineer Competition. The Competition is based on the Leaving Certificate Engineering project and Damien’s project went forward to the National competition which was held in Mullingar on 24th and 25th November 2006.

In 2006 the Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate results in St Brigid’s School were excellent.
114 Students sat the Leaving Certificate examination
150 Students sat the Junior Certificate exam.

Recent News

On Wednesday 26th October 2006, 48 students and 6 teachers embarked on a six day tour of Catalonia in Spain. They visited the Salvador Dali Museum in Figueras, the Roman Sites, Tarrgonna and Girona and the city of Barcelona. The tour proved to be an outstanding success from a cultural, educational and social aspect.

The teachers that supervised the students were Helen Shanahan, Mary Crimmins, Geraldine O’Flaherty, Niall Canavan, Brian O’Donovan and Jim Wall (Tour Leader).

Leargas
Transition Year Students entered a Leargas run competition to celebrate the European Day of Languages 2006.

Transition Year
Dur to resounding success of last years Transition Year programme, the numbers choosing their options has increased by 100%.

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Policies

Mission Statement

Admissions Policy

Code of Behaviour / Discipline Code

Homework Policy

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School Calendar:

2008-2009

Booklist

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Uniform Description

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