St Kieran’s Catholic School in Manly Vale is celebrating sixty years of providing Catholic primary education. Opening in 1953 with an enrolment of 30 children the school quickly grew to 276 enrolments by 1959. Monsignor McDonald who was at that time the Parish Priest of Manly dedicated the church in honour of the patron saint of his old school, St Kieran’s College in Kilkenny, Ireland.
Today the school, which is a two stream primary co-educational school, forms part of an exciting learning community with technology and state of the art facilities highlighting the many changes the school has seen in its history.
The school is part of the Catholic Community of North Harbour Parish. It is a vibrant and close-knit community with the school being an integral part of this community. Celebrations have included a 60th Anniversary Gala Dinner, Family Fun Day and a commemorative Mass with over 300 people in attendance including a display of memorabilia from the school’s past 60 years.
Throughout the year students have been learning about the history and significant events at St Kieran’s from 1953 – 2013. This was the focus of their Religious Education module for Term 2 with ex-students of St Kieran’s invited to contribute in a practical and authentic way. Using a web based learning tool current St Kieran’s students have viewed short videoed or written responses from past students sharing their ‘stories’ of St Kieran’s.