Stair na Scoile

The History of our School

St. Michael’s National School is a three-teacher, co-educational primary school situated in Danesfort, approximately eight kilometres south of Kilkenny city. We are very proud of our school’s location, which overlooks open fields, abound with natural beauty.

A national school has been located in Danesfort since 1836 and was replaced by the present school building, built in 1988, consisting of two classrooms, an office and toilets. A stand-alone third classroom was added in 2013. In 2019 this classroom was joined to the main school, a universal access toilet was developed and a staff room was created.

Danesfort was the site for one of the first national schools in rural Ireland. The original Roll Number is incorporated in today’s elongated one, 01300Q, which bears testimony to the age of the school.

The National Education Act was passed in 1831. Danesfort was among the first centres in rural Ireland in which a primary school was built.

The basic, original school was little more than a stone’s throw away from the modern building of today. The current school was opened on November 14th, 1988.

A memorial plaque located beside St. Michael’s Church, Danesfort, marks the site of the original building which has long since been demolished.

The existing school is built on an expansive three-acre site, and is blessed with stunning natural beauty all around. The school is on an elevated site, and faces South. It overlooks rolling farmland and by merely looking out the windows, the children get a view of nature as it unfurls day by day, season by season.

The school grounds incorporates flower gardens and evergreen trees to the front, bird tables outside the windows of both classrooms, a tarmacadam basketball court/ play area and a children’s size sports field to the rear.

A cleverly designed Millenium Garden was planted on the West side of the school in late 1999 to mark the cross-over from the 20th to the 21st Century. It was then teachers, Donie Holland (Principal) and Geraldine Keane, who provided the inspiration for this imaginative project which saw each child in Danesfort NS at the time plant their own individual tree.

Each child attached their name-tag to their tree so that when they return in 20, 30 or 50 years time, hopefully there will be a flourishing reminder of their days spent in St. Michael’s NS, Danesfort.

There are three schools in the parish, and Danesfort National School serves the community at the Eastern end.  The school is within sight of the N10 (Waterford-Kilkenny). It borders Danesfort GAA club and St. Michael’s Catholic Church.

The current Principal, Ms. Niamh McGrath, was appointed in September 2018. The Deputy Principal, Ms. Deirdre Griffin, was appointed in 2009, learning support teacher, Ms. Aoife Byrne was appointed in 2017 and third mainstream class teacher, Ms. Thalia Smithwick was appointed in 2020. Special needs assistant, Ms. Bernie Corcoran joined the team in 2016, followed by SNA Ms. Helena Kearney in 2022.