Name announced for new amalgamated Athlone school

The committee put in place by the Diocese of Elphin to oversee the development of a new co-educational school for 800 students from the amalgamation of St Aloysius College and St Joseph’s College, Athlone has announced that the new school will be called Coláiste Chiaráin.

The announcement follows consultations on a new name with staff, parents and students in both schools.

Last November the Minister of Education and Skills, Jan O'Sullivan announced major capital funding for the amalgamation project as part of the Department of Education and Skills new programme of capital investment in schools 2016 to 2021.

The development will bring state of the art educational facilities to the vast Summerhill site near the growing Monksland area in South Roscommon. It will allow for an enhanced range of subjects, educational programmes, greater provision for students with special education needs and more extracurricular activities that parents would rightly wish for their children in the years to come.

Saint Ciaran, was an early Irish saint born in what is known today as Roscommon in the parish of Fuerty, in the diocese of Elphin, in the sixth century. 
He founded a monastery on Hare Island in Lough Ree close to Athlone before going on to found the great monastery and centre of learning at Clonmacnoise. 
The parish of Saints Peter and Paul, Drum and Clonown (Athlone), as well as the surrounding parishes of South Roscommon, have a long association with Naomh Ciarán and Clonmacnoise. 

Coláiste Chiaráin will be, in the tradition of its patron, Saint Ciaran, a centre of excellence in learning, care for every student, and a place of nourishment for faith – a College where a warm welcome will be extended to all who seek to study there.

The new school, Coláiste Chiaráin, under the patronage of the diocese of Elphin, will open its doors on September 1, 2017, and will be the only secondary school west of the Shannon in the Athlone area.

Welcoming the new College name Bishop Doran described Naomh Ciarán as “a man of prayer with a strong commitment to community and to service.” He emphasised how “all of these things make him a suitable role model for young men and women.”