Welcome to St. Aidan’s National School, Bawnboy, Co. Cavan
As we begin the 2026/27 school year, we are delighted to welcome our pupils and families back to St. Aidan’s National School. With 78 pupils in our school, we are proud of the warm, welcoming and close-knit school community we have here in Bawnboy.
St. Aidan’s is a school where every person is a valued member of a happy, vibrant and inclusive learning community. Tá gach dalta, tuismitheoir agus ball foirne lárnach i bpobal foghlama bríomhar, fáilteach agus cairdiúil anseo i Scoil Náisiúnta Aodáin.
We strive to provide a safe, caring, positive and stimulating learning environment where every child is encouraged to reach their full potential. Our dedicated staff are committed to the holistic development of our pupils, supporting their academic, social, emotional, spiritual and physical development while fostering confidence, creativity, curiosity, resilience and kindness.
Déanaimid ár ndícheall timpeallacht shábháilte, shona agus spreagúil a chruthú ina mbíonn deis ag gach páiste foghlaim, fás agus forbairt. Cuirimid béim ar mheas, cineáltas, muinín agus folláine i ngach gné de shaol na scoile.
As a Catholic school, we are guided by our Christian values while warmly welcoming and respecting children of all faiths and none. We value diversity and inclusion and encourage our pupils to develop respect for themselves, for others, for our environment and for the wider community.
We are extremely fortunate to have the support of our parents, Board of Management and wider local community. We believe that strong partnerships between home, school and community play an important role in helping every child to flourish.
Táimid an-bhródúil as ár scoil agus as an spiorad pobail atá againn anseo i mBunbhó. Oibrímid le chéile chun na deiseanna is fearr a thabhairt dár ndaltaí agus chun grá don fhoghlaim, don Ghaeilge agus dár gcultúr a chothú iontu.
At St. Aidan’s, we aim to prepare our pupils for their place in a modern and changing world while ensuring that their primary school years are filled with learning, friendship, opportunity, fun and happy memories.
Tá súil againn go mbainfidh sibh taitneamh as ár suíomh gréasáin agus go bhfaighidh sibh léargas ar an scoil bhríomhar, dhearfach agus fháilteach atá againn anseo i mBunbhó.
Le gach dea-ghuí,
James Rudden
Principal
Child Safeguarding
The Board of Management’s annual review of the school’s Child Safeguarding Statement and Child Protection procedures took place at the Board of Management meeting on 7th September 2026.
Our Child Safeguarding Statement can be found here under Policies.
The Designated Liaison Person (DLP) is James Rudden and the Deputy Designated Liaison Person (DDLP) is Juliana Doherty.
As we begin another exciting school year at St. Aidan’s N.S., we would like to once again celebrate the official opening of our wonderful new school playground at the end of the last school year.
Our school community raised an incredible €20,817 towards the project. A few months on, we remain extremely grateful to everyone who donated, fundraised or supported the project in any way. Our sincere thanks to our pupils, parents, Board of Management, Parents’ Association, staff, local businesses, sponsors, volunteers and the wider community. Your generosity has created a lasting legacy for the children of St. Aidan’s.
A special thank you also to Mary Fitzpatrick for officially opening the playground, Gareth Maguire for joining us as our special guest and Fr. Seán Maguire for blessing the new playground.
We were delighted to have the occasion featured in The Anglo-Celt, with a wonderful article written by our past pupil Róisín McManus. We are also extremely grateful to Isabel Duggan Rofe for capturing the day so beautifully through her photographs.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this fantastic new facility possible for our pupils.
The idea behind this project was to create a mural for our school to remember the 1916 centenary. We decided to set up two collection points in the community to gather coins for the mural. 485 coins stand for each life lost during the uprising. Each pupil in the school also participated by bringing in a coin for the mural. To remember the Irish diaspora and to recognise the 1916 rebellion on a global stage 54 embassies were e-mailed, inviting them to take part in this project also. 24 countries responded and sent coins and best wishes for our project’s success. There was a huge response from the local area and from all the children in the school. We surpassed our target easily!
The task of sorting and counting the coins came next. This took a good deal of patience and required teamwork. After counting and sorting all of the coins, we worked with local artist Shaunie Cassidy. We discussed using an outline of the map of Ireland for our mural. We then decided to use all the gold and silver coins. We used the copper coins to form a border along the edge of the country. Then the 6th class painted a patchwork design around the map of Ireland to finish off the project. The finishing touches involved varnishing the mural. A huge word of thanks to Shaunie Cassidy and Peter and Martha McKiernan for their time and effort in producing this great piece of art. Have a look at the finished product!
Thank you to our committee for driving our Green Schools’ Initiative this year. A special word of thanks to our steering force – Niamh Fitzpatrick (Chairperson), Ethan Edwards (Secretary), Enda Smith (Treasurer) and of course our parents, Noirín McCaffrey and Caroline Carey.
Congratulations also to Patrick Leech, who won our Litter and Waste Poster Competition. Our school slogan is “Be Green! Keep Clean!”
On Monday, 10th October Templeport Development Association, in conjunction with Heritage in Schools organised a guided nature walk for the pupils in 2nd – 4th class with wildlife expert, Heather Bothwell. The children collected leaves, seeds, flower heads, insects and minibeasts. Heather told the children lots of interesting facts about our local flora and fauna. A special word of thanks to Isabel for organising everything and for the wonderful photos!
The Cheerios Childline Breakfast together event was held in our school on Friday 28th October, 2016. Over €100 was raised. This fun charity event helps support the ISPCC Childline service. The pupils brought in €2 and had a cheerios breakfast in school. Children helping Children is the right way forward.
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To celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge, we held Lá Glas on Wednesday 16th March. See photographs of our pupils dressed up in green clothes for the day enjoying some of the activities organised.
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Thanks to Fearn’s mum Caroline, who came to our school on Wednesday 6th April to help us plant seeds for our school garden. We planted peas, lettuce, rocket and marigold flowers.
We are looking forward to watching our vegetables and flowers grow.
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As part of a project on the Water Cycle, Bryan Brady, Finn’s Daddy came into school to talk to the pupils in Mrs Boyle’s Classroom about water treatment in our locality. He showed the children an interesting PowerPoint Presentation on how water is treated. He brought samples of the stages of water treatment from rain water, to sludge, to floc and eventually our clean drinking water. The pupils enjoyed this talk. Thank you Bryan!
As a follow-up the pupils designed water conservation posters. Congratulations to Colm Brady on his winning poster.
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It was a sad day in St. Aidan’s on Friday 4th December when we bid farewell to Mrs Bogue who retired this month after 21 years as Learning Support Teacher in our school. Many children benefitted over the years from Mrs Bogue’s learning support and most especially in recent years from the early intervention Reading Recovery Programme.
Our pupils will fondly remember the farewell party that she planned for them on her last day. Pupils and staff will miss Mrs Bogue but we wish her a long, healthy and happy retirement and hope that she calls back to see us all often.
THANK YOU MRS BOGUE!
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Congratulations to the following pupils of St. Aidan’s N.S. Bawnboy who received their Confirmation on Saturday 7th May 2016.
Ethan Edwards, Enda Smith, Brian O’Neill, Patrick Leech, James Fahy and Niamh Fitzpatrick
We took part in the Christmas Shoe Box Appeal again this year. Thank you to all the children and their parents for their great response, bringing in shoeboxes filled with lovely gifts for girls and boys who are less fortunate than themselves. We hope the children enjoy their gifts.
