Lurga National School 
A Brief History

Lurga NS is one of the most southerly schools in Co. Galway, located south of Gort in the parish of Beagh. The school currently has an enrolment of 90 pupils along with four Mainstream Class teachers, one Special Education Teacher, two ​part-time Special Education Teacher and a part-time secretary.

Our school officially opened in 1884, the same year that the GAA was founded and it was to this parish that Michael Cusack came to teach at the turn of the last century.  
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In 1883, the Board of National Commissioners approved a grant to build a school to accommodate 150 pupils from Lurga and the surrounding areas. A fine stone building was erected on a plot of land donated by the late Mr Robert Lattery of Cregg. Lurga National School opened its doors on the  12th of February 1884. The Manager and Patron, Fr Michael Connolly P.P. appointed Mr Patrick Linnane from Rathorpe as the first principal. The following year Miss Ellen McMahon from Gort was appointed principal of the Girls’ National School. Also around the time of 1888 Miss McMahon married Mr Linnane.

In 1903, Mr John Keehan, Foxtailhill, succeeded Patrick Linnane as principal. The Boys’ and Girls’ Schools were amalgamated in 1905 and permission was granted , ‘to use the girls’ school rooms for  school purposes as proposed, pending structural alteration’.

Mr Patrick Fogarty succeeded Mr Keehan as principal sometime in the early 1910’s, the exact date is not known but most likely around the time when Mr Keehan emigrated to America.

In 1949 Mrs Una Whelan from Shanaglish, formely Miss Una McLaughlin of Belmullet, Co. Mayo, was appointed principal.  Mrs Whelan remained principal of Lurga National School until 1963 when she was replaced  by a Mr Solan, a native of Kiltimagh, Co. Mayo.

In 1971 Mr Patrick Langan became principal but his tenure was a short one with Mr Eddie Liddy being appointed principal in 1973. In 1981 Mr Seán Keehan succeeded Mr Liddy as principal and in 1982 Ms Bridget Keehan was appointed as assistant teacher taking over from Mrs Pepper.

In 2007 building work on a new extension was started, which would involve incorporating the original building into the new build as a multi-purpose school hall. 

In 2008, the present principal, Mrs Sinéad Lundon Scanlon, succeeded Mr Keehan.

Official opening of the new school extension took place on the 13th June 2009.  In 2010 an adjacent piece of land was purchased by the Board of Management of the School and later that year it was developed into our new school car park.

In summer 2012 the school hall was partitioned in order to create a third classroom in order to accommodate the schools growing numbers. 
Currently Lurga National School comprises 3 mainstream classrooms, 1 resoure and learning support room, a multipurpose hall, school yard and school field.

During 2014 we  celebrated Lurga National School's 130 years in existence.
List of Lurga National School Teachers:
1884 Patrick Linnane (Principal Teacher)
1885 Ellen Linnane (nee McMahon) (Principal Teacher Girls' School)
1903 John Keehan (Principal Teacher)
1911 Patrick Fogarty (Principal Teacher)
1925 Mairéad Murray (Teacher)
1930 Maureen McLaughlin (nee Lohan) (Teacher)
1931 Úna Whelan (nee McLaughlin) (Teacher and Principal Teacher)
1952 Bríd Fennessy (Teacher)
1957 Carmel Whelan (nee Russell) (Teacher)
1963 Thomas F Solan (Principal Teacher)
1965 Dorothy Whelan (Teacher)
1969 Eileen Pepper (Teacher)
1971 Patrick Langan (Principal Teacher)
1973 Eddie Liddy (Principal Teacher)
1981 Seán Keehan (Principal Teacher)
1982 Bridget Fogarty (nee Keehan) (Teacher)
2008 Sinéad Lundon Scanlon (Principal Teacher)
2012 Pat Nolan (Teacher)
2013 Deirdre Conneely (Teacher)
​2018 Louise Lynch (Teacher)