St. Francis B.N.S

History of School

We are situated in Clara, County Offaly on the R436 road. The school was founded by the Franciscan Monks on our present site on May 1st, 1852. This school has since then been partly demolished and extended.

The present building was occupied in 1959. An end of an era took place in 2007 when Br. Baptist retired and since then we have no Franciscan Monks on staff. The present Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, was a past pupil of the school.

We are an all boys Primary School with classes from Junior Infants to Sixth Class. We currently have 16 teachers on staff, 5 Learning Support, 10 Mainstream Teachers and Principal..

Mission Statement
Scoil Phroinsias Naofa is a Catholic School which strives to provide a safe, caring and learning environment. All beliefs are respected and each member of the school community is treated equally.

Respect for all members of staff, pupils and wider community is fostered and we hope our school will be regarded as a centre of excellence where the pupils will develop to their full potential and have many happy memories of their time spent here.