St. Kieran’s NS, Broughall is a small rural school located on the outskirts of Kilcormac. Pupils benefit massively from the low pupil teacher ratio which exists within the school. With three full time teachers working in the school, this affords our pupils the opportunity to engage with all elements of the curriculum as well as engaging in various different exciting initiatives and projects.
Broughall is a rural community which has lost many of it’s loved ones as a result of cancer. We as a school felt that the efforts to build a hospice facility in the midlands region is something our school wanted to add our support to. ‘ Hooves 4 Hospice’ was the perfect opportunity for us to do something which would honour the memories of all those people in Broughall who lost their lives from cancer as well as being able to help in a practical way to put a much needed hospice facility in the midlands region. Michael Carroll the Chairperson of our Board of Management is a beef farmer and he offered to host the calf on his farm. Last March we were in the process of organising a family sponsored walk in Boora. We thought that this was a nice way to bring people from the school community and the local community together and raise money for a good cause, at the same time. When the restrictions came in, our fundraiser was put aside but not forgotten. When we returned to school in September, we did have to scale back our fundraiser a bit, so we held a fancy dress farmer sponsored walk within the school grounds. We raised enough money from the walk to purchase a calf and an extra 731 euros which we were in a position to donate directly to the hospice fundraiser.
The whole project has been a hugely positive experience for our pupils, staff and wider school community. We as a community have been devastated by the negative effects of cancer, so it was wonderful to be part of a project where we can help people who are affected by this awful illness. Our school is all about providing for our children’s future. In the future we want to see a state of the art hospice facility which people from our community can access. To be part of a project which makes this facility a reality was simply a no brainer for us.

