Graduation the end of an era

The latest graduation at St Brendan’s Primary School in Dunnstown marks the end of an era not just for the students themselves, but also their families.

Three students at St Brendan’s officially graduated from primary school on Tuesday 6 December, and two of their families are connected, spanning back five generations.

Eighty six-year-old Nellie Leonard is the great grandmother of Sienna Cahir and Kade McKay, who both graduated on 6 December.

Ms Leonard attended St Brendan’s for 16 years as a mother, 20 years as a grandmother, and 13 years as a great grandmother – and has had an association with school for six generations.

She and her late husband Leo were both students at the school in the 1940s, and their respective mothers (Nell Murphy, née Britt and Kathleen Leonard, née McCormack) also attended the school in the early 1900s.

Ms Leonard’s grandfather, Con Britt, was also educated at the rural Catholic school.

Ms Leonard’s seven daughters, and 14 of her 25 grandchildren, have been educated at Dunnstown, as have seven of their 33 great grandchildren.

Sienna and Kade are the last of Nellie and Leo Leonard’s great grandchildren to graduate from St Brendan’s Primary School.