History

Official records show that Kilkenny School was opened on September 30th 1889 on the site where the present school's swimming pool and oval are sited.  However for some 21 months prior to the opening the school occupied the small York Rechabite Hall (now demolished.)

The first Head Teacher was Mr. Frederick William Gee.

At this time the wheat fields were diminishing with new housing and industry assuming a greater presence.

Along the Port Road there were only a few schools - Hindmarsh, Woodville and Port Adelaide, all opening in the 1870's.

In 1975 land adjoining the school was purchased, a new replacement school built and the old buildings, which had served for 86 years, were demolished.

Of the early days of the school, little is known for records were not kept until the 1900's. In fact 1911 provides us with our first comprehensive look at the school's history.

The passing years witnessed many changes both within the community and the curriculum offerings.

From a rural region with a scattered population of mainly Irish settlers, our district has evolved into one, which reflects Australia's diversity of cultures.

Language programmes in Greek, Italian and Serbo-Croatian were introduced in the early 70's - the forerunners of the state's current Languages Other Than English programmes.

In 1978 the school acquired that section of land we affectionately refer to as 'the Scrub', making the school site 3 times the size of the original site.

Kilkenny has always maintained a community focus - in fact several of our present day students are third generation school members. This is indicative of the value the community places in our school as a provider of quality education programmes for its children.

This is but a brief history. If you would like to delve into Kilkenny's past, 'Kilkenny Primary School - the First 100 years' written by a former principal, Alec Talbot, can be borrowed from the school.

 

Time Capsule

Kilkenny is currently trying to find out where a time capsule was buried back in 1970's. If you have any information regarding this please contact the school on (08) 8345 4138.

 

Photos

If you have any photos of your Kilkenny Primary School days pre 1980 we would love to see them. Email a copy to the school at dl.0207.info@schools.sa.edu.au or bring them in and have a tour to see all the new changes happening now.