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Our New School

A photo of old Ballindine N.S. around 1900
(Taken from the church yard).


A photo of Ballindine Old School in 2000

History of Old Ballindine N.S.

An application for aid towards the building of a school house in Ballindine was sent to the Commissioners of Education by Lord Oranmore of Castlemacgarrett on 9th April, 1838. It states that Lord Oranmore would contribute one third of the expense.
The estimated expense of the building – (a two floor building each 30 by 20 feet and 10 feet high) - was £130 ( €165 )
Ballindine National School was built in 1843 with Lord Oranmore and Browne as the Manager. Its pupils endured the famine, witnessed the Fenian Rising and some met Michael Davitt. Many of its pupils fought for Ireland's freedom and now in the 21st Century it has finally retired.
In the 1840’s the old school began as two classrooms and two teachers, one upstairs for the girls and one downstairs for the boys. In fact, it was considered as two schools with two distinct roll numbers until they were both amalgamated in 1969 under one roll number (the original boys school number) and it became co-ed.

Teachers: Boys School:
The first teacher was Richard Vizard.
Later we had Thomas Corcoran (d. 1891),
also his son, Austin Corcoran, ( left in 1889). followed by
Connor Morris, (late 1890’s and early 1900’s - married to a daughter of above Thomas Corcoran).
Michael Stack, Principal (1902-1916), a brother of the famous Austin Stack who died on hunger-strike in 1923. His assistant was Mr. Galvin. James P. Griffith, Principal (1917-1961) and Mrs. Gertrude Godfrey nee Smyth as assistant.
A third teacher, Mr. Tom Kirrane, was appointed in 1938
(he became Principal of Kilvine and then Irishtown in 1945).
Mr. Gleeson, Principal (1961- 1976)

Girls’ school:
The first teacher was Hessy Cahill.
Then Medelia O’Brien was appointed (1864)
Ellen Russell was Principal in 1869 with Mary Newell as assistant. Ann Nolan, (nee Corcoran), daughter of Thomas in the boys’ school, taught in the girls’ school until she died in 1893.
Miss Eliza Kelly (1893-1929), Principal and Mrs. Winifred Rodgers, assistant, also retired 1929.
Mrs. Mary Stack then became Principal of the girls’ school (1929-1952) and Mrs. Flood was appointed assistant 1948.
Mrs. Ruane, assistant, then Principal, (1949-1968).
The assistant, Miss Nan Gill, was forced to retire under “The Marriage Ban” upon her marriage in ‘48 to Tom Kirrane, Principal of Kilvine N.S. This rule was later abandoned and afterwards she taught in Irishtown N.S.
Mrs. Balfe taught in Ballindine from 1948-1962 and was replaced by Mrs. Kitching.
In turn Mrs. O’Connor replaced Mrs. Kitching (1963-1969).

School Amalgamatedwith Cullane N.S.

Two major events took place in January 1969. Cullane N. S. was also amalgamated with Ballindine and Mrs. Eileen Garvey moved from Cullane to Ballindine. The Boys’ school and Girls’ school were amalgamated as one, keeping the Boys’ school roll number. The school was now a five teacher school.
Mr. Gleeson was Principal. His assistants were Miss Monica King, (retired 1981) Mrs. O’Connor, (appointed Principal of Belmont in 1971),)
Miss Keenan, (left 1971) and Mrs. Eileen Garvey, (Retired 2003)
Later appointments were Miss Noonan, (‘71-‘83) Mrs. Moran, (‘71-‘76)
In 1976 Mr. Hosty was appointed Principal (1976-1989).
The present staff are Mary Glynn, (Principal), Martin O’Brien, (Deputy Principal), Anne Burke, Anne Mullen, Maria Henry and T.J.McGreal.

A new School for a
New Millennium
As the 20th Century came to a close, the old school was well past its sell-by date. In 1997 a fund raising committee was set up.

Fund-Raising Committee:
Frank Hyland (Chairman), Mary Coen (Secretary),
Louis Prendergast (Treasurer), Mary Glynn N.T. (Treasurer),
Patricia Hennigan, Cathy Slattery, Muriel Costello, Martina Hennelly,
Rose Kearns, Liam McNamara and Richard Dooley.
We had a very busy time collecting for the new school. There were raffles, card-games, Sponsored walks, Fair Days, New Year’s Eve Balls and dances throughout the year as well as children’s concerts and wonderful children’s musicals held in the DDAI hall, kindly given to us free of charge for our events and our many rehearsals.. Our biggest fund-raiser was the Big Ticket Draw, which raised over £40,000.

Two years later we had bought a site from the D.D.A.I. and had the entire local contribution collected.

We moved into our new school building on 6th Nov.’00. It wasn’t quite finished, but we had an emergency, because our old school was extensively damaged by fire. This fine new building finally cost almost €1 million. It was officially opened by Minister Noel Treacy.

Thanks to all the wonderful fund-raising work done by the parents, children, teachers and our many friends and sponsors both in the community and outside, we now have a state of the art building for our children to discover the joys of learning.
Thanks also to the Dept. of Education and Science for their timely capping of the local contribution at £40, 000 or we could still be fund-raising.

A photo of our New Ballindine School
Officially opened 6th June 2002 by Minister Noel Treacy.

Click here to find out about our new school.

“Bless This School”