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.

The school registers date back to 1869.

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). 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).
Miss King (1953-1981), Miss Keenan (1961-1971)
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).

The following was written by Mary Glynn for the Ballindine Post Summer 1997
as we began our fund-raising for the new school.

Ballindine National School was built in 1842 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 155 years later, it is past time for the old school to retire.
The 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 amalgated in 1969 under one roll number
(the original boys school number) and it became co-ed.

Thomas Corcoran was the boys teacher but we don't know who taught the girls as the records are lost.
Thomas's daughter Ann Nolan was definitely teaching there in the 1890's until she died in 1893 and
Miss Eliza Kelly began teachng there around that time.

The girls entered via a door at the front of the school (that door is now a window) and went up a narrow winding stairs to their classroom.
The windows were smaller then and a pulley was used to open those on the church side of the school.
The boys entered via a porch on the church side and then straight into their downstairs classroom. There was one chimney.

As the years went by and the number of pupils increased, an extra teacher was employed but the two teachers had to teach in the
same classroom. This often led to arguments between the teachers especially in winter when there was only one fire and it came
to deciding which teacher got the end with the fire.
One pupil from the 1920's (Sarah McHugh nee Macken, Carranurlaur), remembers Mrs. Winnifred Rodgers, the Assistant ,
wore her hair caught up in a tight knot called a bun. One winter morning the principal, Miss Kelly, caught Mrs. Rodgers by the bun
and dragged her to the far end of the classroom, so she could have the fire for herself.
In those days the children had to bring two sods of turf to school each morning and Miss Kelly kept a watchful eye right inside the door
where you placed your turf in a basket before climbing the stairs. If you came without the turf, you got caned.

The floor boards were well worn by then and when the girls swept the floor, the dust fell down on the boys heads underneath.
The teachers in the Boy's School in thd '20s were James P. Griffith and Mrs. Gertrude nee Smyth.
Sometimes a child's foot went through the floor boards. The children hoped Miss Kelly would do the same but she always escaped.

The Rev. Thomas Morris P.P. took over management of the school in 1922 when we got our own Government and the teaching of Irish
was introduced. The teachers in the Boys School went off on an Irish Course and afterwards all names in the roll book were written in Irish.
However the two teachers in the Girls School do not seem to have attended any Irish Course and the girls names continued to be entered
in English until two new teachers were appointed in 1929. However, they did teach Irish to the best of their ability.

In 1935 the classrooms were divided in two by partitions and a second chimney added.
An extra classroom was added to the Girls School (though it was downstairs) in 1950
- Fr. John Keenan, (Columban Fathers and now in the Philippnes) remembers serving Mass at its opening.

In 1967 central heating and flush toilets were installed.

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. 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 old school finally closed on 6th November 2000.
The staff were Eileen Garvey, Principal, Mary Glynn, Martin O’Brien, Anne Burke,
Anne Mullen 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”