Moneystown National School

The parish of Roundwood today can boast of two modern primary schools catering for the educational needs of its youngest citizens. The irony of this initial statement is that had the Department of Education had its way, only one school would exist today, namely, St. Laurence O’Toole’s, Roundwood, while Moneystown National school would be a mere thirty year old memory.

We should start this school saga back in the mid 1880’s. There existed in Moneystown what is termed today a “Hedge School”, educating some of the local children who could afford the few pence per term. The story says that the teacher was a young lady and that a local lad was truly smitten by her, even though she had not the same amorous feelings towards the said young man. She tried to end the affair but he, in a fit of rage or whatever, set fire to the thatched roof of the small building, which housed the daily classes, thereby terminating any further education ambitions in the locality at the time.

The local people, clergy and the local landlord, Garret Byrne of Croneybyrne, petitioned the Ministry of Education in Dublin detailing all the local needs of the children. After the usual bureaucratic toing and froing, terms were agreed; trustees were installed, a building erected with one classroom and an adjoining teacher’s residence. A Miss Rose Madden from County Galway was appointed teacher/principal and Moneystown National School opened its doors to receive new pupils for the first time on the 1 September 1887. Many of those children transferred from Trooperstown N.S. where they had enrolled previously and had made the hard and tedious journey day, summer and winter to achieve the basic skills of reading and writing and arithmetic. Now they could be taught on their own side of Moneystown Hill. Moneystown had entered the Education History Books of Ireland.

As with any rural area, town or even city school there were “the best of times” and there were “the worst of times” where students were concerned. There were good teachers and bad teachers; there were kind teachers and there were cruel teachers; there were progressive teachers and teachers who refused to move with the times. Depending on who related the events of his/her school days, the picture of life at Moneystown National School emerges. There were those who relished their school days and there were those who hated their years within those walls. Similar stories belong in every school in Ireland, but overall, the past pupils of Moneystown fared better than most, according to the overall consensus.

The old school in Moneystown North opposite the old community hall had reached the end of its days in the 1960’s with growing numbers; lack of space and basic facilities. There were now two teachers trying to cater for up to seventy students in a curtain partitioned single classroom and so the erection of a new two-classroom school commenced in Parkmore in 1954 and was completed in 1968. the pupils of the old school transferred to the new school on the hill and all seemed “rosy in the garden” so far as Moneystown National School was concerned. This was not so!

Towards the end of the 1960’s and into the 1970’s a whole new revolution in education was taking place in Ireland. The introduction of “free” second level schools, coupled with the introduction of secondary school transport were the catalysts which triggered the whole education movement towards a more progress structured system. Very early in the 1970’s a new Primary School Curriculum was introduced and was up and running by 1972. One of the features of this new curriculum was the centralisation of resources and equipment. Rather than spreading the resources throughout all small schools which dotted the Irish countryside, it was government policy to amalgamate the small rural schools into one local town/village school where all the educational resources and teacher power would be located and functioning. Thus, the new curriculum could be implemented fully and achieve the maximum educational results. In theory and in practice this policy seemed to work and the Department of Education officials and Government policy makers were pleased. But there were problems with the implementation especially regarding the time-scale, transport, accommodation and above all social upheaval and impact it caused to many communities where the school was the “centre” of the community life. Young children were being taken away daily from their home bases to an “outside world” to be taught and this did not please many parents and communities. The Department’s attitude was perceived as “continue on! – they (the parents) will get used to it”. It was not a happy time for Irish primary education.

Why this piece of forgotten history? The reason is that Moneystown National School got caught up in this “lava flow” and but for certain individuals being in the right place at the right time, Moneystown National School would only be a chapter in the history and folklore of County Wicklow today.

In 1973 Moneystown National School was targeted as it fitted the “Master plan” for amalgamation. This could be achieved by transporting all present pupils and those offspring hereafter to Roundwood National School where accommodation would be provided for the influx of Moneystown children. Inspectors were visiting the school regularly looking for statistics regarding pupil numbers, five year projections, the present fall in numbers, the difficulties of teaching in (now) a one-teacher school, etc. the inspectorate certainly did not paint a pleasant picture of Moneystown National School or its future. “The penny dropped” when a special inspector, teacher, management, and parents meeting was convened on a Sunday evening by a retired former deputy chief inspector, an tUas B. O’Súilleabháin. Needless to say there was a full classroom! The inspector outlined the Government/Education Department amalgamation policy emphasising all the advantages and few of the disadvantages and more or less informed all present that the Department had made up its mind that pupils in Moneystown would be transferred to Roundwood when suitable arrangements were in place. The parents’ response to Mr. Ó’Súilleabháin’s words was completely negative but he seemed to ignore the parents’ pleas, and was ready to end the meeting.

Then two players took centre stage. The first was Father Sylvester Burke P.P. of Roundwood, who was manager of both Roundwood and Moneystown National Schools and was familiar with the situation in both establishments. He was also well trained in canon law and had a highly tuned legal brain. In his own quiet carefully worded reply to the inspector’s words he explained that while the Department might have very well intentioned plans for amalgamation they had not fully done their homework. Roundwood school in its present shape could not take in any more children even from its own catchment area, in fact it had to turn away a number of eligible children that year despite converting tow cloakrooms into classrooms, and what was he, as school manager, to tell the Roundwood parents if he was to accede to the Department of Education’s wishes in accepting all the children of Moneystown, about twenty, in Roundwood school, and at the same time blocking the local Roundwood children from entering the school. This spelled disaster within the local communities and he would not be part of this and he would not sign any papers whatsoever that would instigate or initiate the closure of Moneystown School. The inspector knew the ramifications of Burke’s public statement. The Department needed the Patron’s (the Archbishop’s) permission to close the school. The parish priest represented the bishop in this matter and the Patron rarely, if ever, overstepped the parish priest in such matters. The Department had reached a total blockage and would be unable to move any further at that moment in time.


The second person who probably may have had a bearing on outcome was Jimmy Timmons from Kilmullen. He stated that he had discussed the question of the school closure with the leader of the political party he supported and that his leader promised him that the school would not be closed in the near future, if ever. Mr. O Súilleabháin asked Jimmy who has leader was and what party he belonged to. The answer he received was Seamus Costello and the Irish Socialist and People’s Party. This reply seemed to unsettle the inspector but he said he would report back to his superiors in Marlborough Street, and they would issue their decision. The meeting finished on that note.


The manager may have received further communications but no decision was made to transfer students from Moneystown National School to Roundwood. There was a further incident which might have a bearing on amalgamation. I had to visit the Department of Education headquarters in Marlborough Street probably a year later. The reason for this visit was to pick up some documents and Irish charts for the school. Having done the school business I was about to leave the building when I was asked to remain a little longer because a senior official wished to speak with me. An older gentleman came to the entrance hall and said he was acutely aware of the difficulties involved in teaching eight classes (infants to sixth) and that maybe it would be better for all concerned if I resigned my position in the school and that I would receive a “privileged assistants” position in whichever school I was appointed. I considered the proposition for a moment and then I asked the official who would fill the empty position in the school if and when I resign? The official replied that he did not know if the position would be filled and that in all probability the school would be closed and the students accommodated for the future in Roundwood. The Department would look after matters when the position was vacant. I replied that I would have no involvement in the amalgamation affair. My job was to each whatever number of children were presently on the school register, to be responsible for the daily running and administration of the school. I did not want to be drawn into the politics of the situation which this proposal would ensure. Should I resign and leave the school, the Department could legitimately close the school by not appointing another teacher to take the job of the departed principal. The parents and community would, without a doubt, blame me for causing the void which could ensure amalgamation. I believed I was being made the scapegoat in the process in order to implement Department policy and at the same time leaving the Department with a “clean sheet”. I respectfully said I would carry on with my teaching duties for a while longer and left Marlborough Street. Finally on the subject, when the district inspector next visited the school I related the incident to him and said that the Department had the option of dismissing me and then close the school but the inspector said that was not really an option the Department would relish. The matter rested. The months and years passed by but the school remained. The teaching was difficult but the students and parents rallied and it can be said that the pupils did extremely well academically and socially despite all inconveniences and difficulties of that period.



THE AFTERMATH.

Moneystown became a one-teacher school in the mid 1970’s and the numbers on the register dipped to 17 pupils for one year. I had the job of implementing the new 1971 curriculum for Junior Infants to sixth class. Admittedly the numbers were low but the teaching/learning span was very wide. Strict goals had to be set for the learning process to carry on. Basically the end product would be that no pupil would leave sixth class without first mastering the basic skills of ready, writing and arithmetic (the 3 R’s). The pupils would also study the prescribed History, Geography, Civics, Nature Study and the daily Religion programme. During that period of the one teacher school the academic standards did not drop, in fact the reverse took place because the programme was tailored to the needs of the school and the students responded.

The social development ran parallel with the academic and the children of the school matured naturally into normal high achieving individuals. Early into the 1980’s the school pupil numbers grew rapidly and soon two teaching posts were filled. An extra pre-fab classroom was added to the school to facilitate the third teacher. The three teachers and students continued the hard grind to ensure that the highest academic and social development standards were continued and bettered. In the 1990’s a fourth teacher was sanctioned by the Department of Education and Science as the numbers had grown to almost 100 pupils. The most outstanding problem was space as the classrooms become congested areas and this greatly interfered with the outcomes of the curriculum as envisaged by the teachers and the inspector.


It was time to move. Previously I had made requests to the then district inspector for new classrooms but this was turned down by her on the grounds of seniority and urgent needs. Finally the spatial plight of Moneystown National School was placed before the newly appointed Divisional Inspector, Padraig O Loingsigh, who was very sympathetic to the school for many years. He requested a study needs, projection of future numbers and local authority development plans. On receiving all this information in writing, coupled with the knowledge of the teachers and parents’ involvement in achieving very high results and standards over the years, he promised to gain for Moneystown a minimum of a new four-classroom school with a hall and ancillary room etc., which a modern school should have in order to deliver the acceptable results as envisaged in the curriculum just coming on stream. The inspector was a man of his word and sooner rather than later word arrived from the Department of Education and Science stating the Moneystown would receive funding to develop a new structure to more or less replace and expand the present buildings. It outlined the stages which had to be adhered to in order to arrive at the end product.

I delegated the task for the new buildings to Mrs. Ann Doyle, the assistant principal, and she took it through the initial stages with great success. Mrs. Maeve Tierney, the deputy principal, then carried it through the final stages to where it is today. It would be amiss to leave out the members of the Boards of management during this period who also played a major role in seeing the whole project through every detail, which at times could be very frustrating and almost insurmountable. But they clung to their individual tasks and all credit must go to those men and women, teachers and board members, who persevered in order to achieve the primary goal, a new school.


When children in the not too distant future, enter their new classrooms and accommodation they will not know what history has been written in that tiny hillside hamlet at Moneystown. They will not know what history has been written in that tiny hillside hamlet at Moneystown. They will have no idea how lucky they on that futuristic day to have a school of any sort situated on the hill looking across the valley to the distant Sugarloaf.

It all began, phoenix like, from the ashes of a burned out hedge-school in the 1880’s and continued through the twentieth century, when once again in the 1970’s the question of survival was uppermost in the minds and hearts of the Moneystown Community. Again, the phoenix arose and the tiny school survived where many others disappeared forever. The school clung on and on and somehow fate seemed to ordain that the local population would increase and so the pupils enter their new spacious state of the art building and hopefully they will carry on the high academic standards and social skills, which their predecessors accomplished in t