History of our School
Ballygown National School was built in the period 1957-59 by Pynes Building Contractors Fermoy. It was a two-roomed building, with two sets of pupils’ cloakrooms and toilets and a staff cloakroom and toilet. Outside there was a water-tower house and a shelter.
The site on which the school is built consists of one acre. It was donated to the parish by Mr. Denis McGrath of Ballygown. He gave the site to Rev. Canon William O’Neill, Parish Priest. The cost to the parish of this school was £5,000. This money was donated by Mr. Jeremiah Crowley of Wallstown. Ballygown N.S. replaced the school known as Wallstown N.S. It was staffed by the teachers who had been in Wallstown. The principal was Mrs. Mary O’Brien, a native of Killavullen. She retired at the age of sixty-five, on February 1st 1967. She was replaced by Nora O’Callaghan, now Mrs. Nora Moroney, a past pupil of Wallstown N.S., on February 2nd 1967. Mrs O’Brien’s assistant was Miss May O’Connell, later Mrs. May O’Brien, a native of Burnfort. She resigned on December 22nd 1978. She was replaced by Miss Alice O’Connell, later Mrs. Alice O’Neill, a native of Annakissa North, on January 8th 1979.
In September 1994 an extra teacher was appointed – Mr. John Hannon, a native of Kilbrin. At the same time Ms. Claire Quinlan from Mallow was appointed as Learning Support Teacher, based in Killavullen and shared between Killavullen, Castletownroche, Ballyhooley and Ballygown. On April 5th 1995, O’Sheas’ Builders Cork began work on a new classroom, lobby and Resource Teacher’s Room. This extension was completed in October 1995 at a cost of £35,000. Mrs. O’Neill’s Junior Infants, Senior Infants and First Class moved into this new classroom on October 7th 1995.
On 4th March 2002, Mr. Ian Whitty, from Killarney, Co. Kerry was appointed Resource Teacher in the School. On 25th June 2004 the whole school community joined to celebrate the retirement of Mrs. Nora Moroney and bid her a fond farewell. Mr. John Hannon was appointed to succeed her as principal. On September 1st 2004 Miss Martina Hickey (Mrs. Kiely) from Millstreet began, what will hopefully be, a long and happy career as a teacher in Ballygown School. The following year, on 1st September 2005, Mrs. Noreen O’Hanlon, from Mourneabbey, was appointed Learning Support Teacher.
Following the resignation of Mr. Whitty in June 2007, Mrs. O’Neill assumed the role of Resource Teacher. The resultant vacancy was filled by Miss Betty O’Brien from Castlelyons, who began her teaching career here on September 3rd, 2007. This was a day we will never forget, full of excitement, as we enjoyed for the first time our newly extended and refurbished school. Everyone associated with our school was delighted that, after twelve years of waiting, we were finally enjoying our much needed extension.
In March 2006 Ballygown N.S. was included in the Devolved Funding Scheme. Subsequently additional grants were secured and an enormous fund-raising effort was made. On 21st March 2007 work commenced on the extension, which included two new classrooms, a General Purposes Room, a Staff Room, a Secretary’s Office, Toilets and Storerooms. Considerable refurbishment of the existing building was also carried out. The extension and refurbishment were completed to a very high standard by the end of 2007. The contractor was Michael Feeney, Conna and the architect was Kevin O’Keeffe, Mallow. Fr. Joe O’Keeffe served as Manager of the school during the nine years he spent in the parish. Unfortunately, he was transferred to Ballynoe shortly before the work was completed. His contribution in helping to secure the necessary funding and overseeing the building project is deserving of special mention.
In September 2008, Miss Gillian O’Gorman, a native of Ballyporeen, was appointed. This was a very significant development, as it marked the beginning of a new chapter, with the school now benefitting from four classroom teachers and two Special Education Teachers. Miss Judith Allen from Newmarket acted as a substitute teacher here for two years from 2009 – 2011, and while here she made an invaluable contribution to all aspects of the school.
The newly extended and refurbished Ballygown National School was officially opened on June 22nd 2009 by Minister of Education, Batt O’Keeffe, and blessed by the Apostolic Administrator of Cloyne Archbishop Dermot Clifford. Another important piece of the jig-saw was put in place in 2010, when a car-park was developed adjacent to the school. A site was purchased by the Board of Management from Cork County Council. The funding for this project was secured from the Department under the Summer Works Scheme and the work was carried out by John Ronan Ltd., Ballyhea. The car park was blessed by Fr. Dan Gould P.P. on November 1st 2010.
Following a steady increase in enrolments, approval was granted for the appointment of a fifth classroom teacher. Mrs. Susan O’Donoghue, from Mallow, joined the teaching staff on 27th August 2015. Funding was secured to build an additional classroom and Sensory/Special Education Room and it was originally hoped that this extension will be completed within a year.
On January 8th 2015, exactly thirty-seven years after she began teaching here, we bade a fond farewell to our Deputy Principal, Mrs. Alice O’Neill. Mrs. O’Neill made a huge contribution to the school, as a mainstream teacher for many years and more recently as a Resource Teacher. Mr. Dermot Moynihan, Newmarket, was appointed as a permanent Resource Teacher on 31st August 2016. In September 2018, Patricia Gohery joined the teaching staff, as a temporary appointment, filling a vacancy arising from a job-sharing arrangement between two teachers.
Just as the teaching staff has grown steadily over the years, we have been extremely fortunate too to have an excellent team of SNAs. Catherine O’Reilly was appointed in September 2006, while Frank Macken joined us the following month. Past pupil Niamh Hickey (Buckley) came back to Ballygown in September 2007, while Michelle Sheedy came on board in September 2014. Laura Power played an invaluable role as secretary from 2001 to 2015. She was replaced by Margaret O’Keeffe, who since then has kept the school humming.
Meanwhile the school continued to grow and develop. We were extremely fortunate to be able to purchase extra land from our neighbour Bartley Hayes to extend our playground. Another huge fundraiser, ‘Strictly Ballygown’ in 2018 greatly boosted Board of Management funds and allowed us to carry out major development. An impressive boundary wall was built by Michael Forde, while groundworks were carried out by Don Larkin and Seán Sheedy, with much appreciated voluntary help from Pat Cronin. The result is two playing fields, which are a valuable asset and will be enjoyed by generations of children.
After a number of obstacles were overcome, work on the extension finally got underway in July 2019. The contractor was Dave Cahill, Ballyhea and the work was overseen by O’Keeffe O’Connell Architects, Mallow. The Covid-19 pandemic may have delayed its completion, but when the finishing touches were added in August 2020, everyone agreed that it was well worth waiting for.
We have a most impressive school building and grounds, of which we are tremendously proud, and a dedicated staff. The wonderful support to date from parents, children, staff, Board of Management, the parish and the local community, for the development of Ballygown School is greatly appreciated.