History of Ballyguiltenane National School
- Hedge School – Mr. Fitzgerald
The fee paid was one penny a week. English, reading and writing and Maths were taught. - 1874-1876: Ballyguiltenane National School was built. Two classrooms at first and after eight years two classrooms were added at the rear.
- Contractor and carpenter: James O Driscoll. Builders: Dan and Tom Culhane, Glin and Milke Higgins from Rathkeale. School furniture was made locally.
- Subjects taught: sewing, knitting, religion, gardening, English, history, geography and domestic science. English was taught in detail especially at pupils who stayed to 7th and 8th class. Shakespearian plays and the poetry of Tennyson, Wordsworth and Southey were studied.
- In the Roll Books 1907 and 1908 a record of “Irish and Mathematics” classes can be found. These classes were taught on Mondays and Wednesdays to older children. Mr. Griffin taught these classes, he had learned Irish in Ballingeary.
- No Easter holidays were given except Good Friday and Easter Monday until 1926. Christmas holidays were the same as they are now. The summer holidays were from 1st August to the end of the second week in September (harvest holidays).
- In 1922 teachers were sent on an Irish Course on the 17th of July to the Gaeltacht. This course lasted to the end of August and teachers then had four weeks of official summer holidays for the month of September.
- School hours were much the same as we have now but often continued until 4.00 p.m.
- An open fire provided heating in each classroom. The turf was supplied by the parents of the school children or they contributed a few shillings towards the cost of buying a load of turf.
- Canon Michael Ryan purchased a television for the school. People from Ballyguiltenane could come and watch television for three pence a night.
- Every Sunday night a dance was held at one side of the school and a card game at the other side in aid of church funds. The television was in the infant room and Dan Enright had a shop there. The entry fee to the dance or card game was half-crown per person. In summer people danced on a platform in the schoolyard. Music was provided by Pat Enright, Paddy Healy (Jnr.), Mikey and Jimmy Dillane.
- Mass was celebrated in Ballyguiltenane National School to accommodate the local people. Stations were also held in the school. These practices were discontinued in 1977.
- Toilets were built at the rear of the school in the 1970s. A staff room and two toilets for the teaching staff were added to the main building in the 1980s.
- A field next to the school was purchased in 1992. It was drained and seeded for use as a games pitch.
- A car park was built in 1996 for teachers’ cars and for use by the bus and parents bringing children to school.
Structural Improvements
- Summer 2002: Painted exterior of the school.
- November 2002: Water well drilling to provide a new water supply for the school.
- Summer 2004: Replaced all timber floors with concrete.
- Summer 2005: Installed a water filter system for the school’s water supply.
- Summer 2006: Dry lining of all internal walls within the School.
- Summer 2007: Funding sanctioned in January 2007 for improvements to roof and insulation of attic space.
- Summer 2008: Provision of new toilets within the main building to replace the existing outside toilets.
- Summer 2009: Extension to the playground which included a new basketball court and green area. Extension to existing shelter.
- Summer 2010: Resurfacing of the entire school yard, front and rear. Lowering of car-park wall to allow for safe entry and exit.