Ballymore's history
History of Ballymore School as researched and recounted by the pupils.
The present church at Ballymore was built in 1752 and at some time after that the porch was used as a school supported by the Robertson fund.
There is a mention of Ballymore School in a report dated 1826. John Coulter was the master and he received £12 from the Robertson Fund, £2 from the Rector and £10 from the pupils. This means that a fee was charged for children attending the school. There were 60 pupils on the register and lessons took place inn the church porch.
The school building wasn't built until later. It was opened on the 1st of October 1874 and in 1875 there were 99 pupils on the register.
The extension was added later as a separate room for the infants. In 1892
school attendance became compulsory for children aged between 6 and 14 had to
attend school for at least 150 days a year. Attendance officers visited schools to check the roll books and parents could be fined if their children did not have a good attendance record.
Andrew MacIntyre from Ballymore, a past pupil of the school was an attendance monitor for a while. Later this job was passed to the Gardaí. Schools were also inspected two or three times a year to see that teachers were doing a good job and that the children were learning their lessons.
The New School
In 1958 a new school was built on thepresent site. It was opened on the 8th June. Miss Olive Parke was the teacher at the time. Ballymore continued as a single teacher school when Mrs Jackie Hanlon was appointed in 1974. In 2001, the school became a two teacher school. In 2003 Violet Thorburn became the principal. In 2008, we were fortunate enough to get an extension of two new classrooms added to the current building. Following MsThorburn’s retirement in 2014 Mr John Morrow was appointment as principal.
The Robertson Fund
Colonel Robertson was the son of a clergyman in the Diocese of Raphoe. His father was Rector of Aghanunshin near Letterkenny. He spent much of his life in India but when he died, approx 1790, he left a large sum of money to help build schools for the children of Donegal. Of the money that was left, the interest at 5% allowed £15 a year to be given to support schools.
Londonderry Sentinel
10 June 1959 The new National School at Ballymore, Dunfanaghy, built at a cost of £4,500 to replace a building in use since 1773, was opened on Saturday afternoon by the Éire
Minister of Local Education, Mr Neal Blaney, who praised the cordial relations existing between all denominations in the area.
The single classrom school, designed by Mr J Boyd-Barrett, Board of Works Architect, had piped water, electric light and central heating. The Department of Educationcontributed £4,000 to the cost of the school which Mr Blaney said was one of the loveliest to be found anywhere in the county.
There was about 20 pupils on the register at this time and the teacher in charge was Mrs Olive Parke.
The site was provided by a local farmer, J Algeo of Ballymore
