A tale of two schools in West Clare

Out in West Clare, it’s a tale of two schools, one with four pupils that is about to close its doors after 152 years and another that needs four pupils to ensure its survival.

The classrooms in Scropul National School will fall silent at the end of the month when the school closes for good. However, further up the coast road in Doonbeg, Baltard National School is looking to enrol four additional pupils to ensure it reopens for the new school term in September.

With just five pupils currently attending Baltard, the school will host an open day on Friday in an effort to bolster school numbers and to coincide with the raising of the schools recently acquired Green Flag.
For the school to be deemed viable, Baltard, which marked its 100th anniversary in June 2011, will have to increase its pupil numbers to at least nine come this September.

Efforts to ensure the school opens for its 102nd academic year come at the same time as Scropul National School, in the Kilmurry Ibrickane parish, enters the final weeks of its 152-year history.
Michael Haugh, chairman of Baltard National School Board of Management, is hopeful that the school’s open day on Friday might help to boost attendance numbers for the next academic year.

“If we get four new pupils in we can hold on to the school. There’s a good chance. We saw the opportunity of using the raising of the Green Flag to have an open day, to try and attract more pupils to the school,” he explained.

Deirdre Cotter is in her second year as principal and during her tenure the school has been revamped, equipment wise. The school also has a resource teacher and a school secretary.

Although the Department of Education was in touch some time ago querying the viability of Baltard National School, Michael Haugh says the department had not made contact in recent months.

“They never wrote back to us one way or the other. They didn’t tell us what was happening. If they were closing us, they’d have told us at this stage so at the moment we’re assuming that everything is ok and if we build up the numbers, we’ll be staying put. If we can turn it around, it would be a great school,” Mr Haugh said.

The Baltard NS Green Flag will be hoisted by Clare Fine Gael TD Pat Breen on Friday.

The old Baltard National School, located about half a mile away, was established as a result of The Stanley Act of 1831. That schoolhouse was formerly the Flynn residence and is currently the Cremin residence.
Among the past pupils is double Olympic champion Pat McDonald, who was born in Killard in 1879 and emigrated to the US at the turn of the 20th century. He joined the police force in New York and won Olympic gold medals, representing the US, in the shot putt in 1912 in Stockholm and in 1920 in Antwerp in the 56-pound weight category. He set an Olympic shot putt record in 1912 that stood until 1928.

Other high-achieving sportsmen who attended Baltard National School include Michael McInerney, who was Irish heavyweight boxing champion in 1939.