bye to Greendale

lostexpectation

so apparently the was the greatest school on earth, or so it seemed listening to the live broadcast from the school closdown reunion that was was on rte last friday although Mr Doyle did say I don't the school saved just cos I was there for a while.

Seriously I always thought my school was better but hearing about the active support for extra curriculars at greendale made me jealous as it was non-existent where I went.

Anyway it closing mainly because the population range of the area changed as there not enough students for any of the schools around there, but some feel greendale should be saved for adult ed and not not just sold off for expensive apartments.

http://www.rte.ie/arts/2007/0209/theeleventhhour.html

trout

I went to Greendale ... and still live in the area. A lot of the locals are very upset about this ... it really is a shame.

As a student, I thought it it was a great school ... looking back now maybe the focus wasn't terribly academic, but students who wanted to do well would always have the support of the staff. My recollection of my year is that more than half the students went on to do third level courses.

There was a stream of talent that came out of Greendale (not me obviously:D ) ...

From the staff ... most people know Roddy Doyle taught English there, he was know as Punk Doyle then as he was fond of his Doc Martens. Then there was Paul Mercer, now a major force in Irish theatre, and author of Studs, soon to be a movie starring Brendan Gleeson. The vice principal in my day, Mr P Potts is now Head of Gonzaga. My rosy tinted view of all the staff is very positive, they really cared for their students, and worked hard to encourage even the dumbest of us to reach our potential (I peaked early).

From the students, there is Glen Hansard (of the Frames) .. and a bunch of other people known locally who did really well, if not globally famous.

My abiding memory of the place will be PE lessons under Dub's legend Brian Mullins, who was the biggest organisation of flesh I have ever seen, showing a group of skinny Northsiders how to execute the perfect rugby tackle ... in case we ever decided to "play that sneaky underhanded Hun game" so that we wouldn't bring shame and humiliation down upon him. I have been playing rugby ever since, and the only thing I can do well is tackle!

The sporting facilities in the school were truly also excellent, and the local community were given great support through adult education schemes etc. etc.

I think the decision to close the school is more to do with selling a 5 acre site of prime coastal real estate on the Dart line, than it is to do with falling numbers.

spurious

Anyone in teaching knows numbers go in cycles - the kids in the area might be a bit young now, but eventually they will come up to secondary school age and then there will be shortages of places.
Nice site for apartments though.

DublinWriter

I really feel quite sad about this, having gone there for 2 years myself.

Potts Major was a legend, and you always got the impression about him that internally he thought he was a Senior Master at somewhere like Eton! A gem of a guy.

Other notable legends included Mr.Cronin.

I remember Brian Mullins one day teaching a bunch of us 6th years how to play American football. Three of us together were barely able to stop him charging through our line.

I remember most of the staff always going out of their way to encourage out-of-hours activity, in particular Ms.Mulcahy.

Sure, Greendale wasn't the most acamedic of 2nd level institutions, but it was a Jesuit school believe it or not (it was never a comprehensive as such) and in my time used to offer two degree scholorships a year to Scranton College in the US.

Most of all I remember Greendale as breeding interesting and non-conventional people. Many from my year ended up being photo-journalists, guards, lecturers, chefs, pro and semi-pro musicians. drop-outs and drop-ins.

Most guys from my time in one other 'acamedic' 2nd level school I went to ended up being corporate dead-heads once they got their degrees and are currently probably buying their first mid-life crisis motorbike.

I do think it's a mistake shutting the place down now though, as the population will set to increase in the next 10 years. Look at the example of St.Mary's girls primary in Baldoyle that closed because of falling numbers, and was forced to reopen again five years later.

Happy memories.