All About Cork: Brooklodge NS celebrates 150 years of education

Brooklodge National School recently marked a significant milestone, celebrating 150 years of education.

“We celebrated 150 years of education in Brooklodge, across four different sites — our current site, which we moved to in 1986; before then, we were in what’s currently the playschool, from 1946; before that, one of the houses nearby, and prior to that, up Brook Hill a little,” principal Joe Nolan told The Echo.

“We have no specific dates and very little detail but the first record of a school in Brooklodge was 1874.”

Mr Nolan described the school celebration as “a great day”.

“We were joined by past staff members, parents and grandparents, members of the community — a number of families had three generations who’d attended the school, which was lovely.”

He thanked the parents’ association who helped to organise and run the event, which saw about 80 guests attend.

Past staff attended the school for the whole day, where they enjoyed guided tours from the student council who took them around showing new parts of the school and everything that had changed, and calling into the classrooms to meet current students.

“Past staff member Máirín Maclernon planted an oak tree, a symbol of strength and unity, witnessed by the junior infants to first class pupils,” said Mr Nolan.

Parents and members of the community attended a meet and greet at the end of the day, sharing stories of the school’s past, and Mr Nolan made a speech, alongside former principal Eoghan O’Connor, chairman Frank Linehan, and Mark O’Donoghue, a member of the Board of Management.

“It’s a big honour to be a part of a school with such a long and storied history. At the end of the day, a school is a community of people coming together to do what’s best for the children,” said Mr Nolan.

“As principal, you’re only as good as the staff and the families around you, and it’s great to work somewhere with such a long tradition of education.”

Student’s exhibition at library

An exhibition at Mayfield Library by 14-year-old Ewan Stockley, a student at Mayfield Community School, is proving popular with visitors.

The display is titled ‘Logo Plaza’ and includes his favourites from television channels and computer games and his favourite drink.

“Perhaps a budding career in graphic design beckons,” said librarian Richard Forrest. “The display is proving popular with visiting school classes, and as a token of reciprocation the library presented Ewan with a copy of Julius Wiedemann’s genre classic Logo Design.”

Coming up at the library is chair yoga for adults on November 27; imagination station for children on November 30; One Book, One Community for schools on December 4; a Christmas music box for adults on December 18, and Christmas storytime and a Santa visit on December 20.

Lighting issue in Corrib Lawn

An electrical fault in Corrib Lawn in Mayfield is causing issues with lighting in the area, with a local TD assuring that he has raised the problem with the council.

“I’ve reported it to the council numerous times and they have come up and fixed it but these fixes are only temporary,” said Cork North Central TD Thomas Gould.

“They need to get an engineer up and undertake the necessary works as the dark evenings are proving very worrying for residents.

“One resident today told me that she dreads 5pm as the estate is often plunged into total darkness. I’ve raised this with the council again."

Scoil na nÓg open day

Scoil na nÓg in Glanmire village is to host an open day next week for parents of potential students.

Attendees will get a glimpse into life at Scoil na nÓg, meeting pupils and teachers as well as getting to see the classrooms and grounds and learning about what the school has to offer in academics, arts, sports, and extracurricular activities. The open day will be held on Thursday, November 28, from 3pm to 5pm at Scoil na nÓg, Glanmire village, T45RW94.

Road safety measures

Cork City Council has voted to agree to carry out road safety improvement measures at St Luke’s National School, Mahony’s Avenue, Montenotte as part of the Safe Routes to School programme.

The work includes decommissioning of the existing left slip lane from Glanmire Rd Middle to Summerhill North by use of planters/pencil bollards, the reallocation of existing on-street parking to the left side of the carriageway on Mahony’s Avenue, and the introduction of a one-way traffic system.

It will also include new signage, a raised table pelican crossing on Summerhill North, raised table uncontrolled crossing at Mahony’s Avenue North, widening of the existing footpath from the front of the school, and a raised table zebra crossing on Wellington Rd.

Local councillors Joe Kavanagh, Oliver Moran, and John Maher proposed reviewing the changes in a few months.

Have Mayfield news to share? Contact amy.campbell@theecho.ie