ATHY MODEL SCHOOL – OPENING IN 1852

 

 

THIS INSTITUTION, comprising a Male, and a Female School, and an Agricultural Departmant, will be opened under the superintendence of competent Teachers, on THURSDAY, the twelfth day of August.

The course of instruction in the Male and Female Schools will embrace all the usual branches of a sound English Education, and in the Agricultural Department the principles and practice of improved Husbandry.

The hours of attendance are to be from 10 till 3 o’clock, except on Saturdays, when the Schools will close at 12 o’clock.

Arrangements will be made in conformity with the General Regulations of the Commissioners, for the Religious Instruction of the pupils.

Parents will have to furnish their Children with the School requisites, and the Lesson Books required for their instruction : these will be obtained from the Resident Teacher, at the reduced prices at which they are supplied to the ordinary National Schools.

Parents who may be anxious for the admission of their Children, are requested to apply at the School on THURSDAY and FRIDAY, the 5th and 6th of AUGUST, between the hours of 11 and 3 o’clock, when they will be informed by the Inspector of the Board, of the several rates of payment, and the general conditions according to which the pupils willbe admitted.

 

 

The Athy District Model School will be opened on Thursday, the 12^th inst., by the Right Hon. Alexander Macdonnell, Resident Commissioner of National Education. Applications will be received at the School on Monday, the 9^th inst.

 

 

Last week the National Model School of Athy, in the County of Kildare, was formally opened by the Right Hon. Alexander Macdonnell, resident commissioner, and Mr. Kelly, one of the secretaries of the Board. An Agricultural School has been established in Athy, with amodel farm at­tached, under the direction of a most competent master, a native of Ulster, both schools forming one establishment, in connection with the National Board. It appears, however, that the R. C. Children of the district have altogether refrain(e)d from attending the model school, in consequence, it is stated, of the opposition of the clergy to schools of that description. This is the first hos­tile step, in regard to the national system, since the appointment of Dr. Cullen as Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin. It appears that the statutes of the Synod of Thurles disapproves of all schools of which the managers are not Roman Ca­tholics. Many of the common schools in connec­tion with the national board are under the management of Roman Catholic patrons, who have the power of appointing or dismissing the teachers. But the Board themselves, consisting of various religious denominations, have the direct control and management of the model schools, in which a superior class of education is given ; and as these schools come within the prohibition of the Synod of Thurles, the Roman Catholic children have not attended the new model school in Athy. Asimilar school was opened very recently in Galway, but no opposition was manifested from any quarter. There are also model schools on an ex­tensive scale in Dublin, Newry, Bailieborough, Clonmel, and other towns, at which Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Presbyterians attend, each receiving separate religious instruction, on stated days, from the pastors of their respective denomi­nations. The National Model and Agricultural School at Athy is upon the estate of the Duke of Leinster, who has given the site without rent, and his grace has in other respects afforded encourage­ment to the institution.

 

 Leinster Express articles from August 1852 on the opening of Athy Model School.

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