Greendale - death of a school

Greendale Community School in north Dublin is dying on its feet. With places for 800, only 160 pupils remain. So why has the Kilbarrack school seen such a sharp decline and is selling off the school's lands for development a short-sighted mistake?

The leafy grounds of Greendale Community School in north Dublin are hushed, apart from the rumble of the nearby Dart train. The basketball court is empty. Inside, 160 students rattle around in a building designed for 800. Greendale Community School is dying.

After 31 years the school, made famous by its former English and geography teacher Roddy Doyle, is closing down. If the fictional Barrytown is Kilbarrack, then Greendale is the school that features in Doyle's Booker prize winner, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha in 1993.

What force can bring down a school of this size? Demographic change? That's the simple answer, but it doesn't tell the whole story, says Anton Carroll, whose principleship here is as old as the school itself. Student numbers are falling all over the country, and particularly in north Dublin, but some schools are taking a heavier hit than others.

Greendale Community School was established in 1974 to accommodate the hundreds of families moving into new housing estates in Kilbarrack. The school was designed to accommodate 800 students, and routinely turned away 150 excess applicants throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. Over the course of the last 20 years enrolments have been decimated by shifting demographics in the area - all five schools in the immediate locale are running at 60 per cent capacity or less. There are 14 second-level schools in the wider area, offering 9,000 places to 6,000 students.

Any one of these schools could, in theory, be in line for closure, but despite excellent facilities, 1,400 adult night students and new housing developments planned for the area, Greendale is the one to go.

Carroll suspects that Greendale is, in part, a victim of its own values. "We are proud of the school's inclusive ethos - it is not shared by every Dublin school. We look after everyone here - the bright and the behaviourally difficult. In short; the community we represent. We don't sideline people because of appearance - we recognise and respect the culture we are operating in. It's easy for schools to top league tables if they will only accept the brightest and the best. Schools like that make it more difficult for those of us with an inclusive ethos because they take all the high performers and leave the rest to us."

The result of this, says Carroll, is the gradual lowering of all boats. "In the 1980s about 30 per cent of our students went on to third level. Now that has dropped to about 10 per cent. As enrolment declines in all the schools around the area, certain schools canvass for the brighter students. The critical mass of bright students is declining and they are clustering in certain schools. A culture of motivation is created in those schools - the exact opposite happens in schools like ours that are prepared to take on students of all abilities."

Dying schools lose more than students. Talented teachers, too, can go elsewhere, leaving schools like Greendale without expertise in key subjects. There are system-wide shortages of teachers qualified in certain subjects such as physics and Irish, but schools such as Greendale, which are in supernumerary positions, having fewer students than places, cannot take on new permanent staff when existing staff leave, by order of the Department of Education and Science. The result - declining schools have to shed key non-elective subjects making them even less attractive to potential students.

"We have worked hard to get parents involved here and to foster a positive disposition to education in this community," says Carroll. "I remember one family of five children who went through this school all have PhDs now. Greendale has delivered social upward mobility for many."

The brain drain to certain schools leaves places such as Greendale floundering, but those schools that rank high on league tables will never serve the less able students, Carroll maintains, and especially where those students come from poor backgrounds.

Students in high-performing schools are scaffolded by multiple supports. As well as having the resources both at school and at home, they reside in a culture of ambition where the peer group sets the agenda of commitment. "Where students are not performing the parents are advised to get extra help in the way of grinds. If I said that to a parent in Kilbarrack it would be lunacy," says Carroll.

From 800 students in 1974, Greendale's numbers have dwindled to just 160. It's hard to see a justification for keeping it open, and yet one can't help but feel that the school will leave a bigger hole in the community than the figures might suggest.

However, the land on which the school sits is potentially valuable for development, and Carroll believes that this may be factor in the closure. "Greendale is a four-and-a-half acre site right next to the Kilbarrack Dart station, a 10-minute train ride from the city centre. Despite Roddy Doyle's fictional representations of the area, Kilbarrack is a civilised and decent place and residential property in the area is attractive. No doubt 300 apartments will be built on this site and then they'll need a new school!" jokes Carroll.

The local people are not laughing though. Despite public protests last year and continuing efforts to halt the closure, the opinion of the community has been ignored. It's not just the loss of the secondary school that stings, it's all the corollary services - the adult education centre, the excellent sports facilities and the community group meeting rooms.

The teachers of Greendale are in a tough position, too. The older ones may jump at the chance of early retirement, but those who don't may have trouble getting appropriate placements in an area where every school is in a supernumerary situation.

"They'll all get jobs - the Department guarantees security. But whether they get jobs of equivalent seniority? That remains to be seen," Carroll says.

"There's no doubt that the number of available students has fallen dramatically, but the oversupply of places has also been driven by politically expedient decision-making. Lots of school building around the country has taken place in response to political pressure rather than real need," he adds.

Carroll laments the closure of Greendale because he feels it is a reactionary move that is symptomatic of a piecemeal approach to education provision in Ireland. The system, he says, is riddled with quick-fix solutions that store up problems for the future.

"There are 2,500 new homes planned within two miles of Greendale, but instead of bringing the children here, they will build another school down the road. Rather than allowing schools to fall like ripened fruit off the branch, we need a substantial review of the educational needs of the area. This closure is proceeding without all the implications for the community being adequately planned for. Where, for example, will the 1,500 night students go?

"I've been principal here for the entire life-cycle of this school. I'm sad that a developer is coming to knock it down. I have no doubt that a new school will be needed in time. The cycle of quick fixes and ad hockery goes on."

Schools Out - Forever

The number of schools around the State has been in steady decline for the last decade, due to closures and amalgamations.

Three Dublin post-primary schools, including Greendale, are currently winding up operations.

In Malahide, Belcamp College is closing its doors in 2009. A spokesperson for the school said that the area is "overschooled" and that last year the Oblate Fathers (trustees of Belcamp) decided to accept an offer of €105 million for the zoned 208-acre Belcamp College site.

Presentation College Glasthule is set to close due to falling students numbers in the area. The last students will graduate in 2007.

Since 1994 the number of post-primary schools has fallen by 39, to 743.

Since 1994 the number of primary schools in the Republic has also fallen by 39, to 3,278.

There have been 56 secondary school closures (schools run by religious orders). One vocational school has closed while the number of community and comprehensive schools has risen by 17.

The number of secondary students has fallen from 367,645 in 1994 to 337,851 in 2004.

The number of primary students has fallen from 505,883 in 1994 to 446,029 in 2004.