No more pencils no more books, No more teacher's dirty looks yeah!
Out for summer, Out till fall, We might not come back at all
School's out forever, School's out for summer, School's out with fever, School's out completely!
"Alice Cooper 1972"
With the influx of settlers and their young families during the 1870s it was obvious that education was a primary concern to all. After approaches to the Minister of Justice and Education the department saw fit to purchase the Wild Horse Plains town allotment 52 in January 1882 for the purpose of erecting a teacher's residence and classroom to accommodate 40 pupils. Within weeks a tender for the sum of £477 was accepted to erect the building which was completed on 6 September 1882 and opened in November the same year.
Mr. Arthur Aitkin Wickstead, who served the school for five years, was the first teacher. Initially 13 pupils attended. During the 56 years the school functioned, the attendance varied from daily average of 14 to 16 pupils and up to 31. At its height some 66 pupils attended in one year.
With the lack of enrolments in 1888 it became a provisional school. This school, which also served Port Lorne, was under the watchful eye of the Dublin Board of Advice for many years.
In 1938 due to a lack of pupils the department considered it was uneconomical to maintain the school. Subsequently it was closed and pupils at this time continued their education at Long Plains. At a later date that year the school was sold off and has continued as a private residence.
Children that were educated there were educated mainly at Balaklava schools and taken there by bus.
To find the cache work out the final location by finding the following information on the plaque.
The Date the school was closed = AB / C / DEFG
The Date the school was sold = HI / JK / LMNO
S 34° (L+D) (H+B) . (M-K-A) (F+B) (M-F)' E 138° (C-G) (G-I) . (N-J) (G+I) (E+O-F)'
Checksum
South = 19
East = 30