School History

In 1824 there were eight schools in the present parish of Closnaslee: Corbally, Clonaslee, Clonaslee Christian Doctrine, Clonaslee Protestant School, Brocca, Coolagh and Ballymacrory.

In 1828 Kilmanman became a separate parish from Reary and Rosenallis. Census returns for the parish of Kilmanman in 1831 gave a population of 3186. In 1841 the population of Kilmanman parish was 4567 and it had 787 houses.

In 1831 National Schools were established in Ireland as a result of a motion proposed by Daniel O'Connell. They didn't start in England until about 15 years later.

Clonaslee National School was founded in 1832 on Chapel St and it consisted of two rooms, - one for boys and one for girls. The "new" Clonaslee Girls' National School was opened in 1909 and some of the first girls to enter as infants that year were Lizzie Breslin, Kate Hennessey, Dora Westman, Kathleen Foynes, May Reddy and Lizzie Troy. The "new" Boys' National School was opened in the Townsland of Ballinakill in 1952.

The Boys' and Girls' Schools were amalgamated on the site of the Girls' NS in September 2000 under the new name Scoil Bhride, Cluain na Sli. Construction of the new building began in September 2006 and was fully completed in August 2007. Our new school is a state of the art building, fully equipped for the modern age. Designed by Peter Lyons, the school was built by local firm Carroll O'Keefe.

Ref: 1. History of Clonaslee, Clonaslee B.N.S. 1975

Ref: 2. Schools of Kildare and Leighlin Rev. M. Brennan 1935