The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Closure opens new chapter in Oakville's history book Continued from page 11 13 · Thursday, June 24, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com added, referring to families that helped form Oakville -- many whose names are on local streets or who wore the mayor's chain of office. When one steps into the school its immediately evident the building was constructed in a different era. It is sits on a small area and has two floors. Hallways are narrow and the walls have wooden trim in places. "Brantwood is really unique because everything in Oakville seems to have changed, but I can't think of one thing at Brantwood that changed from when I was there to today," said Dan Bradley, an alumni of the school who has two children attending Brantwood now. "I think it's the ideal community school." Bradley attended Brantwood for only one year because he was moved to New Central to a gifted program, but he does have some memories of the school. "It was a lot of fun," he said. "I do remember just certain members of the staff, the librarian and the custodian being really friendly, just being really understanding, good humoured people. There were a lot of teachers from the area." He added the teachers his own children have had have also been exceptional. His son is in Grade 2 and his daughter is in Grade 3. "It was a really great school for me to have gone to and it's been a great experience for my kids to go to a school that is fashioned in another time," he said, adding Brantwood is such a great school likely because of community involvement. PHOTOS BY JAMES HOGGETT / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER CLOSING FOR GOOD: Brantwood Public School will close this month after 90 years. As Brantwood Public School held an open house before closing, at left, (from left to right) current vice principal Louanne Henderson, Fern Tinney (teacher 1967-68), in front and Elizabeth Smith (teacher 1975-79), Jenny Panda (teacher 1970-76) and George Cizmar (teacher 1975-82) in back. At right, 92 year-old Archie Izatt (back row) who attended the school from 1924-28 stands with current students (left to right) Anna Bremermann (10) Andrew Bourque (9) and Bailey Fenton (10). "I think Brantwood attracts a certain type of teacher because there is strong support from the parents and the community for the school," he said. The school has various traditions as well. For nearly a quarter century the school has been holding a Country Fair near the end of the school year, which attracts students as well as other children from the neighbourhood and their parents. "It's very much focused on the children," Henderson said. "It's old-fashioned, hands-on fun activities for kids." The school has about 115 pupils these days and many of the families know each other. "I know if I'm going to be late getting to the schoolyard, I know I've got at least 10 moms in the schoolyard who will watch out for my daughter," said McKenzie, who has children at the school. "That's what it's like." She added, "We've got second and third generation kids who've gone through this school." In its early days the school had somewhere between 20 to 30 students and the number of pupils have reached as high as several hundred at one point. The school was also surrounded by fields and a forest in its early years and at the time the teachers themselves lived in the community. "One of the families that lives here, their aunt used to ride a pony down to school," McKenzie said. "She's got a picture in the front with her pony tied up to one of the trees out there." The school does various charitable fundraisers; it does a Mitten Tree program at Christmas and Sleeping Children Around the World, which raises money for bed kits for children in underdeveloped nations. A teacher at the school also took down school supplies the children raised to a school in the Dominican Republic. The school also does other programs such as Terry Fox Run, Jump Rope for Heart and others. The school also took part in the Town of Oakville's 150th anniversary and brought some of its own artifacts to the celebration.