The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
CLONDRINAGH National School senior infants and second-class teacher, Ailish O’Neill had her father, John, sitting in her class recently. Both are past pupils of the school, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last weekend.
“When we heard that The Clare Champion was coming out for the photos, we said why not try and get a few past pupils in? When the school opened, Dad would have been in fifth class. He moved up from the old school in Pitfield, which is just down the road,” Ailish explained.
Although her father was only in class for a short period, Ailish was reasonably content with how he behaved.
“He was an A pupil. He was eagerly sitting in the front desk and nobody distracted him. He was very good,” she laughed.
She was confident that if John had been in class for longer than a few minutes, he would have continued to excel.
“I think he would have been. He was a great little boy,” she joked.
Ailish has just finished college and this is her first teaching post. She received her primary education in the school.
“I started here in 1995 and I was here until 2003. I’m covering now for a career break. It’s my first year out of college and I was lucky enough to get it. I’m there until June so I’m back into my old classroom,” Ailish said.
She feels small rural schools offer pupils more teaching time, than they might have in more populated settings.
“It’s in a wonderful rural area. We have two mainstream teachers; Dermot O’Gorman, who is the principal, and myself. We have learning support teachers, resource teachers and we have a classroom assistant. There was an extension built in 2008. We have a PE hall, a resource room and interactive white boards in both classrooms. I know from teaching practice that the country schools are in a league of their own,” Ailish concluded.
