Kildare school with 30 nationalities welcomes new crop of pupils

Just days after the class of 2023 got their Leaving Cert results, future members of the class of 2037 took their first steps into academia at Leixlip’s Educate Together National School in Co Kildare.

Some 27 children marked their first day of primary school, starting what is typically a 14-year cycle from junior infants to the big bad world.

“There were definitely a few nerves this morning. I was a bit emotional. She’s our eldest so it was a big day, whereas my husband was trying to downplay it,” said Ruth Geoghegan, whose daughter Ava was evidently very happy with how it went.

“Although Ava wouldn’t eat her breakfast, she kept saying she was full which isn’t like her at all. But we had a very pleasant surprise when we got into school this morning because when we arrived at the class she told us we could go, and it seems like she’s really enjoyed her first day too.”

Celina Campbell, mother of Zoey Murtagh, said there were “a few tears” prior to arriving at school on Monday morning. “There were the usual nerves … but once she was in the classroom and everything was okay, I was a bit more relaxed about the whole thing.”

Teachers helped to keep the atmosphere light and whooshed parents away relatively quickly at drop-off as “it makes it easier for both parties”, one experienced hand explained.

According to its principal Mary McDowell, the school will this year have more than 140 students, with in excess of 30 nationalities and languages represented.

The school itself was founded as recently as 2019, with just 11 pupils attending its junior infants class that year. However, thanks to the presence of global technology firm Intel, located just a stone’s throw away from the school’s entrance, alongside a housing boom in the commuter town, Leixlip’s Educate Together has undergone a period of rapid expansion.

“It’s been difficult to manage the growth. The Department of Education doesn’t plan for growth this quickly. So, we have outgrown our current premises and are working out of a split campus for the start of the new school year until our new building is ready,” said Ms McDowell.

The costly process of starting, or going back to, school was lessened this year by a new Government initiative, the Free Primary School Books scheme. At a cost of €54 million, the Coalition agreed in March of this year that it would provide a €96 grant per child for the purchasing of primary schoolbooks to parents.

“The new Government scheme is great, it really was a big help,” said Ms Geoghegan. “We got all the books and stationery for virtually nothing so it made preparing for primary school even more seamless.”