As Dunamase College closed the doors on its first academic year, school principal Aoife Elster reflected on the many achievements of the school in its ground-breaking first year of existence.
It certainly is a very rare situation for a brand new school to start from scratch, and it is a challenge which the school community – staff, pupils and parents have all enjoyed.
“It is the first brand new school in the county for probably 100 years. It is very exciting,” she said.
The school is the first of its kind in the region to offer learning through two mediums – Irish and English.
With just 38 first year students attending the school this year, it meant the staff and pupils got to know each other really well.
It also meant that the pupils were really pioneers for the new school. “It gave them an ambassadorial and leadership role. They were very good at talking to primary schools about how they got on,” Ms Elster said.
The school will be based at the former VEC site for the next year, but with numbers due to increase, it will eventually prove inadequate in size for the students numbers.
“This building will be okay for two years,” the principal said. She added that they do not have much room on campus but are lucky to be able to use the nearby Dunamaise Theatre and Portlaoise Leisure Centre during the day for various activities.
The Department of Education and Science will be looking to secure a permanent site for the school, for the long term.
Looking back over the year, Ms Elster expressed satisfaction at how they met the challenge of providing a wide choice of 22 subjects. “Our teachers had to be very flexible and motivated,” she said.
Another benefit for the school was excellent broadband which facilitated IT and online learning. All the students at the school use iPad tablets.
“We had great support from the parents council, the board of management and also set up a new student council,” Ms Elster said. She said they have also received great support from Laois Offaly ETB and An Foras Pátrúnachta – the patron of Irish-medium schools in Ireland.
Despite the school only being a fledgling one, there are already a number of achievements to look back on. They recently achieved an amber flag positive mental health award, with the flagpoles about to be put in place.
Another highlight is the school’s participation in the digital excellence programme in match, for which it is the lead school for nine schools, across three counties.
An early and obvious highlight for the school was the official opening which took place on September 15.
The school has also embraced several new activities including fencing, for which the school recently won a shield at the first Ireland Inter Schools event. An outing to the Slieve Bloom trail is also set to become an annual event.
After an eventual first school academic year, it closed on Friday with an awards ceremony. Exams were held earlier in the week while a sports day and trip to the cinema allowed them all to unwind.
Development
“It was great to see the development of the students throughout the year. It was great to see it all come together,” Ms Elster said.
Certainly, once the school reaches its target of being a 1000-student school by 2024, the first academic year will be looked back on as a both a quaint and pioneering one.
SEE ALSO – WATCH: Historic day as Dunamase College is officially opened
