With four young children, GAA playing and coaching commitments and a new job as principal of Heywood Community School, Eamon Jackman has a packed diary.
Growing up on a farm in Ballinakill, close to the Kilkenny border, in Barna, out the Castlecomer road, instilled a strong work ethic. He will bring all his multi-tasking skills to his new role on home territory.
“Having worked in schools outside of Laois for the past 20 years, I am looking forward to working with students and families in the area,” he said.
Eamon attended a small primary school near his home, just across the border in Kilkenny, Firoda NS, and then went to secondary school in Castlecomer Community School.
“After finishing school in 2001, I attended Maynooth University to study a joint honours degree in economics and geography.
“I followed this by completing my higher diploma in education in 2005 in Maynooth while teaching in CBS Carlow for the year,” he said.
The Ballinakill man then spent eight years teaching in Clongowes Wood College S.J. from 2006 to 2014. After building a house on the family farm, he relocated to Colaiste Eamánn Ris in Callan for three years.
“I spent the final two years as deputy principal working alongside renowned Laois man Bro. Damien Brennan (RIP) as principal. This was a brilliant experience to learn from a person of such moral standing and also so student-centred for students of all backgrounds,” he said.
Since September 2017, he has been deputy principal in Loreto Secondary School, Kilkenny, alongside Colm Keher as principal.
“This has been an excellent experience working as part of the leadership team at a very busy and varied school of over 1050 students.
“It also coincided with the Covid pandemic which brought so many unique challenges and also the wellbeing issues which have ensued in schools since the return, with our young people,” Eamon said.
As he forged his career, Eamon continued his involvement in GAA.
“A large part of my life is the GAA and I have been actively involved at all levels for the past 35 years. I have represented Laois at all levels including senior inter-county.
“I also played hurling with Ballinakill and Gaelic football with Spink all my life and continue to line out with both junior teams. I will hopefully play games this week with both teams, all going well,” he said.
“I am very passionate about the role the GAA plays in rural communities as an outlet for people and particularly our young people to come together. It also gives a real sense of identity to people and pride in their local area.”
In the past decade he has been heavily involved in coaching. “I spent a number of years working with Laois minor hurlers alongside Pat Critchley and Seamus Plunkett and last year was part of William Maher’s management team with Laois senior hurlers.
“It is a great outlet to have outside of what can be at times an overwhelming busy environment in modern school life. I am very lucky my wife MaireClaire has been so supportive to allow me to be involved in coaching at this level with the hectic time commitment,” said Eamon.
“On a local level, I have been working in the background for the past five years as part of the newly formed juvenile arrangement between Ballinakill and Ballypickas GAA clubs.
“This has been a huge success in the area whereby local children get to play hurling in their local community rather than have to find clubs elsewhere for juvenile hurling which was happening in both clubs due to the challenging demographics of rural Ireland today.
“I believe it has had a transformative effect on the area for families with certainty of continuity for their children.”
A stint at Clongowes, renowned for rugby, provided Eamon with an insight into what is generally regarded as a rarefied world.
“Clongowes was a very unique experience as it is a very different school environment. It is one of the last remaining seven-day boarding schools for boys in the country.
“As an inexperienced teacher, it exposed me to all aspects of education. Students had school as normal each day until 3.45pm but outside of the classroom, I was involved in all areas of their lives such as study, dorm supervision, weekend excursions and rugby,” Eamon said.
“As families were entrusting the school with their sons for up to four weeks at a time, you also had to support the students with any concerns or friendship issues that arose periodically.
“There was a very intangible unique bond between school staff and students that is created from this 24/7 environment. It was a very busy but enjoyable time in my career.”
The change to Colaiste Eamánn Ris in Callan was very different in moving to a traditional day school. “I must say I did not miss having to teach on Saturday mornings.
“It was fantastic to get back involved coaching some hurling in the school also after having to cross over to rugby when in Clongowes. I was very lucky to encounter Bro. Damien here as principal, who definitely broadened my perspective of education and the critical areas of leadership in education.
“We also worked very hard in forging links with St. Brigid’s College in the town which resulted in the two schools amalgamating this year to form the newly established co-education school, Colaiste Abhainn Rí, opening this year.
“It was also a great opportunity to support young students who had a vast variety of ambitions post school that I possibly was not exposed to prior to Callan,” Eamon said.
Picture: Alf Harvey.
“Moving to Loreto was a change in so far as I had always been in all boy schools prior to that. With over 1050 students it was incredibly busy on a daily basis which I really enjoyed.
“Due to Covid, as school leaders we were attempting to manage school life as normal as possible to keep teaching and learning occurring but also balancing the emotional turmoil that families were experiencing.
“The aftermath of isolation and school closures is only being seen now in many situations. Year-heads, tutors and teachers are tackling this today on a daily basis in all schools.
“Chaplains and guidance counsellors have really met this challenge head-on to support families in the past three years,” he said.
“I have always been very impressed with the standing Heywood has been held in around home. It has an incredibly long tradition of supporting young people to reach their full potential and also providing them with the necessary skills in whatever area of life they hope to pursue after school.
“I am very excited about the challenge ahead on a personal level but realise it is a big responsibility to lead a school of Heywood’s standing. Families have entrusted the school with their children for many years.
“Deputy principals Peter Malone and Mary Harrington and I hope to make sure that their children can have a very happy and productive time in school.
“Being an adolescent in 2023 has many complexities with academic expectation, the impact of social media and the growing area of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with its impact on education and searching for belonging. We look forward to helping them navigate these areas and all other challenges they experience,” Eamon said.
“I have been a long-time admirer of the variety and quality of education that has been provided in south Laois and north Kilkenny.
“The school has been performing at a very high level in any metric used to quantify the performance of a school. From speaking with staff, students and parents in the last few months, it is the school spirit and culture that is visible on a daily basis that I am looking forward to experiencing.
“I hope to continue that long standing culture that Phil cultivated on a daily basis.
“I am very lucky to be working with two very experienced deputy principals in Peter Malone and Mary Harrington who I will be turning to very frequently in the coming year for their expertise in many areas.
“Phil Bowe has left an incredible legacy in the school and region as principal. He has devoted his time to the school and the students over many years by his steady and forward thinking leadership.
“I hope to attempt to continue this as best I can in conjunction with Peter and Mary.”
He is in favour of co-education. “Almost all of our feeder schools are co-educational. Students will also graduate to the world of work or college where they will be in the same environment.
“As a co-ed school, we are well placed to prepare our students socially for the outside world and support them as they navigate through their teenage years.”
At a time when many struggle to find third level courses that engage them, Eamon contended that retention rates at university in first year have always been difficult with the current structure of the CAO points system.
“Many students feel compelled to follow paths that possibly may not be suitable to their interests or may not be completely aware of the specifics of the course content. Heywood has always had a tradition of encouraging students to follow the career path that is best suited to them.
“With good guidance and a culture within schools that students can see beyond the current all-consuming points race, they can possibly find their most suitable career path,” he said.
“This is a challenge but we are witnessing the commencement of this with Simon Harris in his current role and desire to expand the apprenticeship programme around the country.
“This is very much a step in the right direction but must be combined with a changing narrative from society particularly around Leaving Certificate exam time, results release day and announcement of CAO points in the following week.
“The recent moves to have many subjects with a project aspect is very welcomed but that now is under pressure with the coming on stream of Chat GPT.
“While we have embedded junior cycle reform in the past decade, we do have a large disconnect between that and the traditional Leaving Certificate,” Eamon said.
“Our students are learning and analysing information for the junior cycle in a particular way but then for the final two years are returning to a system that is incredibly traditional.
“A consultation process is well commenced to get a new Leaving Certificate programme that is more suitable for education at this time.
“The mood music is positive from all stakeholders involved that they wish for change, so I am hopeful that in the coming few years we can see transformational change of which all involved are fully supportive.”
Home life for Eamon and MaireClaire who is originally from Donegal, and teaches in Gaelscoil Phortlaoise, is full on. “We have four children: Eoghan (8); Anna (6); Danny (4) and Róise (18 months).
“So I have a very busy household at the moment,” he laughed.
So what about downtime? “I hope to spend a week in Donegal with MaireClaire’s family to recharge before we start in August.
“I will also be busy for the next few weeks with coaching my children’s GAA teams in Ballinakill-Ballypickas and Spink. I hope to get to some local GAA games too as championships begin and the upcoming All-Ireland hurling final too.
“The start of every school year in August is always extremely busy with so many moving parts and I am looking forward to pouring my energy into the role fully.
“I am very excited about the upcoming opening term and meeting all our new first year students and parents who, like myself, are starting an exciting journey in Heywood.”
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