{"id":659563,"date":"2026-08-27T16:55:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T16:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/659563\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T16:55:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T16:55:16","slug":"i-have-16-different-feelings-test-of-emotions-for-pupils-and-parents-as-school-starts-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/659563\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I have 16 different feelings\u2019: Test of emotions for pupils and parents as school starts \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a narrow footpath off Dublin<\/a>\u2019s Sandymount<\/a> Strand on Thursday, Angela Hawkins wielded a lollipop stop sign, patrolling morning traffic as she welcomed back the 300 or so pupils of Shellybanks Educate Together<\/a> National School.<\/p>\n

Though she fretted over forgetting one or two, Hawkins seemed to know every single child by name. Certainly, every pupil knew Angela. One boy came prepared, gifting the school warden a bouquet of roses. <\/p>\n

\u201cI really don\u2019t know how that happened,\u201d Hawkins \u2013 who has been stationed at Shellybanks for three years \u2013 says of her familiarity with the children.<\/p>\n

It is a landmark year for the school. In June, its new premises opened for business \u2013 a two-storey building equipped with brand new classrooms, a sports hall, library, sensory room and yard space. There are new, tailored facilities for three autism classes. It marks a big upgrade on the prefabs they had been occupying while the development was carried out. <\/p>\n

On the first floor, in Aisling Byrne\u2019s junior infants class, Liam Ryan and Della Kilroy accompanied their daughter Moya (5) as she embarked on the start of a 14-year journey through the Irish education system. She began the day by colouring in a sketch of Frozen\u2019s Elsa, which she presented proudly to her new teacher.<\/p>\n

\"AngelaAngela Hawkins at Shellybanks Educate Together National School. Photograph: Cian O’Connell \"LiamLiam Ryan and Della Kilroy with their daughter Moya (5) who started junior infants at Shellybanks on Thursday. Photo: Cian O’Connell <\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s really excited,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cWe\u2019re excited too. It\u2019s a new school, so it\u2019s a fresh start for everybody, but we\u2019ve been reading lots of books from the library about going to school and getting excited by the clothes she can wear and pick out herself.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were no eruptions of tears as parents filtered out of the junior infants class, many of them heading downstairs to a coffee morning in the sports hall. Byrne said that it can vary, but a preparatory play afternoon in May helped with this transition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not completely new to them,\u201d the teacher said. The first day goes fine \u201conce you have a nice inviting classroom and toys to play with\u201d. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018The Swiss Army knife of the school\u2019: Principals report burnout due to heavy workloadsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

A similar scene is playing out in schools across Ireland this week as the summer break ends. <\/p>\n

With its new facilities, however, Shellybanks has become a particularly desirable location for parents of young children in Sandymount. Principal Aiveen Carr said there are \u201clarge waiting lists\u201d.<\/p>\n

The addition of a third autism class this year is timely. A number of schools in the area run similar operations, but demand is high. With six pupils to an additional needs class at Shellybanks, one of the teachers suggested expanding to facilitate 18 children in total.<\/p>\n

\u201cDepending on the needs of the child and how comfortable they are, they will integrate,\u201d Carr said. \u201cThey have what\u2019s called a mainstream classroom. For some children, they will do the morning with their integrated class, and some children are not doing any integration yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the draws to Shellybanks and Educate Together for many parents is its diverse and multidenominational ethos.<\/p>\n

The Department of Education<\/a>\u2019s Primary School Survey, which was published in June, showed almost 41 per cent of parents with children either attending or enrolled to attend a denominational school would rather that school change to a multidenominational ethos.<\/p>\n

Families from a wide range of cultures send their children to Shellybanks. It was a key factor for Austin Rondema, whose children Frankie (7) and Julien (6) entered first class and senior infants respectively on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"AislingAisling Byrne’s junior infants class settling into life at Shellybanks Educate Together National School. Photograph: Cian O’Connell <\/p>\n

He said there was \u201cnormal nervousness\u201d but \u201coverriding excitement\u201d. Parents sometimes complain about an omerta adopted by their children around school activities \u2013 it can be difficult to gauge their thoughts or emotions around the place \u2013 but no such issues exist in the Rondema household.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe quote this morning, when I asked how they were feeling was, \u2018well, I have 16 different feelings\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Tommy Dal was glad his son David (8) was getting back into a routine. His family moved to Ireland from China several years ago and Tommy has been in Shellybanks since junior infants. They were delighted to find a school with such wide-ranging cultural representation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very easy to make friends,\u201d Dal said. \u201cIt\u2019s very inclusive. I think there are kids from 50 countries or so. When we were first coming here, we were scared that he might end up in a class that was all Irish, and he would feel very different, but here it feels like everyone [is welcome].\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a narrow footpath off Dublin\u2019s Sandymount Strand on Thursday, Angela Hawkins wielded a lollipop stop sign, patrolling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,13264,52,122665,18,19,17,39175],"class_list":["post-659563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-department-of-education","tag-dublin","tag-educate-together","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sandymount"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117168526373480787","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}