Within just five short years St Laurence O’Toole’s National School in Dublin has gone from nearly entirely white to “utterly diverse”.
Located in the north inner city, Principal Mark Candon told Henry McKean for The Pat Kenny Show that the school has an “interesting” story to it.
“We’re the senior boys’ school in the North Wall area,” he said.
“That’s Sheriff Street [nearby].”
Mr Candon has been the school’s principal for well over two decades and has seen a huge amount of change over the years.
But nothing quite compares to the change he’s seen since just before the pandemic.
“What I used to say basically, ‘If you’re not from Sheriff Street or your Ma’s not from Sheriff Street or your Granny’s not from Sheriff Street, you won’t be going to school in Sheriff Street - you’ll go somewhere else,’” he recalled.
“So, really we remained in the inner city, the most monochrome white Irish school.
“We were nearly the last to change.”
'They remind me of the Italians '
The change started in 2019 when a large number of Roma kids arrived.
When a handful joined the school, word spread in the community and more and more parents wanted to send their children to St Laurence’s.
“They remind me of the Italians who came years ago to open chips shops in Ireland,” Mr Candon said.
“The Italians who came all came from one small part of southern Italy, south of Naples, and many were related.”
He feels the arrival of Ukrainians has added “another fantastic layer of diversity” to the school and the kids in the playground can speak a dozen languages between them.
Kids in Irish schools are more bilingual than ever with Romanian, Ukrainian, Afrikans & Zula being heard in the classroom. Translating for parents & picking up English within a year. Switching between languages improves attention memory & problem solving. @PatKennyNT @NewstalkFM pic.twitter.com/2ELSsZNPoz
— Henry McKean (@HenryMcKean) January 23, 2024
Support teacher Declan Lally said some of the children have not had an easy life but still enthusiastic about their education.
“The kids in this school are children that have come in from all sorts of different backgrounds,” he said.
“From wartorn countries or simply their parents have moved to Ireland to look for a better life for their children.
“They show up every day and they try their best despite living in sometimes difficult conditions.”
Language learning
Studies have found that children who speak more than one language have better cognitive development than their monolingual peers.
It means that on average they score better results in a range of subjects from maths to literacy.
All of which is good news for the children of St Laurence’s where speaking more than one language is far from unusual.
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Main image: Principal Mark Candon. 23/01/2024. Image: Newstalk.
