School Daze: School so far is normal says seven-year-old Cillian

AgriKids ambassador Cillian Murphy wants to make classmates aware of dangers on farms now he has returned to school

Cillian Murphy is an ambassador for Agrikids.

I’m seven years old and I am a primary school pupil in Newport National School in County Mayo. 

Our school has classes from junior infants to sixth class as well as a special unit for explorer classes. Our principal is Bríd Chambers who works along with eighteen teaching staff, nine special needs assistants and our secretary Fiona.

I wasn’t happy at first when I thought about going back to school because I really enjoyed my time at home being home-schooled. During lockdown we had had a class app called Class Dojo and our teacher Ms Noonan helped out so much with our work doing videos and keeping up with our work.

This year I’m in first class so it’s a big jump from juniors. My new teacher is Ms Crowley and she is nice. Before we returned, our school sent us a lovely video to watch all about what school would be like this year. 

We are teaming up with the @irishexaminer as part of #IEAgriMonth! Free #FarmSafety webinar for classrooms and home & a great competition for some lucky viewers!! Start the #FarmSafe conversation today! Link below!
📽️👉https://t.co/41QSESVbjP
Supported by @FlogasIreland @fbd_ie pic.twitter.com/S24xcqDAGK

— AgriKids (@agrikid) September 3, 2020

Firstly, we all sanitise our hands before we enter the school and our classroom. Our classroom is kept the same - we sit in our group of four or five per table and we have a timetable now for playtime at the yard. The teachers now wear visors but everything so far seems normal for us.

During lockdown, my teacher had a Zoom party for us. This was great because I got to see most of my friends on screen and we all chatted. I have lots of good friends in my school and class. I like to chat with my friends about farming and tractors and animals. 

I love living in the countryside.

Cillian Murphy is an ambassador for Agrikids

My favourite subjects at school are reading and maths. These are great because I can use my maths to help out my Dad on the farm counting sheep and I can read tag numbers on our animals. At school, I like to take part in all activities. So far this year I like all subjects, so that’s good news!

When I grow up I want to be a part-time farmer that also has another job. I would like to be a safety officer so that I could help to make adults and children aware of farm safety and how to stay safe on the farm every day. 

If I don’t become a safety officer, maybe I’ll be an auctioneer. I love going to the marts or watching them online I even have my own toy mart. I will have to keep up the good work at school if I want to do these things when I’m a grown up.

I live at home with my Dad, my Mum and my little sister Aoife who is three. We are lucky to live in a beautiful area along the Wild Atlantic Way. 

Both my Dad and Mum come from farming backgrounds so talking about sheep and cows at breakfast, dinner, teatime and bedtime is normal in our house. I have a pet pygmy goat called Ollie, and he is full of mischief. Then there are Floss and Bess, our sheepdogs.

We have sheep and cattle on our farm. We farm Mountain Ewes on hills (Commonage) as well as lowland and islands where we also keep some Cheviot sheep. My favourite sheep that we have are called Zwartable sheep. I have a pet sheep called Chop Chops.

We keep suckler cows so I like springtime when new calves arrive. It’s a busy time on the farm. We all help out on the farm, even Aoife who is just three, likes to gather the eggs. My favourite thing is to feed the sheep. I like that we can all help out.

This year we took part in an Agri Aware challenge online where we grew vegetables at home. This was fun because we learned lots and took part in all the challenges and now we are enjoying our potatoes and vegetables at dinnertime.

Something I have a huge Interest is farm safety. My Mum and Dad always taught us about the dangers and what we can do to stay safe every time we are on the farm. I love to play with my farm toys and fields. 

I have them all set up just like how I like to farm in a safe way. I have lots of examples of how to stay safe on my farm and I get to practice this then when I’m on the farm.

There are so many dangers on the farm so everybody should be so careful. The minute my wellies go on so does my thinking cap. 

Agri kids online have lots of brilliant video clips and games online to make us aware of dangers and how to stay safe. It’s important that we learn about being safe on the farm at all ages because it could save our life or someone else’s life one day.

AgriKids is a farm safety educational platform with the ethos to engage, educate and empower children to be farm safety ambassadors. www.agrikids.ie