‘It’s hard to get them going if they haven’t had a good sleep’

SEAN HOURIHANE sees the symptoms and effects of educational disadvantage every day.

As principal of St Aidan’s National School in Tallaght, he knows what it is like to have children coming into classes poorly clothed and fed. While most children at the school are doing well, up to one in 10 of the 300 pupils have difficulties of some kind.

“There would be around 5% to 10% who don’t have uniforms, a smaller number who come in hungry, and the same number again who are absent from school a lot for various reasons,” said Sean.

“It’s not just mitching, they are often being kept at home minding younger brothers and sisters,” he said.

While 90% of the pupils present themselves well on a daily basis, the level of disadvantage is higher than in most Irish schools.

Two groups of 10 take part in half- hour morning clubs every day, giving them a chance to develop their communication skills and have a good breakfast. Circumstances are varied but many are from low-income homes. “The focus is on developing friendship and communication skills, they don’t want to be perceived as poor and I wouldn’t like them to be categorised as that,” said Sean.

At least a dozen children come into schools like this hungry every morning and staff can see the effects it has on them.

“It’s hard to get them going if they haven’t had a good night’s sleep or if they haven’t eaten properly,” he says.

For those who are doing well, very often against the odds, there are also incentives and rewards. Some of the top pupils have extra classes and are also involved in a link-up with UCD.

Sean estimates a third of his pupils have some contact with professionals like speech and language therapists, social workers and other services.

He acknowledges a huge amount of work has been done to redress the disadvantage problems, such as government programmes like Breaking the Cycle and the School Completion Programme. Things are certainly better than they were five years ago, but you’ll always have room to do more,” he says.