A new school conquering old problems [IrishTimes]
- Published: 15 February 2011
PROFILE: TRINITY COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL, BALLYMUN, DUBLIN: In 2008, Department of Education inspectors delivered a harsh report on Trinity Comprehensive. But, despite the bad press and the education cutbacks, the school is fighting back writes JOANNE HUNT
A GIRL ON horseback stands sentinel outside Trinity Comprehensive School in Ballymun. In a bronze tracksuit with Velcro-fastened runners, she’s a former pupil here. Misneach, (courage, in Irish) is the name of this striking sculpture. After a bleak evaluation report by Department of Education inspectors in 2008, courage is exactly what her teachers and fellow pupils have shown.
In April 2008, the inspectors reported “a worsening downward spiral”. Citing “a climate of indiscipline,” the report pointed to absenteeism, lateness and disruption of classes by students, as well as absenteeism and poor morale amongst teachers.
For Fiona Gallagher, the current deputy principal, the words still smart and confound. Coming to the school last September, new principal Pat O’Dowd says, “I just wouldn’t have recognised the school I joined from the inspector’s report.’’
Trinity Comprehensive was formed from the amalgamation of three schools built in the 1970s – a boys’ junior school and a girls’ junior school which shared a campus, and a senior co-ed school which was situated on a separate site. The consolidation brought into being Ballymun’s largest secondary school with 650 students drawn almost exclusively from the area – one of severe disadvantage.
Unlike the clean-sweep satisfaction that comes with flattening the tower blocks, symbols of both disadvantage and community for Ballymun, the process of amalgamation and true regeneration is a far lengthier one, as Trinity Comprehensive knows well.
Perhaps that’s why the timing of the report – just after the amalgamation – made no sense to them. While the paint on the walls was dry, the inspectors’ assessment as the new school was finding its feet felt like a low blow.Merging schools – with different leadership, differing rules and approaches to discipline – would always take time to bed down.
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