Stepping into the shade
Interview
Claire Egan THIS summer will be a season with a difference for Louis O’Malley. Once the textbooks are packed up, files locked away, desks dusted down and the last student ushered gently out into the heady summer air, he will cast a wistful glance and quietly close the door.
The end of an era is on the horizon for the Ballinrobe Community School principal who, in August, will bring the curtain down on a teaching career spanning 40 years – 17 of which were spent in his home town.
In 1990, Ballinrobe Community School opened its shiny new doors for the first time following the amalgamation of the Christian Brothers’ School, Convent of Mercy and the vocational school. A rising population in the south Mayo region, coupled with increased student numbers, led to the inevitable union.
His appointment as the school’s first principal brought the wheel full circle for Louis O’Malley. A native of the town, a past pupil of the local CBS – and now leader of the town’s latest educational establishment.
“Prior to coming to Ballinrobe I had spent over 15 years as school principal in Kiltimagh, where I also taught Business Studies, Accountancy and Maths. I lived in Swinford for over 20 years and my four children were born there. Coming back to Ballinrobe meant a return home. I suppose I never really thought about the fact that teachers who had previously taught me were now going to be colleagues,” reflected Louis last week.
He was quite literally ‘thrown in at the deep end’, with no time for sentiment or nostalgia. There was simply too much to be done to get ready for the school’s opening in September 1990. School budgets, department reviews, timetables, equipment, maintenance issues, health and safety inspections and a myriad of other issues all had to be resolved prior to the arrival of the 750-strong student body.
Since those early days the school has gone on to establish excellent academic and sporting reputations, the latter reflected particularly in the success of the school’s boys’ and girls’ Gaelic football teams, both of whom won All-Ireland titles, while the achievements of the students in basketball, athletics and soccer – a number of students have represented their country at international level – have also been notable. And then there has been the high quality of the school musical productions.
While the amiable Ballinrobe man acknowledges the excellent academic record of the school, including the exploits of an array of high-achieving pupils, he highlights the work of the school with a number of hearing-impaired students as one of his fondest personal memories.
“We enrolled five students who were profoundly deaf at the school, on the recommendation of a visiting teacher from the Irish deaf school. They enrolled here in First Year and completed their post primary education here. A signing teacher would sit in on each class and after school extra classes were provided. At the time the Department of Education refused to sanction extra resources for the provision of these teaching services and they would have preferred if we had let the students go to Dublin. However, if the students had done that they would not have had the same range of opportunities to interact. Co-incidentally, we received an award from the Department of Equality and Law Reform and we were also featured in a programme called Fair Share. I have to say there was a great sense of achievement in what we did and it would definitely stand out for me.
“On top of those achievements, there has been the success of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, which was also very satisfying,” he explained.
The importance of staff and parents working in tandem for the benefit of students is cited by him as the greatest contributory factor in the success of the school to date. It is those around him – parents, teachers and ancillary staff – rather than he who have made the school into the successful place of learning that it is, he said.
He was quick to elaborate on the complex challenges facing contemporary teachers, explaining that the days of chalk and talk are all but gone and that there is a greater onus on teachers now to move with the times. The student populace, he said, are far more ‘challenging’ than in previous generations and thus it is up to teachers to stimulate and motivate an expectant class with a range of technological aids.
“Children have become accustomed to using lots of technology, ranging from mobile phones to play stations, to the internet and computers. The biggest challenge facing teachers is to move with the times and keep students engaged in what is going on. They are motivated by modern technology at home and in school we have to try and do the same,” he commented.
Ballinrobe Community School has also faced many challenges and surmounted numerous obstacles in the 17 years since it first opened its doors. The untimely passing of valued colleagues and much-loved students united staff and students in grief, in what he described as the ‘undoubted lows’ of his tenure at the helm. But both he and the school always found the resolve to keep going.
Now though, the times really are about to change utterly for the school and its headmaster. In a few short months projected figures, timetables, budgets, wrangling with the Department of Education and mountains of administrative paperwork will become a thing of the past, as Ballinrobe Community School’s great constant departs the school scene.
The question of how to fill days that for four decades were ruled by the toll of a bell inevitably arises. Community organisations, GAA events and weekends spent with his young grandchildren all feature in his plans, while his hankering for new sights will also need to be satisfied.
“I intend to go travelling. I have always had a bit of the travelling bug. We have a mobile caravan home that has been all over Europe so I will take off again in it this summer with my wife Mary. After that I am not worried as to how to fill my days. I know that I will enter the workforce again, not in teaching but something different. It has always been in my nature to keep busy so I have no doubt that I will not find it hard to occupy my time,” concluded Louis.
