‘They’re thriving’: Meet the Gaelscoil saved by Ukrainian pupils

The Atlantic Ocean provides the backdrop to learning for primary schoolchildren in Muighinis, Connemara. Scoil Cholmáin, in the heart of the Gaeltacht, is little more than a stone’s throw from the local beach, which often doubles up as an outdoor classroom.

Despite the idyllic setting and campaigns run by parents to attract families to the area, they have struggled to turn the tide on the numbers enrolled. At one point, Scoil Cholmáin, with just nine pupils, was in danger of becoming a single-teacher school.

However, a recent influx of nine Ukrainian students has doubled the school’s population and averted that danger. Like a rising tide that lifts all boats, the increased numbers have proven to be mutually beneficial.

Principal Róisín Ní Chualáin pre-empted the additional challenge the Irish language might present to the incoming students and co-ordinated a summer camp to help the new Ukrainian students.

TCD Students’ Union warns it will take ‘seriously damaging’ actions against university if fees increased

---

‘We’re moving with the times’: Private all-girls’ school in south Dublin to admit boys for first time

---

Anyone can teach anything in schools – just like they did a century ago

---

The camp, which ran three days a week for six weeks, also offered opportunities for the local students to meet their new classmates before the back-to-school formalities.

[ Ukrainians and Irish ‘understand each other because we have been through similar problems’ ]

“They were totally immersed in the Irish language, there was a qualified teacher here and a cuntóir teanga [language assistant] as well,” says Ní Chualáin.

The camp used the Aistear framework from the infant curriculum to teach the new pupils Irish through the medium of play.

“It made a massive difference for the start of the school year in September – all the kids were so excited, happy and familiar with the place,” says Ní Chualáin.

Along with introducing Ukrainian students to the Irish language, the camp also acted as a channel through which Ní Chualáin could maintain the standards expected of the school in relation to the Irish language at a time when half of the students enrolled are from Ukraine.

“We’re really proud that we have high standards, and we do our best to offer our fluent Irish speakers richness of language and for the beginner levels we have the resources there to offer them what they need,” says Ní Chualáin.

[ Integration of 13,000-plus Ukrainian children in Irish schools seen as a success story ]

The support of outside agencies has been key, she says. The camp was funded by Galway Rural Development and the Social Inclusion Community Activation Programme, as well as Pleanáil Teanga Chonamara Láir.

“We are so grateful to them for that funding, because the camp made a huge difference and a huge difference to the local children too because they all knew each other when they started school in September,” says Ní Chualáin.

Being part of the community is really essential, and language projects like this can open a door for those who want to reach out

—  Nadia Dobrianska, a Ukrainian and fluent Irish speaker

Another school project initiated by Galway Rural Development and Tuismitheorí na Gaeltachta to assist language learning and inclusion in Scoil Cholmáin was the creation of an Irish-Ukrainian colouring book.

The book, which has sound files attached using the voices of the students, has enabled schoolchildren and their parents to bypass English and directly translate some key words and phrases from Irish to Ukrainian, and vice versa.

Nadia Dobrianska, a Ukrainian who is also a fluent Irish speaker, was involved in the project. She rejects any suggestion that it is unnecessary for Ukrainians to learn Irish.

“I’m not buying that argument,” says Dobrianska. “Irish is the language of where they live... English is important, but you have to respect the place where you’re living.”

There is also a benefit to learning Irish that transcends the academic, in that it fosters a sense of belonging for Ukrainian families, she says.

“I know that Ukrainians in Ireland are overwhelmed with living in a foreign country. Some could be losing their families today, any day, any time,” says Dobrianska.

While having to learn Irish might be perceived as unnecessary on top of having to navigate life as a refugee, Dobrianska says the opposite is true.

Making the language accessible through projects such as the colouring book helps foster a comforting sense of community for the families. “Being part of the community is really essential, and language projects like this can open a door for those who want to reach out,” she adds.

[ ‘It’s like winning the lottery’: Relief as Government pledges financial support for Ukrainian college applicants ]

While the summer camp and colouring book project helped make the transition for Ukrainian students smoother, the context of the Gaeltacht school still presents additional challenges for the school principal, despite existing supports.

The school has been allocated access to a support teacher. However, the number of days the support teacher can work fluctuates depending on the number of Ukrainian students attending. The teacher, who had previously been reduced to two days, is currently employed three days of the week.

“What I need really is to be able to give her five days, regardless of the numbers that I have, and to keep those five days until at least the first term – then we’ll review it,” says Ní Chualáin.

A fixed level of support would benefit the learning of Ukrainian students while ensuring the island school can maintain the standards required of a Gaeltacht school.

Sorcha Ní Chéilleachair is head of Tuismitheoirí na Gaeltachta, an organisation that offers support to families raising their children through Irish in the Gaeltacht. The group was also involved in the creation of the bilingual colouring book, or “leabhar dathúcháin”.

“What we really wanted to do was to highlight the need for extra help in Gaeltacht schools that had Ukrainian children attending, because there is an extra element there that isn’t in English-speaking schools,” says Ní Chéilleachair.

I don’t need any more books, I don’t need any more resources online, or things that I can read up about. I need a physical teacher on the ground with me – today

—  Róisín Ní Chualáin, school principal

Teachers in Gaeltacht schools had raised their concerns around the need for extra support. “It’s a hard job, in a small group of schools there’s four classes in a room, and you have everything from the native speaker to the child that doesn’t have any English, so that help is needed,” says Ní Chéilleachair.

Ní Chualáin says at Scoil Cholmáin they prioritise wellbeing as much as the Irish language, and she would also like to see therapeutic supports in place for the Ukrainian students. “I tried all summer to get a play therapist to come into the school here; I haven’t been able to find anyone,” says Ní Chualáin.

She says the students and the families are happy to be in Muighinis. “They are so delighted to be here, but these four- and five-year-olds are affected by what they’ve seen, what they’ve heard, and what they’ve had to come through to get where they are today.”

[ Ireland has one of highest school enrolment rates for Ukrainian children ]

While Ní Chualáin is grateful for the support received to date, she is in no doubt of what is needed now.

“I don’t need any more books, I don’t need any more resources online, or things that I can read up about. I need a physical teacher on the ground with me – today.”

Notwithstanding the challenges, the benefits have been significant for everyone.

“It’s great the school has stayed open because of the new kids. They are brilliant young children that age can absorb anything,” she says. “I remember the first day they arrived here on Muighinis on the bus and they didn’t know where they were and they were so young. Now, they are thriving.”

Ukrainian pupils in Irish schools: in numbers

17,501: Total number of Ukrainian pupils in Irish schools

10,655: Ukrainian pupils in primary schools

6,846: Ukrainian pupils in second level schools

91 per cent: proportion of Ukrainian children aged 5-18 attending school

Source: Department of Education data for end of September, 2023