The hospital teacher: ‘Every school day here is like the first of September’

I was born in west Limerick and I went to a small, local national school. I was not one of these people who always dreamed of being a teacher. When I got the place in Mary Immaculate in Limerick, I thought, I’m only 17, I’ve got time to play with, let’s give it a go. Teaching was an accidental path that I took and it worked out.

I taught in west Tallaght for 13 years and that was an education. Working in Deis schools, there is a risk of burnout and I got to a point where I had to consider, do I want to do something different? I saw the ad for Our Lady’s Hospital School and thought, that sounds interesting. That was in 2005. I have been here since.

You hold a very privileged position working with families who have perhaps just been given earth shattering news, or have children living with life-limiting conditions. We see them through the highs and lows, while our focus is on trying as best we can to keep them engaged with education.

Every school day here is like the first of September, because you are never quite sure who the pupils are going to be – who has been admitted overnight or who has been discharged.

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There are seven teachers and we deal with children from four to 18 years of age. On a typical day, each of us is allocated a particular ward in the morning. You make a list of all the school-age children and we work closely with the medical staff to get an update on who is well enough or who has gone to theatre.

We have a general classroom where kids who are not infectious or immunocompromised can come. The classroom gives the kids the chance to see there are others with similar issues. We have a dedicated classroom on St John’s ward which is the oncology and hematology ward, because those children can’t mix with the rest of the hospital population.

Then there are kids who for a variety of reasons can’t come to the classroom; maybe they are in isolation or hooked up to an infusion, so we work with them at their bedside.

Hospital is not a normal environment for young children. We are the one piece of normality and a lot of kids embrace us

We don’t have any background information when we meet the child for the first time, so you are always trying to sensitively establish what will interest them, looking for fun and innovative ways to deliver the curriculum to kids who may not have a huge amount of energy. Our kids may have had very disturbed sleep due to nurse checks overnight, they might be feeling unwell or they might be worried or anxious.

Hospital is not a normal environment for young children. We are the one piece of normality and a lot of kids embrace us. Some of the kids are more difficult to win around than others. A cancer diagnosis is shattering for a family. The kid is trying to get their head around, “Am I going to lose my hair, am I going to have to be out of school for a long time, am I going to have to be in hospital regularly, am I not able to play with my friends?”

We could have a child in for surgery, they recover for a couple of days or weeks and then go home. Or we could have a child who is waiting for the call for a heart transplant. They can be here for long periods. We are seeing more children post-Covid dealing with mental health challenges.

The overall aim of the school is education, but it’s broader than English and maths. We talk about emotions and wellbeing. If a child is in an emotionally good place, they are more open to learning.

Thankfully it doesn’t happen often, but we do lose kids. That can be incredibly difficult because you get to know the family. You’ve worked closely with a particular pupil, you get to know them very well. That is one of the greatest challenges of the job.

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You are supporting the family through the journey as best you can. I suppose there is a message in that for a child: my parents must be thinking there is a positive outcome because they are still insisting that I go to school – I’m keeping that normality, I’m going to be okay, I’m going to go back to my friends.

We run State exams at the hospital. Our approach would always be from the social point of view. Sit some of the papers, get the experience of the exam but, more importantly, when you come out the other end, in September when the results are out, you are going to be with your friends and you are going to be doing what they are doing. What’s important is being normal. It’s not about the grade, it’s about the rite of passage and all that goes with that.

I love the small groups and the one-to-one teaching. I love working with other disciplines too – doctors, nurses, psychologists, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists. It’s a very privileged space to be given with a family. For me, it’s never about what a child has learned today, it could be as simple as they have engaged with me today. They have let me in. – In conversation with Joanne Hunt