As he says goodbye to teaching, Brendan reflects on life’s lessons
A FAMILIAR FACE ON THE CORRIDORS OF GOREY COMMUNITY SCHOOL, IT’S A TIME OF CHANGE AS MR O’SULLIVAN MOVES ON
AFTER 23 years at Gorey Community School, the much loved Geography and Politics and Society teacher, year head and sports fanatic Brendan O’Sullivan said his farewells to the classroom from the comfort of his Wexford home.
He now looks forward to taking up a new role as an inspector with the Department of Education and Skills, but has had time to reflect on his time in Gorey.
Praising his achievements, school Principal Michael Finn described Brendan’s personality as charismatic and inspiring to all.
‘Brendan’s passion for education, with particular emphasis on the Irish language, is clear from his significant contribution to the education of the young people of Gorey. He taught his subjects to all levels in our diverse school and he instilled a desire to learn in all of his students regardless of ability and background.
‘Brendan saw the value in sport as a means of promoting physical and emotional health before it became fashionable to do so. To this end, Brendan was a staunch promoter of Gaelic Games and was instrumental in taking the school to the current high standard. As a talented staff member, Brendan enjoyed a number of promotions. He took his Middle management duties seriously and undertook his roles with the same high level of professionalism that has become synonymous with him.
‘But perhaps Brendan’s most significant contribution to Gorey Community School was the pivotal role he played in the complex but highly successful journey made by the school community from physical to remote teaching and learning in lockdown. To transform the largest school in the country to a point where the students are being taught remotely was an onerous task but a task which was completed successfully, creating a ‘virtual’ school. Brendan, as IT Coordinator, worked closely with the School Website Coordinator, Paul McCloskey and the IT Technician, Wayne Dunne, to support the staff and students in this extraordinary journey,’ he said.
Speaking to Brendan, he explained that there is a lot more to teaching than some realise, and that he will take what he has learned at Gorey Community School with him.
‘You learn from your mistakes and what you did well, and I’ve made plenty of mistakes over the years and you have to be big enough to admit that. I had a lot of times over the last 30 years in the classroom where I’ve had to reflect on how I dealt with an issue or how I didn’t, how people reacted to a type of teaching and you bring that with you all the time.
‘They say that students won’t remember what you taught them but how you treated them and over the last couple of years there has a been a lot of focus on continuous personal development, and that has come back into teaching which was missing for a long time. People tend to have a view of what teachers do and what teaching is but it’s often misconceived. There’s a lot more to it and the interactions of 200 or 300 people a day, you can’t replace that’.
Brendan what he’ll miss most about the school is the people there.
‘I’ll miss the huge buzz around the place, and the banter and interaction in the classroom being the biggest school in Ireland. I’ll miss the students, when I’m calling to the petrol station or the supermarket there’s always a welcome wave and mutual respect. I’ll miss my colleagues as I built up some great relationships there over the years.
‘When I stop to reflect on it, really I’ve been in a classroom since I was four years of age. So it is strange to think that for now there’s a move out of that.
‘Thirty years is a long time, I’ve seen huge change and sometimes it’s not seen on the outside. I’m a great believer in reform, and one of my main reasons for leaving and going to the Department is that I want to make an input to any upcoming changes in Leaving Certificate reform. I know I’m going to continue learning as I go to other classrooms going forward.
‘When I came to Gorey first in 1997, I came at a strange time because Gorey Community School didn’t have its own identity, it was very shortly after amalgamation, so the three cultures and teaching backgrounds from the previous schools were still there and engrained.
‘But now, 23 years later we can say that Gorey Community School has got its own culture and identity. There’s a pride in the school that may not have been there previously, which is natural and it’s not anybodies fault. I remember in the early days asking myself if you went to Gorey Community School would you be proud to say it when you’re out and about, going for job interviews, and I didn’t know, but I know for sure now. That’s the measure’.
Brendan described feeling shellshocked when he first moved to north Wexford, having come from a more urban background in his career up to that point.
‘I was brought up on the north side of Cork city, I taught in the east end of London and in the north side of inner-city Dublin, so I always had really urban influence.
‘Gorey was very much a provincial town in 1997, and I was bemused for the first month coming here when half of the school disappeared for the ploughing match for three days, I had never seen it before.
‘But Gorey Community School has reflected the changes in the environment of the town. As the town has grown the school as also grown but the school is only made by the people who go into the school.
‘I come from a GAA background and I brought up in an all-Irish environment as I went to an Irish speaking school. Out of that, one of the great initiatives was that I could run the all-Irish stream in Gorey Community School with Coláiste na Rinne from its inception and teach Geography through Irish. Great credit goes to the other teachers that stepped up to teach their subjects through Irish. It’s another example of how progressive the school is.
‘GAA is where I developed my passion for sport and great friendships grew out of it. No matter what sport you’re involved in, it offers an opportunity for people to learn, be part of a team and make decisions quickly and friendships grow that last a life-time.
‘Last year we had our 25 years GAA all-star awards night, I had huge pride for that and it’s a mark too on how far the school has come. We’ve fostered a pride there, and now you walk down the Main street of Gorey and see people wearing our tops and shorts, even during the holidays, which shows there is a pride there that has come about. In some small way, I hope I played a role in that’.
Brendan has stepped up to new challenges in recent times, such as implementing a digital strategy but also introducing the popular subject Politics and Society into school, which both began on a pilot basis.
‘Technology has been a huge help and I’m proud to have been involved in that, it has been hugely satisfying to see that change. I was part of the digital learning framework a few years back which saw us chosen for the pilot programme. This enabled us to respond quite quickly to the Covid-19 crisis and in the space of a few days we were able to adapt because we had bought into it.
‘The crisis was certainly different, but there has been a lot of challenges over the years. The Junior Cert reform was a big change as well as new subjects.
‘I have an interest in politics and social justice anyway and as a Geography teacher, there were elements of politics on the course. I’ve never known Michael Finn to say ‘no’ to anything progressive but from our own perspective there seemed to be something missing on the curriculum for students who were socially engaged, who had a sense of social justice.
‘We started after two years of pretty intensive training, and it’s a course that’s taught very differently to other subjects on the Leaving Certificate course. Most courses are linear, in that you start a point and you end at a point, but politics is changing every day and you’ve got to be able to respond and adapt to something that’s happening in our society. It’s not for everyone, but some students and teachers really embraced it’.
Speaking about memorable moments, Brendan explained that some stay with you for different reasons.
‘In Ireland we have a very narrow definition of achievement and we applaud the people who get maximum marks in their Leaving Cert but there are loads of little moments along the way. Achievement might just be someone turning up to school or passing a Junior Cert, doing a Leaving Cert. I’ve loads of those moments and they’re memorable.
‘The greatest challenge at times is the death of students, and staff as well of course. Dealing with that and when this happens, there’s a real sense of what a school is as a community bringing people together, supporting each other in grief is a real essence of a school.
‘I was a year head for 13 years, and Darragh McDonald was in one of those year groups. Him returning to Gorey after winning at the Paralympics on two occasions and going to the school, seeing what he had gone through to achieve this, the great family he came and the type of guy he was, that was a very proud moment,’ he said.
Brendan described feeling humbled by all the messages of thanks and support he had received, and said that made the school a great place was the role that everybody had to play. He paid special tribute to his two assistants, Mary Condren and Joe Kenny.
Mr Finn said that the school looks forward to welcoming him back again.