I love simple life ..more craic in a tiny pub than a glitzy nightclub
IRELAND’S NEW TV TEACHER CLIONA NI CHIOSAIN
A DECADE after starring in teen drama Aifric, Cliona Ni Chiosain’s star is rising again as Ireland’s most glamorous TV teacher.
Her infectious smile beams into our sitting rooms daily from a makeshift RTE classroom in Dublin.
The Co Donegal beauty is a qualified primary school teacher having taken a break from acting to follow her vocation.
But now the 29-year-old is back in the spotlight teaching kids across the nation alongside Ray Cuddihy and John Sharpson at the helm of RTE’S Home School Hub.
The glamorous muinteoir and her male counterparts are getting rave reviews from exhausted parents attempting to home school, work and entertain kids all at the same time.
Macalla Productions approached the former TG4 star in March regarding the vital hub when schools shut and she didn’t have to think twice about taking on the leading role.
She told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “I haven’t sought it out but it’s something that’s come to me.
“Doing TV work as well as teaching is the dream gig, the only thing we are missing is that we don’t have the kids in front of us which you miss so much.
DANCING
“Kids from all over Ireland are sending in loads of submissions and videos.
“We asked the kids to send us in videos of them dancing and the shake-it-off dance moves were just incredible, it was gorgeous.
“I’m not a parent myself but all people can do is their best. In terms of activities, parents shouldn’t put pressure on themselves.
“It’s a really challenging time for everyone who’s at home, I can understand how hard it is for parents to keep children entertained, educate them and a lot of parents are working from home and on the frontline.
“The idea with the school hub is it’s a full hour and parents don’t have to worry about them sitting in front of the TV too much as it is educational.”
From the tender age of 14, Cliona starred in the hit series Aifric including other stage and screen productions such as An Triail and Reiltin with Paul Mercier, of Passion Machine Fame.
More recently she worked on RTE Junior on Tir Na Nog and in 2016 on kids’ educational show How To Do Everything.
For the past three years Cliona has taught at Scoil Bhride Caitlini and this year she has been teaching children with autism.
The French graduate said: “I don’t think languages should be overlooked, I know we push for a lot of things in schools, everything I’ve managed to do in my life is thanks to either Irish or French.”
Two years ago, Cliona moved to Kells in Co Meath and told how she shuns the glitz and glam of showbiz for the quiet life in the countryside.
She said: “I moved there with my partner of six years Michael [Newman],
Doing TV work as well as teaching is the dream gig, the only thing missing is kids in front of us CLIONA NI CHIOSIN YESTERDAY
he wanted to live in the country, I love the idea of peace and calm and I love the idea of nature.”
The pair met at Maynooth University and a few years after they graduated their romance blossomed.
Alluding to the fact a family is on the cards, Cliona added: “I think if you’re moving into a particular stage of your
life, having kids, the country is ideal for raising them to have a nice quiet life.”
She also told how she likes to get her hands dirty at her partner’s farm in the neighbouring town Kilmainham.
Cliona said: “Michael’s family has a farm and before the lockdown I was going out looking after the calves, bottle feeding them, bedding them, I love that.
“My biggest goal in life is to have a happy simple life, I just love the countryside and the community in Kells. I have my local greengrocers and butchers and we all chat, I love having people saying hello in the street. I’d be far more into the craic in a little pub than a glitzy nightclub. “The Westway in Kilmainham just outside Kells and it’s our local.” RTE’S Home School Hub is shot in a real classroom but in an age of social distancing Cliona explained how filming is a lonely experience. She said: “I drive to Monkstown, a school called Scoil Lorcain which is where we film it in an actual classroom. “There’s no cameraman in the room, Paul Ward controls all the cameras, we have three cameras in the room but they’re remotecontrolled ones.
“We have mic packs which we wear and Paul leaves them out for us, so there’s nobody touching us or prepping us.
MAKE-UP
“I do my own make-up and hair, I’ve always been like that, I’ve zero patience for sitting in a make-up chair.
“The hair and make-up and the clothes is what I look like in my classroom anyway so I like to keep the same routine.
“We write our own content, I keep a list of all the subjects in the curriculum and tick all the subjects off so I know what I’ve covered. We’re just touching on things lightly to keep the children engaged.
“I really miss my classroom but I’m really enjoying this hybrid at the moment of doing both. But definitely teaching would come first for me.”
As an essential worker she gets stopped by the guards and is often recognised as the Muinteoir off the telly.
She quipped: “I’m stopped all the time going up and down to Dublin, which is a good thing.
“One of the guards stopped me and let me on through telling me the show keeps his wife sane and the kids were glued to it every day.”
news@irishmirror.ie