Aifric is ‘anseo’ for RTÉ’s school
THE star of an Irish language teen drama is back in the spotlight as one of three teachers on RTÉ’s Home School Hub.
Clíona Ní Chiosáin’s teaches on screen alongside Múinteoir Ray and Múinteoir John – and the trio’s efforts to keep the country’s school children up to speed have proved a huge hit.
Asked how it feels to be one of the most famous teachers in the country, the former star of Aifric on TG4 laughed and said: ‘It’s such an honour.’
Clíona got a call about RTÉ Home School Hub on a Friday and was filming by the following Wednesday, such was the rapid response to the unusual circumstances we have found ourselves in thanks to coronavirus.
‘I didn’t think twice about it quite frankly because I know that nobody would think twice about it because you’re trying to do your best to help out,’ she said.
The volume of positive responses has been ‘mindblowing’. ‘I am absolutely thrilled with it,’ she said.
‘Obviously I was nervous to see what the reaction would be but we’ve been just totally overwhelmed by positive responses from parents and kids and people watching it, so I couldn’t be prouder.
‘I mean it’s always nervewracking before something airs but then as soon as I saw it I just thought it was beautiful and we’re so proud of it.’
Clíona, who completed her Masters in Education three years ago, shares teaching duties on the daily morning programme with Ray Cuddihy and John Sharpson, who are both teachers, actors and broadcasters and ran a Denstyle TV show on YouTube.
Gaeilgeoir Clíona grew up in Kells, Co. Meath, but now lives a ‘quiet life’ in Lucan, West Dublin, with her partner of six years, Michael Newman.
When she’s not teaching the nation, Clíona can be found educating her autistic spectrum disorder class in Scoil Bhríde in Blanchardstown, which she describes as ‘a beautiful school’.
And when the cameras stop rolling on RTÉ Home School Hub, Clíona, 30, is busy updating work lists for her own pupils but explained that there’s no pressure on families to power through the work.
‘We’re not saying the kids have to come back to school and know any of this,’ she told the Irish Mail on Sunday. ‘It’s just suggested work because the whole situation has obviously put a huge amount of pressure on parents,’ she said, adding that homeschooling on top of working from home was beyond difficult.
Teaching is her ‘true passion’ and while she really enjoys kids’ TV Clíona says she has no idea whether she would be interested in pursuing presenting gigs for shows with an older audience.
She is somewhat used to the limelight as Aifric wrapped when Clíona was 18, after three years.
She went on to study Irish and French in Maynooth where despite her acting career, she enjoyed ‘a relatively normal student life’, which she puts down to social media not being big at the time.
Her journey to her current gig featured some summers in France as a teacher and au pair, stints on theatre stages and other children’s TV productions.
But despite being a star in her own right, Clíona gets as starstruck as any of us when she bumps into fellow RTÉ presenters.
‘I really freaked out,’ she laughed recounting meeting Derek Mooney a few years ago.
Home School Hub runs on RTÉ2 every weekday from 11am to noon, with a catch-up programme at 4.15pm and more resources on rte.ie