The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Meenkilly NS finds new way to connect to community
NEW PRINCIPAL WANTED TO FIND NEW WAY TO CONNECT WITH PUPILS AND COMMUNITY OF CAHERHAYES
“WE’LL meet again” – that’s the message from one rural school in the parish of Abbeyfeale, County Limerick.
Meenkilly NS in Caherhayes currently has approximately 80 students attending, but like all our schools up and down the country, the closure has been difficult for both pupils and staff alike.
Newly appointed Principal Kelley Ní Airtnéada wanted to find a new way to connect with the pupils and the wider community of Caherhayes.
“I felt I had a duty as custodian of the school to send a message to all the kids’ parents and to our community. We are all struggling in these challenging times, but we have to dream and hope that all this will end soon,” she said.
Out of this passion and desire, the idea of creating a video message for the students was born and also coincided with creating a mural, giving both an online and offline presence.
“I asked one of our parents, who has four of his children attending our wonderful little school, to help create something meaningful for the kids and our community. So his entire family of seven got involved helping to creating the mural on our school and the video, which went online at the weekend.
“Since publishing the video the feedback and positivity has been fantastic, our simple message has really resonated with people. It has raised the spirits of our children, our parents and our wider community. Both the video and mural have a real feel-good factor to it, the little things have now become the big things for us all.”
Principal Ní Airtnéada drew reference to their schools’ motto:
“There is an old Irish saying which is the Meenkilly motto ‘Mol an Óige’, which means that praise youth and they will flourish. Our kids are flourishing in ways now that they would never have before this pandemic,” she said.
“They are extremely resilient and adapting to change, but yet they can dream, and I think my dream is the same for us all, in that, yes, we’ll meet again here very soon,” she added.