STAFF and pupils at Hansfield ETSS were delighted earlier this month when An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, visited the Dublin 15 school.
An Taoiseach attended a school assembly and listened as students shared ideas and examples of their poetry, art and music.
He was formally welcomed to the school by Nicholas Sweetman, Chairperson of the Board of Management, who seized the opportunity to raise the issue of pay parity for new teachers and urged An Taoiseach to improve funding for voluntary secondary schools and education in general.
Student Council representative, Pearl Umama-Agada, in a well scripted address to An Taoiseach and the assembly, highlighted the multi-cultural community of Hansfield ETSS and key local issues such as public transport routes and community sports facilities.
She emphasised school specific issues such as zebra crossings and bicycle racks, which would contribute to lowering the school’s carbon footprint.
In support of students who, despite challenging family circumstances, attend school every day, Pearl emphasised the need for funding to enable the school better support some students.
In his response, An Taoiseach thanked the school for the warm welcome he received and commended Pearl on her speech, acknowledging she raised very valid points.
He expressed pride in the fact that the first Educate Together Secondary School in Ireland had been established in the community in which he grew up, near to his childhood home in Roselawn.
“It has been a huge achievement and is a really good model,” he added.
In responding to the issues that both the Chairperson and Pearl raised, An Taoiseach agreed that all weather sport pitches and a running track would be a great addition to the school and local community.
He offered useful guidance on funding opportunities available and encouraged the school to team up with local clubs to make a joint bid for funding.
He also asked local councillor, Kieran Dennison (FG), to look into the matter of zebra crossings on Barnwell Road.
An Taoiseach recognised that more bicycle racks would encourage more students to cycle to school and help lower the school’s carbon footprint and he advised the school to seek funding for this under the Sustainable Transport Scheme.
Finally, he responded to concerns over the lack of frequent public transport in the area. He mentioned the new BusConnects proposals and outlined Government plans to upgrade the existing train line to a DART service, so that trains would be running every 10 minutes at peak hours.
However, he noted that this was a huge project and so the current students would likely be in college by the time it was complete.
An Taoiseach and the assembly were then treated to a recitation of a poem ‘The Story of Every Emigrant’ by transition year student Shurooq Azam, which was a touching articulation of the experience and sentiment of a newcomer to a strange country.
Afterwards, An Taoiseach met some staff before visiting An Cosán which hosts two ASD classes – Carrauntoohil and Slievenamon. Here, he officially launched a beautiful landscape mural, which was the outcome of a collaborative art project between students with special needs and Transition Year students.
To end the visit, talented students treated An Taoiseach to some music. Matthew Healy played an improvised jazz piece on guitar and Markuss Toms Rusmaniss played Mozart’s ‘Turkish March’ on piano.