Ashleigh Coyle: talented past pupil looks back on her primary school days

She might have left St Oliver Plunkett Primary School back in 2007 but Ashleigh Coyle described her recently retired primary two teacher, Miss Cecilia Doherty, as “a dote”.

“She was my favourite teacher,” said the talented past pupil, now a Downtown Radio and Cool FM radio presenter, among many other things.

“I had a good time at St Oliver Plunkett PS,” recalled Ashleigh, where her mum, Mary, was among one of the earliest intakes. “I think because it was a small, community school and everybody knew everybody else. The teachers knew all of the children. I remember always going down the corridor and one of the teachers, Miss Siobhan Molloy, who has also retired, would say, ‘Hi Ashleigh. How are you?’

“Miss Molloy never taught me but at St Oliver Plunkett PS all of the teachers knew all of the pupils and the parents. It was very close-knit. I didn’t realise not all schools were like this until I went to post-primary school and I talked to other pupils and heard about their different experiences,” she added, admitting, with a smile, the one thing she had never been a fan of at St Oliver Plunkett PS was sports day.

After primary school, Ashleigh attended Oakgrove Integrated College, where she completed her A-levels.

“I started modelling professionally when I was about 15. I won Miss Derry when I was in lower sixth - in 2013, when I was 17 - and went on to compete in Miss Ireland.

“That was my entry then into the media. The following year, I went into Big Brother, where I was runner-up,” added Ashleigh.

“I was back and forth between home and London a lot doing work and I won the reality TV Personality Award at the National Reality TV Awards.

“Although I was busy, I just felt I was too young to leave home and go to London at the time. I was only 18.

“I then opened my own beauty business - Sass By Ash - in Spencer Road. Thankfully it is going well.

“In between all that, I kept up my modelling until I was 25 or 26. I also did ‘Beauty Queen and Single’ with the BBC, that was a nice, fun, light-hearted show, and ‘Hot Right Now’, a BBC panel show with some of the girls from ‘Beauty Queen and Single’ presented by Vinny Hurrell,” said Ashleigh, who then went on to join Downtown Radio and Cool FM as a presenter.

“I also do their traffic and travel every morning on the breakfast show,” added Ashleigh, who has recently started studying for a degree in Counselling at Ulster University.

“I think St Oliver Plunkett PS prepared me very well for life,” she reflected. “I had some really good teachers who pushed me in the right direction.

“I was actually on the chess team at the school and I was outgoing. All my reports from nursery school right through St Oliver Plunkett PS said, ‘Gets on with her work, good academically, but is easily distracted, and talks too much,” laughed Ashleigh, which it turned out was a gift that stood her in very good stead.