Noel O’Donnell: A parent’s perspective of St Oliver Plunkett Primary School

“I love the wee school. It just has a great feel about it,” said current parent and past pupil Noel O’Donnell, without hesitation.

Noel was speaking to The Derry News about why he had wanted his children to attend St Oliver Plunkett Primary School in Strathfoyle, which is celebrating its Golden Jubilee.

“I loved my time at the school. All my sisters and I went there. I have great memories of those days,” he smiled. “In fact, I still have the same friendship group. We were lucky enough to go through nursery school, primary one to seven at St Oliver Plunkett PS, and on to post-primary school together. Although everyone went and did their own thing with university or whatever, we have all fallen back into place in the town now”.

Noel’s son, also called Noel, after his father and grandfather, is in primary seven. His daughter, Farrah is now a third year at St Mary’s College in the city.

“Another reason we chose St Oliver Plunkett PS was because we live locally and we know it is a good school. It has that village environment to it as well - all the pupils and all the pupils’ parents know each other. We look out for each other’s children,” said Noel.

“The same goes for the teachers, we know a lot of the staff there too. St Oliver Plunkett PS has that personal touch. It is close-knit. If a child has something going on or is not settling well at the school and they contact you, you know they are looking out for you and your child,” he added.

“At a bigger school, a child could get lost, could become just a number and something important could be missed but St Oliver Plunkett PS has a village atmosphere and the teachers are fantastic.

“The school is going from strength-to-strength and I have actually come full circle and have been doing a bit of work with the pupils for the past year and a half.

“I do Football Fun Factory sessions - football for children who may have additional needs, children who might not be at a level to play for a ‘real’ team. I do PE for the Primary one, two and three classes.

“And, being in the school, I can see it is class. You can just see the togetherness of the whole school staff and children. The dinner ladies, everybody is on the same team. The relationship the teachers and the staff have with the children is amazing. I was doing PE last week and a classroom assistant who had moved from primary two to primary seven passed the hall. Well, the session came to a halt because all the children wanted to go over and give her a hug and a high five and say hello,” said Noel.

“It is wee things like that which make St Oliver Plunkett PS so good - the connection the wanes have with the staff,” he added.

“It is not like that old school teacher vibe where you were scared of them. At St Oliver Plunkett PS, the children know the teachers are there for them and care for them.

“I love the wee school. It just has a great feel about it. It is the heartbeat of Strathfoyle and long may it continue.”