Stokane National School
Scoil Náisiúnta an Stuacáin

 
DAY IN THE LIFE........A LOOK AT OUR DAILY LIVES IN STOKANE, CO. SLIGO, IRELAND, IN 2000

 
 
A School Principal
A Builder
A Garda
A Primary School Teacher
 A Tiler
 An Old Age Pensioner
 A Painter 
A Bank Official
A shopkeeper 
A Child-minder
Butcher
Welder
  A primary school student
  A Priest
       A Cook
A Dentist 
 A mechanical engineer
A Milk Lorry Driver 
A Hairdresser
 A Jeweller
A Home-maker
A Farmer
 A Dancing Teacher
 A Launderette worker
A Public Health Nurse 
A Secondary School Student
A Factory worker
A Lifeguard
A School Principal

"Don't forget that Bryan has singing lessons today after school," I hear as I leave home at 8.30 a.m. The headlines tell of a Sligo Garda who has died tragically in a car accident at Knockcroghery, Co. Roscommon. The threatened secondary teachers strike is certain to go ahead --they were out for three weeks the year of my own Leaving Cert, and it did impact on the students' lives at the time. The death notices are read and I think of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "Our Town", by Thornton Wilder.

Monday mornings take more out of a teacher's reserves than other days, particularly after a Hallowe'en break, and Monday 6th November was no different. I reached the school just after 8.40 and was pleased with the tell-tale odour from the central heating boiler flu -- the time-switch, at its new winter-time setting had worked. A few plastic footballs roll about in the breeze to greet me as I enter the grounds. Will the caretaker have cleaned the school? A replacement Caller ID has to be fitted. The office computer must be re-hooked up -- its modem works fine in Ballina, but not in Stokane ..... must call Eircom. The boys of Scoil Padraig, Ballina, will be coming on Thursday to view the Mindstorms robotics project .... some planning needed here, but we have some highly-motivated students who've always given large measures, and the visitors are well-behaved, motivated young boys.

By 8.50, when Seimí arrived with the pupils aboard the mini-bus, the school was open and the buzz of happy outgoing children could be heard in the classroom -- each child wondering what Hallowe'en brought the others. The weather report is quickly put together by 4th class. The email is checked and we are reminded that Netdays are here again. There is also an email from shamrocktrees.com. Someone enquires timidly if the Irish poem, "An Chailleach Ghránna", were for today. At least she hadn't totally lost her memory, but a few others aren't quite so good! "We never have Irish poems on Mondays!" another replies. A few of the School Medical consent forms are handed up and placed in an envelope which will be sent to the North Western Health Board when all are in. One is not sealed ... the child is asked to seal this immediately, and then all are locked away. Twenty more pounds comes in for Polio -- this can be sent off immediately. A white envelope which contains the stubs of tickets for the Society of Missionary Children, together with the proceeds of the ticket sales also arrives, and then there's the milk money ... I wish we had a school secretary to deal with all of this.

Classes begin with Maths, followed by Irish. The highly-motivated 4th want to dig into Microworlds, a new LOGO application useful for their Robotics projects -- they never back away from a challenge. By 10.00, when the new computer (ordered 6-weeks ago) hadn't arrived, and no hopes of same from the supplier, I put Plan B into operation. After a quick consultation with Mrs. Bourke, followed by a phonecall, a new machine was ordered from a different supplier -- this to be delivered "within 48 hours". When I hear time-scales such as this I remember back to days long past and a saying referring to how long it used to take to get the old wet-and-dry-battery radios fixed. "You'll have it in two days, or two weeks, two months or two years!" was a slogan associated with a dealer not noted for his speed at repairing an appliance. He never told anybody that an appliance couldn't be repaired!  The Celtic Tiger has given too many choices to people nowadays, I believe, but I hope I won't be disappointed this time.

The toilet area needed attention by 10.12 -- if only we had a caretaker, or even a pair of toilets so that we could take one out of commission in emergencies!

All except one present for roll-call. Some homework is marked up.

A friendly smile from the other teacher and a lovely hot cup of tea at 10.40 charges up the batteries again.

Some work-books to be checked. Time to read the Nicene Creed in a meaningful manner ... this to be revised for homework with 3rd, 4th and 6th.  We don't have a fifth class this year. The children take their religious studies seriously.

The post arrives at 12.20. Four items for the Board of Management; two for the FÁS supervisor, and five for the school. Bills, "The Far East", and a circular from the new DES regarding the new science curriculum. The school is involved in a SIP -- Robotics -- and the children love it. There is also a letter addressed to another N.S. -- sent to us in error. I'll have to drop these letters into the local Post Office, and to the Parochial House on my way home. Two bills are ready for processing and posting. A mysterious payment has been made directly to the school account -- must ask the Chairman, BOM. A beautiful letter from PA, USA, from John Roddy, congratulating everybody concerned with the web site -- we must do some more work on this. Denise will place this letter in our school diary, which has been running since 1980.

English reading is followed by drama -- "The Hole in the Bucket" is a favourite Christmas concert item every four years, and it makes the children laugh. Denise, sleeves rolled up over a basin of water, and kneeding a dirty sheet on a wash-board, plays Liza, while Darragh plays Henry. The bit at the end where she chases him with a towel and lands a few below the belt at the rear bring great cheers! Books of plays are handed out -- to read over the next few days.
PE today is table-tennis in the prefabricated building. Those who've played before demonstrate. All have a game, with the classes being divided into two teams, each pair play five aces. Former pupils got silver at Mosney for this game ... a good incentive. Table-tennis gave myself hours of enjoyment in boarding school in St. Flannan's, Ennis; children are different in different ages, but essentially the same.

Séimí is at the gate at 2.43, and he doesn't like to be kept waiting ......he has another school run to do. A child asks me to photocopy a chunk of the encyclopaedia for her ...no time this evening after cleaning the toilets and dealing with the post. Mrs. Bourke has her room and adjacent wash-rooms spick-and-span (and ready for President McAleese were she to pay us a visit) in twenty minutes. It's still after 3.00 when I leave, and I must deliver that mail. And Bryan musn't be late for singing again! 

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              A Builder 
             By Tara

My dad is a builder and he gets up every morning at 8 o'clock and has his breakfast. He goes out to work at quarter to nine every morning but brings me and my brothers to school first. He works on buildings in a lot of places; Easkey, Rathlee and Ballina. Sometimes my brothers go working with him. Right now he is working on my Auntie's house in Ballina. He works six days a week every week. My dad does a bit of carpentry work as well as boarding floors and boarding roofs. He comes home at 6.30pm every evening if not later. Sometimes he works from 8 o'clock in the morning to12 o'clock at night. He really enjoys his job and he gets loads of money.

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Garda
By John
My name is John and I am a Garda in Sligo. I get up at 6 in the morning. I fight crime and it is a hard job. I come home at  half-past 4 in the evening. It is hard to drive at that time. I drive a garda car but it is not hard to drive it and you get to know the town. I think it is a great job. I think if you are going to be a garda you should get somebody to show you the town.
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A Primary School Teacher
By Anne-Marie
My name is Anna and I am a teacher. I work from 9.00 to 2.40 on weekdays. I teach Infants and 1st and 2nd class in Stokane N.S. Sometimes I teach 3rd class. This year I teach Infants and 1st class. There are eight children in Low Infants; Jason, Jerome, Liam, Keith, Shane, Damian, Jason and Áine. There are five children in High Infants; Niamh, Kiara, Maria, Ashling and Kevin, and four children in 1st class; Martin, John, Keith, and Ronan. I love all the children. I teach them Catechism, maths, Irish, and English. I teach the children prayers and religious songs. The children watch videos with these songs and they like to sing along. I teach the Infants songs and nursery rhymes for communication skills and they sing the rhymes to me all together. I give the children workbooks for English. In these workbooks are matching, colouring, and writing. The Low Infants pupils come to my desk in the morning so I can correct their home work which they had the night before. They all rush to get first for correcting. The 1st class pupils like to write the news of the morning on the computer every day. They keep all the news in a scrap book. For Irish the children read words out of their Irish reading books. I write some Irish words on pieces of card for the children to learn. I also do Irish Communication with them. On Thursdays the girls from 2nd class, 3rd class, 4th class and 6th class come to learn cooking, knitting, or sewing from me while the boys in my classes go out to the other classroom to learn crafts. I am glad at 2.40 when school is over so I can go home and have a rest after the long day. Every Christmas we have a Christmas concert. The children like to act out the Nativity.
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Tiler
By Kelly
My name is Jimmy and I do tiling in houses on walls or floors. When I tile houses I sometimes let my daughter Kelly stay and help me. She thinks it is good fun. I sometimes think it is hard. I tile mostly bathrooms and kitchens. 
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An Old Age Pensioner
By Paul
My name is Paul and I am an old age pensioner. I get up at seven o’clock in the morning and do all kinds of work like feeding cows and putting in some hay. I sow the crops and I weed my garden. I count the sheep. I always sell some bullocks at the mart and I get some more smaller bullocks in return. I bring my tractor to bring bales back to the shed. 
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 A Painter 
By John 
My name is Anthony and I am a painter. I do all kinds of painting like "ragrolling", sponge painting and ordinary inside and outside painting. I start work at 9 a.m. and finish at 5.pm. I like using all different colours of paint. I paint new houses and  old houses. I like my job very much.
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Bank Official
By Marie

My name is Geraldine and I am a Bank Official in the Bank of Ireland in Ballina. I start my work at 9.00 a.m. in the morning. When I get in, if a person wants to get money out of their bank account (withdraw money) or put it into their bank account (lodge money) I take it out or put it in for them. Sometimes people ask me questions about the bank and I have to find out the answers for them.

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shopkeeper 
By Edward.
My name is Michael. Me and my wife own Spar Supermarket in Enniscrone. We open in the morning at 8.00a.m. We have to look at all the food that is on the shelves to make sure that it is fresh and if it is not fresh we clear it off the shelves. By the time we have all that done the milkman, breadman and the paperman have arrived with all the groceries, papers and magazines. I have to look after the petrol pumps as well. Then our staff starts work. Frank Igoe sometimes comes to get diesel. We close our store at 10.00p.m.
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Child-minder
By Denise 
Hi! My name is Sheila, and I am a child-minder. I mind four children, Richard, 4 and Daniel, 1 and 8 months. They are brothers and I mind Ronan, 2 and Aine, 2. Ronan is my grandchild. I get up at 6.30a.m. to get my own children's lunches ready for school and Ronan comes at 7.45a.m. in the morning, then I get my children, Stephen, Paul and Denise up for school and my other children up for work. Then I have my breakfast at 9.00a.m. When everybody is gone to work and school Richard and Daniel come. Sometimes they don't have their breakfasts eaten so I have to get it for them. At 9.20a.m. Áine comes and I get her into the house. At noon I put Ronan and Daniel for a sleep. Ronan sometimes sleeps for two hours and Daniel sleeps for about an hour. At 1.00p.m. Me, Richard and Áine have something to eat. When Daniel gets up I give him his babyfood and when Ronan gets up I give him his dinner. At 2.50 my daughter Denise comes home from school and I get her something to eat. Then I put Áine for a sleep. At 5.15p.m. my two sons Stephen and Paul come home from secondary school and I take up Áine out of bed and give the boys something to eat. Then I put on the dinner that I had prepared the night before. At 5.30p.m. Ronan goes home with his mammy, Caroline. At 5.45 Áine goes home and at 6.00p.m. Richard and Daniel. I really like child-minding and before I was minding these children I used to look after different children.
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Butcher
By Vincent 
My name is Frank. I get up at quater past 8 in the morning. I have my breakfast and then I drive down to Enniscrone. I open the shop at 9.00 a.m. I go into the cold-room and bring out the meat and put it on display. The temperature of the cold-room is 4 degrees. I make some burgers and suasages for the delivery to Ballina and Enniscrone. In the evening I gather up the scraps and put them in the green bins at the back of the shop. I take the meat from the display cabinets and place it in the cold-room. I finish my work at 9 o'clock at night. 
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Welder 
By Denise 
Hi! My name is Eamonn and I am a welder. I make gates, trailers and frames of sheds for people. My busiest time of the year is the winter. I have a shed built at my home and I do the welding there. It is an electronic welder and is very powerful. I get up at 8.30a.m. and I have my breakfast and then I go back to my shed. People come to me at all different times of the day and I try my best to help them. At 1.00p.m. I come over to the house for my dinner that my mother has prepared for me. Then at 2.00p.m. I go back again. I also have other machinery like angle grinders and other things. At 6.30p.m. I come into the house for my tea with all my family. Most of the time I go back to the shed again around 7.30p.m. and I might not finish until 11.00p.m. In the summertime I cut turf with one of my friends, John. I really like my job.
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A Primary School Student
By Denise
Hi! My name is Denise and I am a primary school student in Stokane N.S. I get up every morning at 7.30a.m. I get myself ready for school and then I go up to the kitchen and have my breakfast and then at 8.40a.m. our bus driver Séimi picks us up and brings us to school.
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Priest
By Leona
Hello my name is Fr. Desmond and I'm the parish priest of Castleconnor. I say mass every day. On Monday-Friday mornings I say mass at 9:30a.m. Saturday evenings at 8p.m. and Sunday mornings at 11a.m. I visit the children in Stokane N.S. and Corballa N.S. nearly every week and I enjoy watching the Castleconnor team play football matches. I visit the sick people in the parish every week and if there is someone in hospital from the parish I go visit them. I enjoy going to Station Masses and weddings and meeting lots of other people and congratulate the couple and give them my blessing. I like to watch the RTE 9 o'clock news before going to bed around 10 or 11 p.m. with a nice cup of tea.
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Cook 
By Denise
Hi! My name is Caroline and I am a cook in Tracey’s restaurant in Enniscrone. I get up every morning at 7.00a.m. I have my breakfast and then I get my son Ronan, who is 2, ready to go up to my mothers house because she minds him. I go up there at 7.45a.m. I start work at 8.00a.m. but I am at the shop at 7.55a.m. We don’t open until 9.30p.m. but we have to have some food prepared before we open. The restaurant opens all year round and in the winter-time I don’t start until 8.30a.m. because we don’t be as busy. When I get there I make breakfasts with Tracey, the owner. When we open we get a lot of customers. Sometimes in the winter I have to serve the customers, prepare the food and wash the dishes. I really like my job. A lot of other girls work there too. At 1.00p.m. I have a break for half an hour and I have a cup of tea.  I finish at 5.00p.m. in the evening and I go collect my son from the child-minder's house. Then I come home and get the dinner ready for me, Ronan and my husband Michael. I go to bed at 11.30p.m.
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Dentist
By Grace
My name is Joseph and I am a dentist. I travel 7 miles to work every morning. I start work at 9.30a.m. and finish at 6.00p.m. I start to see my patients at 9.45a.m. I can perform fillings, crowns, cleaning and extractions all in my days work. I love my work.
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A Mechanical Engineer
By Leona
Hi my name is Eddie and I'm a machanical engineer in Ballina. I start at 9 a.m. and I finnish at 6 or 7 p.m. I repair tractors and service tractors. Somedays I have to work on the road if some tractors get broken down and I go on courses every couple of months to other countries.  My favourite part about being a mechanical engineer is putting tractors back together. I really enjoy being a mechanical engineer. 
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A Milk Lorry Driver
By Marie
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Hairdresser
By Leona
Hi I'm Carmel and I work in Cormichaels Hair Salon in Ballina. I work from 9a.m.-6p.m. Tuesday to Friday. Every week I have Monday or Tuesday off. On Thursday I work from 12p.m.-8p.m. Sometimes I work on Saturdays. I wash, dry, blow-dry, perm, plait, style, cut and colour peoples hair. I enjoy being a hairdresser.
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Jeweller
By Grace 
My name is Joseph and I am a jeweller. I get up at 8 o'clock and I dress the shop windows, with rings, chains and earrings. Then I open the shop. When William (my son) is off school he comes up to help me serve the customers. At 6 o'clock I close the shop and I take all the jewellery off the window. Then I go home to my lovely wife and I eat my dinner.
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Home-maker
By Fiona
My name is Breege and I clean the house and clean the rooms. I wash the dishes and I make the dinner and tea. I put the clothes on the line. I dress the beds and I wash the clothes for my husband and children. 
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Famer
By Darragh
My name is Peter and I am a farmer. I have to change the fence for the cows, bulls and calves. I have to feed the cows, calves and bulls. In winter I have to put cows, bulls and calves into the sheds.
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Dancing-teacher
By Leona
Hi I'm Mary and I am a dancing teacher from Ballina. I teach the children of Castleconor on a Tuesday after school in the Community Centre. I teach children from the age of 3 up as far as the age of 15 or 16. I teach children in other places like Dromore West, Ballina and Enniscrone etc. I teach figure dancing in Enniscrone on a Wednesday. Every few months there is a dancing feis in the area and some of the children that I teach go and dance and win medals, cups and trophies. I love being a dancing teacher.
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Launderette-worker
By Kirsty
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A Public Health Nurse
By Leona
Hello my name is Marion and I'm the public health nurse in the Castleconnor/Enniscrone area. I visit mostly old people and parents of newborn babies. If a person had an accident and had stiches and a cast I come and dress their wounds and show them how to dress it themselves if it is healing. I visit the babies about 3-4 days after they come home from the hospital. If they hadn't had a bath before leaving the hospital I will bathe the child and show the parent how to support and hold the child while in the bath and how to take the child out of the bath carefully. I enjoy being a public health nurse.
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Secondary School Student
By Fiona
My name is Margaret and I get up each morning  and eat my breakfast and I go on the bus at 8.00 am. I arrive at school at 8.50 am. The subjects I learn are Irish, Geography, 2 Classes of  Home Economics, English, German, History, science, art  and  maths. Some days can be hard. I do cooking too. I am baking a cake at the moment.
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Factory Worker
By Shane
Hi! My name is John-Joe and I am a factory worker in Hollister. I get up at 6.30a.m.every day. I work from 8.00a.m. to 4.30p.m. or 6.30p.m. I work 5 days a week and sometimes six days. At work I make bandages for hospitals and then I send them off to Germany. I really like my job and I have lots of friends there that work with me. When I get home I eat my dinner that my wife Mary, which she has prepared for me, and then I check my farm with my two sons Edward and Shane.
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 A Life guard
By Anne-Marie
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HOMEPAGE