Award-winning St Eithne's ready to welcome new students

It is immediately obvious. Terence McDowell loves teaching, loves being principal of St Eithne’s primary school, and has a great regard for the whole school community.

Smiling he told Derry Now: “St Eithne’s is not just a building, it is a beautiful school and we are blessed with gorgeous children. We can take them anywhere, for anything, and we get nothing but compliments.

“We are also supported by fantastic families. St Eithne’s is very much a family in itself. I always say, ‘Every child who joins St Eithne’s, joins the St Eithne’s family’.

“The children are so kind and caring towards each other, they really are. We won a School of Sanctuary award during the year, which celebrated St Eithne’s inclusiveness and diversity.

“We welcome children from many different backgrounds, religious, geographical, socio-economic, our door is open to all children and they are all treated exactly the same way.

“We were delighted to have the School of Sanctuary award. We do make an effort to open the children’s experiences to different cultures and religions. St Eithne’s believes in opening the world to the children,” said Mr McDowell.

Born in Rathlin Drive in Creggan, Mr McDowell was one of 10 children. “One of the big Derry families” as he said himself.

Sadly, Mr McDowell’s Mammy, Susan, passed away in 2014, the year he took up his post in St Eithne’s but his Daddy, Eamon still lives in Carnhill, which became the family’s home when he was two, shared by his brothers and sisters, “John, Catherine, Patrick, Susan, Eamon and Geraldine (the first set of twins), Helen, Ciaran and myself (the second set of twins) and then Julie,” said Mr McDowell with affection.

Mr McDowell was one of the first Primary One pupils to attend the recently opened St Brigid’s Primary School. He then went to St Brigid’s College, where he completed his O’ Levels, before moving to St Columb’s College for his A’ Levels.

“After that I trained in St Mary’s College in Belfast,” he said. “My educational experience encouraged me to become a teacher. I always wanted to be a teacher because of the positive experiences I had in school. I loved school. I loved primary school. I had great teachers. The same at post-primary, just lovely, lovely people.

“My primary education was very positive. The class sizes then were huge. There were 30 or 35 pupils at one point in our class. Teachers then had a lot to contend with. There was no such thing as classroom assistants then.

“At St Mary’s I specialised in ICT with Education and I was the first person to get a First Class honours degree in the ICT Department there.

“I was offered a job in Belfast but, being from Derry and a homebird, I had to get back to Derry. I had a job for a year in Long Tower and then I was offered a scholarship to go and study for a Masters in Notre Dame in the United States, so I went there for a year and then came back to Long Tower,” said Mr McDowell," and was there for nine years.”

Mr McDowell then worked for the Education Board as an advisory teacher helping to train teachers and support teachers in schools, before taking up the post of vice principal in Nazareth House PS.

“I was there for 10 brilliant years. I loved Nazareth House, with Paul O’Hea who was the principal,” he said.

“Then I got the principal’s job in St Eithne’s, where I have been in post for nine years now. We actually celebrated our official 20th anniversary two years ago, although the school actually opened two years before that. Gerry Cosgrove was the principal before me. He was here when the school opened. If you walk around St Eithne’s, you will see it is beautiful. It really is so well resourced and bright and very well maintained,” added Mr McDowell.

St Eithne’s takes students from all areas of the city and has an average class size of 23, which is very positive.

The school also received the Digital Schools’ award last year, in recognition of how innovative it is in the delivery of ICT, as Mr McDowell said, “Not just within the school but reaching beyond the borders of the school.”

“Post covid, St Eithne’s initiated our Engage programme. We have an excellent teacher who did great work with individual pupils and small groups, mainly around language development.

“We have also developed our nurture area, our umbrella room, which is a huge success. All of our staff are trained in TheraPlay and our children go to the umbrella room to address wellbeing needs. I think this is excellent because a lot of those needs were recognised after covid. It is a wonderful resource.

“I am optimistic for the future of St Eithne’s as we head towards our Silver Jubilee. We are so proud of the Digital Schools and Schools of Sanctuary awards and we are working towards some other awards this year.

“We are going from strength to strength. It is a pleasure to work here,it really is. The staff are so professional and so engaged with the children and the children’s education, which makes my job all the easier. Admissions formally close on January 27 but if anybody choses to apply after that, come and talk to us in the school. We have never turned any child away, smiled Mr McDowell.