Bunscoil Bheann Mhadagáin is at the heart of North Belfast's Irish language community

Naíscoil and Bunscoil Bheann Mhadagáin is at the heart of the Irish language community  in North Belfast.

The school has a rich history opening in 1994 with ten pupils. Today, the nursery and school have expanded to a larger site and grown to over 200 pupils – 30 pupils in the Naíscoil and 172 in the Bunscoil.

The school which originally opened in Wyndham Drive is now located off the Cliftonville Road.

“We were up in Wyndham Drive for about 20 years,” Principal Máire Uí Éigeartaigh told the North Belfast News. “Then this site was identified. This was a joint project with Belfast City Council to develop the pitch. First of all the Naíscoil came on site, that was the first part of the project. Then in 2016, the main building for the school was ready. Originally, we had five classrooms and since opening we have had an extension of two more classrooms to bring us up to seven classrooms for seven classes.”

The benefits of an Irish medium education are widely acknowledged including fluency and literacy in two languages, cognitive advantages, increased educational attainment and confidence and identity.

Naíscoil and Bunscoil Bheann Mhadagáin creates and is part of a continuity of Irish medium education, from nursery to primary school and then onwards to Coláiste Feirste.

“A growing aspect of the school and the Irish speaking community is that we have teachers teaching in the school who have come through Irish medium,” said Máire.

“We have a lot of classroom assistants who came through Irish medium, quite a lot of them now have actually come from our own school. That is something we have loved seeing and is a great edition to the school.”

The primary school is a nurturing school which means everything the school does is through the six principles of nurture. This includes children’s learning being understood developmentally, the classroom offers a safe base, the importance of nurture for the development of self-esteem is recognised and that language is a vital means of communication. The principles also include that all behaviour is communication and the importance of transition in children’s lives is recognised.

“We are one of two Irish medium schools to have funding for a nurture room. We have a full-time nurture provision, that is for small groups support provision, so we have the nurture facility. This is a very important part of the school,” the principal added.

“We have also developed a sensory room and the sensory corridor. We would look at barriers to learning in the early years."

Community connections are also important to the school.

“We have a lot of connections to the Irish speaking community and the local community through different initiatives like supporting families in north Belfast, the Community Foodbank. There’s an initiative at the minute with TAMHI. Mental health is something that we would really be connecting with.”

Naíscoil and Bunscoil Bheann Mhadagáin are hosting an open day on Thursday 8th December at 6:00pm. Enrolment for Rang 1 and Naíscoil will commence on January 10th 2023.