One of the things that teachers at primary level often miss out on is adult past-pupils coming back to tell you how they are getting on in life. Children grow up and memories inevitably fade, especially of when children were very young. It was refreshing then to see Bowie front-man Gerry Leonard giving credit to Vincent Conway, former Principal of the School, for putting the good hand on him and planting the seeds of the career in music. It is more common- nay fashionable- to ‘soil the nest’ or deny the positive influence of an institution or a significant individual on a life and career. This feeds the idea of the self-made person whose success is achieved unaided and untutored. As the seanfhocal goes,
Is éigin don leanbh lámhacán roimh shiúl… a child has to crawl before it walks
*Past-pupils