THERE is a slight air of post-winter drabness about the school grounds with the grass flattened by feet and footballs.
Trees and shrubs are bare of leaves while the daffodils close to the small school outside Kilcullen, Co Bildare, have yet to burst into flower.
Inside the atmosphere is bright, busy and cheerful. The stories of Anne Frank, Claude Monet, and Michelangelo are pinned to the wall lavishly illustrated with drawings and photos. The main corridor has projects on Beethoven, George Frederic Handel and Rembrandt, presided over by a bunch of cheery open daffodils perching on the windowsill. On the opposite wall orchestral instruments vie for space.
There are posters everywhere. Wellies, runners and slippers nestle in the shoeboxes while the bord dulra contains treasures garnered from nature trips. There are two classrooms but one now serves as a library/ resource room. Helverstown National School has only 14 pupils.
Donna and Peregrine are sitting on the classroom floor building a block tower. They comprise junior infants. Eddie, Roseanne and Olywn are in senior infants. Stefan and Ann, bent over their maths, are in first class.
Second class is devoid of students.
Towards the window the older students - Nimah, Irene, Suzanne, Brendan, Terry, and Colm - are wrestling with calculating areas and perimeters. Michael is absent, having had an accident which required four stitches. It's as if a large family has come together in the bright room to study their lessons and play together.
Teacher Mary O'Mahoney must deal with seven curricula. When she came to Heleverstown two years ago, she had never taught a multi-class group. "The isolation was a big factor," she recalls. "We didn't even have a phone then. If there was an accident, I would have been stuck. Last Christmas we got a caretaker through FAS - he's here 20 hours a week. Last November we got a FAS classroom assistant, also for 20 hours a week. Without their help life would be very difficult." The school also has the services of a remedial teacher for two hours each week.
It's not easy to field a team for sporting events. However this year Helverstown School has a soccer trophy proudly on display - they won the Kildare boys under-11 soccer league. They ad to "borrow" two boys from another local school, Brannockstown. Perfectly legal, O'Mahoney hastens to add.
Being small has advantages, says O'Mahoney. She knows all of the pupils extremely well. They get individual attention. Each week the children do art and speech and drama and swimming lessons.
Fund-raising is not easy with only 10 families supporting the school. However O'Mahoney turns over the pages of her photo-album which catalogues activities from the school play to a trip to Glendalough to family day. The school has been visited by the local district nurse, fireman, garda and dental nurse. And Santa always calls.
