MY SCHOOLDAYS: Kathryn Thomas, presenter of RTÉ's No Frontiers travel programme, had the benefit of "the Family" when starting out to school

I went to the Carlow National School in Green Road. It was just across the road from me. There's a big housing estate now, but myself, my brother and sister used to literally walk out the front door, walk across the field and there we were.

I can remember the first day being brought in by the hand by Mammy. There was a lot of crying and screaming going on and I couldn't understand it. I was delighted. Nerves were never really an issue on the first day of school for me. I remember the first thing we did was those potato shapes, dipping bits of potato into paint and splatting it on pages.

My brother, who is a year older than me, had already gone to school. He was in the same classroom as me because they did junior and senior infants together. We were like the Mafia down there; my grandparents lived next door and my aunty and uncle lived across the road, and when I started school there was myself and my brother and my two cousins together. One of the cousins was in my brother's class and myself and my cousin Alan were in junior infants together. The following year, my little sister came and the next little cousin came, so there was a whole gang of us.

I always loved school. There was one particular teacher, Mrs Gray was her name. She was very into speech and drama and writing essays and giving us loads of leeway artistically and I loved her. I was doing drama outside school with a teacher called Mary Doyle. It was something I was always very big into. Mrs Gray organised the Christmas Nativity plays. There was one play we did called Babushka and I had the lead role in that and I remember everyone in the family coming to see the biggest night of my life. I think the year before I'd been the arse end of a donkey - this was a step up.

I went on to St Leo's Convent in Carlow. My Mom had been teaching there, but she gave birth to my younger brother when I was 13 and gave up teaching, so I escaped having a parent in the school. However, at one stage she was filling in for someone and she was across the corridor from me - but she never taught me, thank God. The other class would be complaining they had this really strict teacher in, Mrs Thomas, then they'd put two and two together. Of course I was mortified.

I was only in Leo's for a year. I then went up to boarding school in Dublin to King's Hospital. I don't know whether it was me who didn't suit the convent or the convent didn't suit me, maybe it was a bit of both. My brother was at King's Hospital already but I remember at the time not wanting to go. I wanted to stay in Carlow with my mates, but I think Mom and Dad realised I was having too much fun in the convent - with the lads' school across the road and the usual thing. They decided to pack me off quicker than anticipated, so off I went.

I hated it for the first three nights. On my first night there, I remember walking into the dorm and I had my bed in the corner and everyone was giving each other big hugs and kisses and talking about how they got on over the summer. They all knew each other. I was sitting on the end of my bed feeling sorry for myself. I remember not sleeping the first night and getting up in the morning and going into the bathroom. There were communal showers and people running around naked and the whole thing was just a complete shock to me. I don't think I actually did have a shower my first day and went in and ran out again. There was a girl from my primary school, Alison Bailey, she was really good and introduced me around the other girls. So while it was hard to get used to, within a week I was flying around starkers, without a care in the world.

They had a great drama teacher there, Margaret King. Right from the word go I was involved with her and I did all my speech and drama exams, the whole way up to grade eight. We were always involved in the musicals and the different feiseanna that were going on around the country.

I've never been one not to take a risk, so there were a few incidents in school and I did manage to get myself suspended. It was the usual thing, sneaking out the window and the like. I think I was four weeks out of school and didn't know whether I was going to get back in again. I was straight down to work in Superquinn in Carlow. It was just before the Christmas holidays in fourth year. I remember the night it happened. I thought it was the end of my life, but I think just because, in general, I was never out to cause trouble. I just ended up in trouble for silly things and I always got on well with my teachers and I always did my work in class, so I think that was my saving grace and I got back in. I suppose I was just high-

spirited, really.

In conversation with Olivia Kelly