When Archbishop Ryan National School opened in 1985, its enrolment list ran to eight lines and the capital's sprawl was only beginning to encroach.
Today, the school is enveloped by houses, sitting as it does between Lucan and Clondalkin, in one of the fastest-growing parts of the city. It has more than 1,000 pupils, divided between a junior and senior school.
The school is also in one of Dublin's most ethnically diverse areas, and 43 per cent of its pupils are classed as "international". A new report on the school's diversity points to the opportunities - and the daily strains - that such cosmopolitanism has thrown up.
It suggests that for teachers, parents and children the experience has been generally positive. However, "the fact that every year the population of international children is growing in the schools is identified as an issue of concern to staff across both schools", it notes.
The greatest challenge is that of language, it says. Teachers reported that significant numbers of children and parents do not speak English as a first language (33 per cent, in the senior school's case). This presented major difficulties at the enrolment stage and for parent-teacher discussions, with children being used in some cases to interpret between adults.
"All of the teachers consulted reported that the pace of class teaching is inevitably slowed in order to minimise the degree to which children with communications difficulties are 'left out' or 'left behind'," the report notes.
The school has devised its own language programmes, but the report queries the Department of Education's restriction of language support for international children to two years. This might be sufficient for some, but others need a third and perhaps fourth year of tuition, it argues.
While it praises the school's efforts to develop engagement with parents through its home school liaison teachers, the report raises the strong belief among teachers that there is now need for specialist intercultural in-service training to support teachers to deal with the challenges of a diverse classroom.
"We were trained for a different kind of job," one teacher remarked. "We now have children joining our classes who have no background in Irish culture and heritage and we know very little, if anything, about theirs."
There was generally positive feedback from Irish and foreign parents, who praised the school's inclusive atmosphere and efforts to involve them. For some Irish parents, deeper concerns arose.
"The teachers are trying to manage classes where some of the children have no English at all, and others have very poor English," said one parent. "They are forced to slow the pace of their teaching." Others stressed the need to retain an emphasis on Irish culture. "I think it's great to celebrate different cultures," said one. "But I feel there is a danger of losing focus on Irish culture. We are so busy planning to include all the others that we almost forgot our own."
Pressure on places in the junior school is an issue of "critical concern" for the school and local parents, the report states. At the time of its writing, there were 206 applications for 125 places.
Some Irish parents expressed annoyance that international children who were new to the area could secure places when some children of local Irish parents could not. A number vented anger at the approach to immigration at Government level.
"I feel frustrated," remarked one parent. "The Government don't seem to notice what's happening and we are just not getting the local resources we need. There are no social outlets and no youth clubs. Secondary school availability will be an even bigger issue over the next few years."
The report, funded by Clondalkin Partnership, recommends to the Department of Education and school authorities a review of the support provided to schools with many international children and a new special support service along the lines of the existing home school community liaison service for parents of international children.
