Sean Kavanagh

St Bernard's PS and NU, Glengormley

School website: https://www.stbernardspsglengormley.com
Subject or primary school year: Primary.
Your place of birth: Belfast.
Studied at: Queen's University Belfast and Liverpool Hope.
First job: Off-licence sales assistant
What it taught me: The world is difficult, everyone is fighting their own battle, so just be kind to each other.
Family/status: Married with two children.
Best advice you could give someone thinking of a teaching career: I would highly recommend a career in teaching. If you are interested in teaching, get as much experience working with young people before applying. Every day is different, every day is challenging, there will be highs and there will be lows. Most of all you will have a great sense of pride and achievement, knowing that you have had a positive impact on the lives of the young people in your care. 

I have been working in St Bernard's PS and NU Glengormley since 2008. I have had many different roles, Year 6 and 7 teacher, Numeracy and ICT Coordinator, Designated Teacher for Child Protection, Vice Principal and now Acting Principal. In my role, I am responsible for leading the school community in the implementation of our shared vision for St Bernard's PS and NU. Our children are at the heart of everything we do. Through hard work and dedication we have collectively created a unique culture in St Bernard's, focusing on respect, reflection, equality and excellence.

We have a holistic approach to each child’s development and we provide a child-centred, nurturing, inclusive learning environment. Rather than viewing the recent school budget cuts as a restraint, we have used it as an opportunity to innovate and find new creative ways to provide the best opportunities for our children. This year we have introduced a self-funded Nurture Group, The Nest, to meet the wellbeing needs of our children. The first term has been extremely successful and now as we enter term 2 we have further developed the Nurture provision to ensure more children can benefit from this provision.