Brónagh O'Sullivan

Gaelscoil an Lonnáin

https://www.gaelscoilanlonnain.com

Subject or Primary School Year: Primary 2

Place of Birth: Derry

Where you studied: Queen's University and St Mary's University College

What was your first job? Rang 2 teacher at Gaelscoil Uí Dhochartaigh

What did your first job teach you? I learnt a lot about myself as a teacher and the skills I needed to improve on to be at my best in the classroom. I learnt that you are the most important person to a child while they're at school and your outlook and personality will have a major impact on the children. You have to be enthusiastic, positive and approachable as a primary school teacher and work at the level of the children. I learnt that teaching has changed so much since my first job and that when teaching children you need to adapt to your environment and that one shoe doesn't fit all. I taught Primary 1 and Primary 2 and I learnt that the children depend on you to be their safe space, their comforter, their "mammy" at school and that they depend on you. It taught me that you need to work together in school, all staff together as a team. I learnt a lot from my classroom assistant, he had been working in the school for years and had great knowledge and relationship with the children. I also learnt if you have a good leader at the top it filters down through the school. 

Family/Status: I have a partner and one daughter.

Best advice you would give to someone thinking of a teaching career:  If you're passionate about children and want to nurture children, then teaching is the path for you. If you love your job, you will enjoy teaching and it will come with a lot of job satisfaction and it won't feel like a job. You will grow strong bonds with the children in your class and they will bring so much joy and happiness to your life. As well as teaching the children daily, you will learn a lot about yourself and you will learn a lot from the children you teach. You have to be open-minded and passionate about teaching and be enthusiastic, caring and have a positive outlook on things because the children depend on you. You have to be flexible, creative and able to think on your feet. To become a teacher you need to understand children, be at their level and want to help children, not just academically but nurturing. 

Brónagh qualified as a primary school teacher in 2009. She worked in the community on a project helping adults return to education before starting her first job in the Gaelscoil in October 2012. She always wanted to be a teacher because children bring so much happiness and joy. Brónagh gets great job satisfaction when children feel they have accomplished something by the end of the year. She brings a holistic approach to teaching, nurturing children and building their confidence and self-esteem. Children, like adults need to feel happy and safe in an environment before they can learn new skills, she says. 

Brónagh has always been involved in sport and likes to incorporate sport/movement and dance as much as possible into her school time-table. She has loved sports from a young age, competing in gymnastics and athletics competitions and GAA games. She loved competing in individual events and then playing Gaelic football for her school and her team. She also loves going to the gym, participating in Hyrox competitions, and pushing herself and learning new skills. She loves meditation and yoga to help with inner peace and help with her mobility and physical health.

She is a mammy to a seven-year-old girl. "We love to make memories together," she says.