Sheila Ahern's two boys, Oscar Cummins (4) and Finn Ahern (6), are both looking forward to starting out in their new school, Castleknock Educate Together National School.
Sheila Ahern will wave her two boys off at the school gate of Castleknock Educate Together National School in Dublin this week. It will be the first day of school for Oscar Cummins (4), while Finn Ahern (6), is an oldtimer at this stage, heading into first class.
"It's marking the end of his babyhood," Sheila Ahern says of Oscar. "It's his day. It's his experience and I just have to support him. It will be really strange. It's a real turning point for them."
Such is Oscar's eagerness to get to school that he's been preparing and packing his school bag for weeks. "The lunch is going stale in the school bag as we speak. "He's had a school bag for two years. He has copy books. He'll be fine."
She has also changed her own routine and is starting to work from home - largely to have more time with her boys.
She and her partner, Kevin Cummins, are "totally happy and confident" with the school. They have been involved in the Educate Together schools for a number of years.
"I know all the teachers. I'm not just handing my children over at the school gate. We'd be very aware of what's happening in the school."
They also wanted the boys to enjoy "the good influence of girls" and grow up with "girls as friends . . . It's such a good balancing influence".
Rena Brett is a home economics teacher in Scoil Ruain, a VEC school in Killenaule, Co Tipperary. This year she is responsible for all first-year students.
Rena Brett has no regrets at the prospect of heading back to work. "I'm actually looking forward to going back." She has been teaching in Scoil Ruain, a second-level VEC school, since the early 1970s. "I feel I've had a good holiday and I'm ready. I'm looking forward to meeting everybody and to examining the Leaving Cert results in more detail."
As one of the school's eight assistant principals, she has responsibility for all first-years. "It's a completely new role for me. I'll be on duty from day one. I'm looking forward to getting back to basics with first years. You take a lot for granted with Leaving Certs."
"First years are always enthusiastic. They are much more sophisticated now. We find that we pick up more of the problems in first year that we used to pick up in second year.
"Bullying is a big problem in every school. It can be very, very subtle - something like putting out the light or turning off the hand-dryer - that kind of thing."
Cormac Early (14), a second year student at Newtown School in Waterford travels by bus from Dunmore East every morning with his two older brothers, Michael (17) and Diarmuid (15), who are in Leaving Cert and Transition Year.
After a long summer holiday Cormac Early (14) will be up at 7 a.m. today to get the bus for the 10-mile journey to Waterford. Getting up early "will probably be very hard for the first few days. In the winter term, waiting at the bus can be cold."
This year he's in second year at Newtown, a private second-level school in Waterford city, originally founded by the Quakers in 1798.
French and English are his favourite subjects. "I like languages," he explains. And he loves his guitar lessons. "I'm looking forward to them." One of the best things about his return to school this year will be the swimming pool in the school. There's also a chance to do athletics "because after school we do sports", he says.
In comparison to primary school, he says, second-level school "was very different. Instead of having one teacher, you'd have the class split into eight and one teacher in each class. It wasn't that strange. I got used to that quickly."
The best part of being in second year is that "there are no big exams in second year and you're not a first-year any more. You've got people below you."