"I PUT the phone down. I thought Clodagh was nuts. How could we start our own schools"
This is how Rosemay Hamilton recollects her first reaction to the idea mooted by artist Clodagh Thornton in the mid-1980s to set up a multi-denominational school in the Kilkenny area.
The idea was sown, however and nurtured with much sweat and struggle. This month, more than a decade on, the parents and friends of the Kilkenny School Project saw the official opening of their 10-teacher, 270-pupil school on the outskirts of the city.
As part of the Educate Together movement, it is child-centred, co-educational, multi-denominational and democratically run. It is the first purpose-built primary school of its kind outside Dublin - an enduring testament to the determination, shared vision and energy of a committed group of parents and teachers.
The school opened in September, 1987, with 69 children and three teachers in a rented prefab, a local scout's hall. The long, slow battle to gain permanent recognition from the Department of Education and become included it the capital estimates then began.
When that was won, the group had to find a permanent site and raise a local contribution of £125,000 to match the Department grant of £595,000.
The burden of local contribution to the building of a new school was enormous for those involved in the project, which could not rely on parish funding, Mr Tommy Murphy, chairman of the executive committee, told the crowd at the opening.
"It remains extremely difficult to set up a school in the Educate Together sector," he said. "It involves a hugely-demanding amount of work and we are very unsatisfied with the financial resources available."
But the active involvement of parents in the school has continued and is one of the key factors in its success. Parents were involved in developing the religious education core curriculum and have also been invited to develop an English curriculum. Another group of parents is developing an arts and crafts programme, and the school has applied to the Arts Council for an artist in residence.
It is planned to establish a children's council in September. "Our aim will be to provide a forum whereby children can express their views on school-related matters and where they can be enabled to resolve differences," the audience at the opening was told.