Please Sir...

Mercy Secondary in Kilbeggan will be a poorer place as this academic year begins and the teaching career of deputy principal Michael McGuire draws to a close.For 38 years the teacher has been at the heart of the school and was a "constant in a sea of change and the reason why the school is the way it is today", according to friend, boss and former pupil, Mercy school principal Gareth Farrell.A 'few' years ago now, the young Mr Farrell approached his geography and career guidance counsellor Mr McGuire and said that he wanted to become a secondary school teacher."I told him no way, that's not the job for you," laughed Michael. "He was a very clever fella and while he was good at geography he was great at business and accounting and I told him to go away and be an accountant. He did follow some of my advice and took a business degree and a Masters from UCD but then he showed up about 15 years later as my boss."The last two years working with him have been extremely comfortable and extremely happy. But then again all the time I have spent here has been a happy time and all the teachers I have worked with over the years have been very kind to me and I hope that I have been good to them."Aside from one year teaching in Galway, Mr McGuire has been living in Tyrrellspass and teaching at Mercy for his entire career and is a native of Ballyhaunis in Co Mayo.While he will be sad to leave he has plenty of plans for the coming months - but that is after he has set everything in place for the coming year. Mr Farrell knows exactly what he will be losing when his friend and colleague retires because Michael already has next year's timetable drawn up."He has been doing the timetable for 37 years and wouldn't have left us without making sure that everything was ready again for next year," said Mr Farrell."Michael would tell you that he does it because he is still under contract until September 1 but I know that he does it because of his loyalty to and love of the school. He wants everything to run as smoothly as possible."Mercy Kilbeggan is known for its ethos of care and respect for its students and taking an interest in students as individuals has been key to the school's successes said Michael."We don't just pay lip service to caring for the students and I think that's because we have taught their parents and since the catchment area for the school is fairly small we know every pupil and we know their family."When the Leaving Cert results came out last week you would have seen all the teachers here in the school and they were nearly more worried about what was happening than some of the students."The other thing that you would have noticed is that care that all the students have for each other. Mr Farrell has cultivated that: he has encouraged the teachers and the students and last year he set up a mentoring service whereby each teacher took on two or three sixth years. We met about once a month and asked them about their plans and how everything was going. Sometimes it can all be too much of a push with the sixth years. It's all about study and work and perhaps we don't take enough time to make sure that they are okay."When he finally finishes up in September, the former geography teacher has an unusual ambition to fulfil and instead of heading for a sun lounger he hopes to take a plunge into some arctic conditions."I do love the sun but I have always wanted to go somewhere that I could see glaciers and geysers after having taught about them for so many years," he said. "So I would love to go to Alaska or Iceland. Mind you I don't know if my wife will be too happy about it," he laughed."Over the years this school has been very good to me and I would like to thank everyone that I have worked with and of course I would like to thank the Sisters of Mercy who gave me a job in the first place."