Strabane school bids farewell to beloved nursery teacher

STRABANE Contolled Primary School has said farewell to a beloved member of staff who had been part of the educational facility’s fabric since it opened 60 years ago.

Sheila McKnight said she is leaving her position working with the nursery in the primary school with a heavy heart, but will embrace retirement full of fond memories.

Her involvement with the primary school goes back much longer than the 30 years she has spent in the nursery unit.

She reveals, “I was one of the first cohorts of pupils who entered the school back in 1964 and loved my time there so you could say that my involvement in Strabane Primary School is 60 and not 30 years! My own children and grandchildren have all attended the school as well so Strabane Primary runs in our family, for sure!”

Initially, Sheila was in an office job, working in the accounts department of Sheils’ shop on Main Street, but always wanted to work with children.

She said, ”If I’m honest, I didn’t much like working in an office
so I went off and did a HNC in Early Childhood Studies, applied for a position in the Primary School and I’ve been there ever since, firstly in the playgroup since 1993 before taking a job in the nursery, and loved every minute of it.”

Asked what drew her to a life in early learning education, Sheila said, “I think the appeal of working with children, especially ones of that age, is seeing them develop and grow in their formative years; you get a sense of their personality and what sort of person they’ll grow up to be even at that age and I love engaging with them at their level. Even outside of working, my family have always been in the business of helping children; my husband and I fostered for many years.

“I’ve dealt with hundreds of children during the past 30 years, and those children bring their own back to the school, so I get to see how the next generation has grown up and I just love seeing how adults I took care of as children have grown into the wonderful adults that they are. It’s wonderful!”

Sheila admitted that, like any job, there were challenges. She said that ‘every day is a school day’, but added there was never a time when she was disillusioned. Cherishing the ‘nice, warm feeling’ of seeing the children progress made her realise that she didn’t have such a bad job.

When asked what was on the agenda for retirement, Sheila replied, “Two things; spend more time with my beloved grandchildren and travel.

“We already have a cruise booked for later on in the year so that’s something to which we can look forward and remember fondly my time working in Strabane Primary School.”