43/365 - Geoff Finan - St Audeon’s Primary School, Dublin City Centre.

Dublin

12 Feb

I got emotional talking to Geoff, not for sad reasons, but because it’s rare that I encounter someone who is so selfless, humble, proud of others, and so unbelievably grateful to his own Mother.

Geoff is two things, a poet and a principal and for the first time today he’s letting those two sides of himself come out in one interview.

Geoff and his team of teachers, SNAs and support staff have created a space that I could only have dreamed of when I was a child. The walls are colourful, and bouncing off them in huge letters are positive messages of encouragement.

“We believe in positive affirmation. That's our only rule in the school, kind hands, kind feet and kind words.”

Geoff didn’t ever see himself as a Principal, but he did always want to teach. His art loving, well-read Mother instilled in him the value of a good education his whole life.

“She'd say to me, they can take everything, son, but they can't take your education.” It’s a line that is echoed in a poem Geoff recites to me at the end of our chat today.

“My siblings and I went to a gaelscoil, when my mates all went to schools in the area. I saw the effects of a good education, something that my mates didn't have. They drifted towards drugs, dealing, using heroin, that type of stuff.”

What I see in Geoff is the effects of a strong matriarch, raising her children to have courage, pride and compassion. And in turn, what Geoff is doing in this school is giving so many little boys and girls a chance in life they may not otherwise have.