Meet The Staff

Nuala

School principal Nuala is a native of Castlebar, Co Mayo but has been made to feel very welcome in Tuam since the school opened in September of 2015.

Prior to working in Tuam, she spent 8 years teaching in a large, urban DEIS school in Inchicore, Co. Dublin. She completed her B.Ed. in St. Patrick’s College, Drumcondra in 2007 and went on to complete her masters, the M.Teach in literacy and parental involvement also in St. Patrick's College in 2012.

She has experience of working as class teacher, SET and HSCL and has a passion for infant education, literacy and promoting meaningful parental involvement. She has also worked as an associate with the Write to Read programme, providing teacher education on literacy best practice in the classroom.

Nuala is a world champion Irish dancer, an active member of her county Scor committee, and former secretary of her local GAA club, Breaffy in Co. Mayo.

Debra

Our school secretary Debra brings many years experience in the administrative sector. She is a graduate in Business Communications and Languages from Leeds Metropolitan University and she has worked extensively in the admin management sector both at home and abroad. 

Debra is the first person you will meet in our school, either face to face or on the phone and she is referred to as "the real boss" as she is key to organising the efficient day to day running of our school. She is the warm, welcoming and friendly face of Tuam ETNS and she  is also a keen volunteer in her local community and has been actively involved in her local GAA club, Comhaltas and Foroige.

Fiona 

Fiona joined the Tuam ETNS team in 2015 after teaching in a disadvantaged setting in Dublin for 10 years. A graduate of NUI Galway and St. Patrick's College Drumcondra, Fiona is experienced in early child hood education specialising in Maths and guided reading. She has completed the Tainiste course for Deputy Principals which explores leadership and promotes high quality teaching and learning in schools. 

Fiona leads our Professional Support Team, this group supports newly qualified teachers and new members of staff within the school.

Fiona is also an active member of Mustangs Basketball Club, this senior ladies team based in Castlebar has been very successful in the Longletrios League and Fiona is known as their sharp shooter!

Maeve

Maeve began her teaching career in 2009 and has gained lots of valuable experience having worked in large urban schools in London and Dublin before joining the team in Tuam ETNS in 2017. Maeve has a particular passion for helping children with diagnosed additional educational needs and as Assistant Principal is charged with organising special education and additional english in our school. She works with small groups and individual children to help support their learning both in and out of the class. She is also a founding member of our school's Nurture Room, an individualised programme to support targeted children during the school day. Maeve is also our active school coordinator and was instrumental in ensuring we achieved our first active school flag in 2021. 

Tara 

Tara is an experienced teacher who joined the ETNS team in 2019 and who lives the Educate Together ethos in her classroom as all of her pupils will attest to.  She is a passionate sportswoman and a wonderful role model for all the pupils in our school, especially the girls. She has represented her county in athletics, Gaelic and soccer and she loves to bring this energy into her teaching. She helps to coordinate and facilitate our after school sports activities and was instrumental in ensuring we secured our first Blue Flag for responsible citizenship in 2021.  She brings her love of ICT and technology into her lessons and was the power house behind developing our first school multi modal newspaper and podcast! 

Emer

Emer, a Williamstown native, joined the school in 2017 from Griffeen Valley ETNS. Prior to this, Emer attended St Patrick's College in Dublin where she achieved an honours degree in her B.Ed. She really enjoyed her time working in a large, urban Educate Together school but her passion was always to return to Galway. She has worked as both a class teacher and as part of the Special Ed team in Tuam ETNS. Emer loves teaching SESE (Geography, History and Science) and using all the wonderful resources we have in the school to support the children’s learning in these subjects. Emer was part of the team who devised our whole school plans in SESE and is famous for her preparation and organisation. She is a co-founder of the afterschool STEAM club and has also headed our Creative School Team.

Helen

Helen joined the Tuam ETNS team in 2015 when our school first opened. She has over 20 years’ experience in providing support to pupils with additional needs in a variety of educational settings and we are delighted the pupils in our school benefit from this experience. Helen has a strong interest in art and creativity in the classroom and has completed numerous courses to support this including Art Therapy in the Classroom. In our short history, many of our pupils have achieved national honours in prestigious art competitions including Credit Union and Texaco and this is in no small part thanks to the guidance Helen provides during school and in after school classes. She has also organised numerous artists to visit the school and inspire our pupils and has been a key member of the Creative Schools Team in Tuam ETNS. Helen has a keen interest in sports and cookery and is a highly sought after team member for our annual fundraising quiz!

Cheryl

Qualified in Early Childhood Care and Practice, and Special Needs Assisting, London born Cheryl has lived in Tuam for the past 15 years and joined the team in ETNS in 2017. Cheryl works as an S.N.A and is famous in our school for her compassionate ear and crafty flair, which explains why the children always want to visit her room, either for a friendly chat or to create a master piece!  Cheryl co-founded our very popular after school STEAM club where she shares her passion for all things Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths with the lucky pupils of our school and some of their wonderful creations can be viewed on our school Facebook page. Her mothering instincts and kind nature make her perfect for the role as special needs assistant. 

Renata

Renata joined the SNA staff of Tuam ETNS in September 2018 with a level 6 qualification in Special Needs Assisting. Delighted to further her qualifications, she has since completed a level 7 in Special Education Needs and a level 7 qualification in Irish language proficiency from NUIG. This is all on top of her degree in Economics from Budapest Business School. This is no mean feat considering her native tongue is Hungarian. Renata brings kindness and empathy to the role whether she is supporting a pupil one on one or in the whole class setting.

Renata has qualified as a nurture room practitioner, a programme we are delighted to offer in the school and has a passion for creative arts.  As a mother who moved to Tuam from Hungary, she has experience of settling into a new environment and the challenges this may present. She is always ready to offer a friendly ear and helpful advice to any families who may need it.

Katy

Katy has a wealth of teaching experience in primary schools in Ireland, the UK and UAE and we were delighted when she joined the ETNS team in 2020 to share her international experience and further add to the provision of education here in Tuam. She has an MSC in Psychology which informs her daily teaching strategies. Katy is passionate about learning through play and has written a handbook for teachers entitled 'Play in the Primary Classroom' which will be published in Autumn 2021. She has been instrumental in establishing our shared Aistear area for infant development which the children adore! In 2021 Katy became a member of  the PDST tram for STEM as an associate, designing and delivering professional development resources and workshops for teaching professionals. Katy facilitates after school Lego clubs which have proven very popular with the pupils of our school.

Dave

Dave Meehan joined the teaching team in Tuam ETNS in 2018 after completing his M.Ed qualification as a mature student. In a previous life he has worked as a life guard, bank employee and even a salesman, but always had a desire to become a primary school teacher.

This passion can be seen in his interactions with pupils and parents alike. He brings energy and enthusiasm to every lesson, along with his famed sense of humour.

Dave is always the first to volunteer for school events and his sparkly gold blazer, used when he is the bingo master at our annual parent association event, is now world famous! Dave loves playing and teaching chess to the pupils, coaches our after school football team for boys and girls and is a proud dad to two beautiful children. 

Angela

Before moving West, Angela, our Donegal native worked in Dublin in a disadvantaged setting and brings extensive experience to Tuam having began her teaching career in 2004. She is a proud mother of 2 busy boys and brings her kind, caring and fun attitude into the classroom which the children love. Angela has a passion for yoga as a qualified instructor and also loves music, reading and yummy food! She has worked at all class levels and is an advocate of life long learning. She has been a founding member of our school choir in conjunction with Leo Moran, member of the Saw Doctors and the Board of Management of our school. 

JP

JP, a Longford native made the move west to join the teaching team in Tuam ETNS. Having previously qualified as a health and safety manager, JP has completed a Masters in primary education from Hibernia College as a mature student. JP has worked in various roles in Tuam ETNS from support and classroom teaching to EAL. He has a passion for all sports and plays football with his local club, Balla GAA. He also enjoys coaching the children after school in GAA. He is our Green School coordinator and relishes working with our committee to maintain and gain flags for the school. He has forged positive
links with lots of external authorities and local groups e.g. Tuam Tidy Towns, Galway County Council and Irish Water. He is really looking forward to continuing this work and supporting our school to become greener and more sustainable. 

Niall

Tuam ETNS were delighted to have Galway native Niall joins our teaching staff in 2020. Niall graduated from Marino Institute in 2014 with an honours B.Ed degree and since then has worked in a number of Educate Together Schools in Dublin. He is a Learn Together advisor with the national team and since moving to Tuam has provided extensive CPD to all the staff here on the Learn Together Curriculum. He is currently advising the national team as they update the syllabus.

Niall is involved in the INTO (teachers' union) as staff representative, and also as the organiser of the popular inclusive competition “Different Families, Same Love”. He is the treasurer of the INTO LGBT+ Teachers’ Group and has a passion for equality in education.

Niall loves teaching Maths and Art and obviously facilitating the Learn Together Curriculum in his class!