“I’m not from that school”

Informed by interviews with students and an exploration of the schools' respective photo archives, “I’m not from that school” examines the ingrained propensity for people to develop collective identities based on comparisons with other groups. One of each portrait now hangs on the walls of the schools.

I left the Gaelscoil Chluain Meala in 2005 after having spent nine years there as a pupil. I don’t remember ever having a single conversation with any of the students from St Mary’s CBS, with whom we shared a twenty-foot wall.

St Mary’s students only speak Irish while studying it. We studied almost entirely through Irish and were punished if caught speaking English. They don’t take any girls as pupils after playschool. We are unisex. We have students from the age of four. They start enrolling students from the age of six. Our school was built over one hundred years ago to serve as a council building. Theirs was purpose-built in the 1950s. We signal the end of lunch break with a brass bell rung by a different student every day. St Mary’s uses a siren. They are run by the Christian Brothers. We are not. They have a carpark. We don’t. Their uniforms are navy. Ours are green.

The incongruence between us was a barrier created by decisions made by others, reinforced and perpetuated by its own existence. My least favourite teacher is now teaching in St Mary’s. The principal of St Mary’s is married to the vice-principal of the Gaelscoil. They have four children together, all currently enrolled in the Gaelscoil.