Gaeltacht summer courses at Coláiste na Rinne

Coláiste na Rinne is an Irish college in An Rinn, in the heart of Gaeltacht na nDéise in west Co. Waterford, founded over a hundred years ago. It runs two kinds of summer course: a general course that aims at an overall improvement in a student’s command of Irish, especially the spoken word, and a more intensive programme for students preparing for the higher-level Irish paper of the Leaving Certificate. Irish is the working language of the college, in class and outside it.

Students on the general course either live on campus or stay with a Gaeltacht host family nearby. Whichever they choose, they follow the same full programme of classes and recreational activities, including evenings and weekends. Students who live on campus have everything on one site — accommodation, meals, classes and activities.

On campus, students sleep in separate dormitories on separate floors, one for boys and one for girls. The dormitories are divided into smaller sections, each with two single beds, a locker and a wardrobe, or in some cases two sets of bunk beds. House Parents (Tuismitheoirí Tí) sleep in the dormitory area overnight. The alternative is a room with a local Gaeltacht family; these families have been hosting students for many years. Students who want a place on campus are advised to book early, as those places fill first.

Meals are prepared freshly on site each day from locally sourced produce, and the menus are rotated regularly. Students are offered a choice at each meal, and the kitchen caters for allergies and other dietary needs in close cooperation with parents and guardians. The day starts with breakfast, with lunch at midday, tea in the early evening and supper before lights out.

The afternoons and evenings are a programme in their own right: football, hurling, rounders, basketball, volleyball, pitch and putt, handball, tennis, table tennis, chess, draughts and swimming at designated beaches, and céilí dancing every evening. Treasure hunts, walks and competitions are organised each week. Students do not go home at weekends — the weekend has its own schedule of activities, and Sunday includes Mass and an afternoon and evening of games and céilí.

The college stands in its own grounds a ten-minute drive off the N25, outside Dungarvan. It has dormitory accommodation, a dining hall, classrooms, a céilí hall, playing fields and tennis courts, and a campus bank where students can lodge pocket money and draw on it on weekday mornings. Nurses are on call through the summer months.

For many students this is their first stretch of time living away from home, and the college counts that as part of what the course is for: independent living, new friends and a language that stops being a school subject. Students are supervised through the day and evening by teachers and young adult supervisors. Friendships made here often last well beyond the course.