Kylemore Abbey has more teachers than pupils

With its magnificent neo-Gothic castle nestled at the foot of Duchruach Mountain and spectacular vista over a pristine Connemara lake, Kylemore Abbey has always been considered a prestigious school.

But now its final students can, with absolute certainty, boast the country’s most elite education - because here the teachers actually outnumber the pupils.

Just ten leaving certificate students remain in the school before it closes its doors for the last time at the end of the academic year.

And these lucky girls will be tutored by no less than the equivalent of eleven full-time teachers - an astonishing pupil-teacher ratio that will have principals around the country looking on in envy from their classes of 30-plus students under the control of a single teacher.

Under a commitment given by the Benedictine sisters in 2006, pupils who had already started their education were allowed to finish out their five years in the all-girls school.

And with the school offering all the normal leaving cert subjects, the school has had no choice but to retain almost all senior teachers.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said the school had the equivalent of eleven full-time teachers.

There were more than eleven teachers engaged, but some were working part-time.

Along with the principal, there was a guidance counsellor and remedial teacher who worked part-time.

“Obviously that pupil teacher ratio wouldn’t be normal but you can’t just leave them in the lurch,” the spokeswoman said.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune