Trevor Cole: ‘Ballougry is a small school with a very big message’

Trevor’s photography features beautiful landscapes and different cultures and countries but it was at home, next door to Ballougry Primary School, where it all started.

The Education Authority (EA) announced recently that they were beginning the process to close Ballougry Primary School because of small numbers but the school is now fighting back. Trevor hopes that by sharing his experience at the school and how his time there shaped him as a person, more people will join the campaign to save the small school with a big heart.

“I was at school here in the 1960s and I have incredibly fond memories of my time here,” said Trevor.

“I’ve been an educator all my life so I really see the value in rural education. This school is in an area, where it supplies the need for education for both sides of the border. I think that, in itself, is incredibly valuable. On top of that, it’s an integrated school so you have children of different persuasions who come to the school and that is what Northern Ireland should be about, in my opinion. Our future lies in integration, not separation. That is where this is a small school with a big message. That’s the most important thing. That’s why I’m here.

“I’ve taught my whole life in international schools where students come to learn the value of understanding other cultures. There’s a similar need to integrate here. The Catholic- Protestant divide still exists and it shouldn’t exist. Children should be together all the way through from the age of four or five until they get to university because that’s how life will be after education.

“Schools are for educating. You can teach kids about different religions but different religious belief systems should be, in my mind, kept out of school.”

Actress Amanda Burton grew up in the schoolhouse at Ballougry, where her father, Arthur Burton, was principal. She was great friends with Trevor when they were children and the two still keep in touch.

He recalls: “Arthur Burton was my teacher at the time and he enjoyed teaching us about everything. He’d read stories and we would act, we’d go for walks in the fields, we’d be out in that playground, really enjoying ourselves. They were incredibly happy times. That’s something to truly appreciate and relish. Those times when you can grow up in a truly healthy environment. We didn’t realise it at the time but we were eating organic food, there was no pesticides or fertilizers, the air was completely fresh, and it still is. All the food was cooked by Amanda’s mum in the kitchen. School was something you would want to do, rather than something you had to.

“I truly look back and think those formative years helped to shape me as a person. Even now, when I’m going to Dunfanaghy, where I live, sometimes I come out the Letterkenny Road and deviate to have a small glimpse at the school and my parents’ old house. It gave you what I think education is all about. Stimulus not only in the classroom but to get outside the classroom. You learn and remember far more, not by opening your book, but by teaching little kids to think for themselves. That’s my philosophy on education; we should be teaching kids to think, not to pass exams.

“It’s really strange to be back in my old school. Some bits of the school are new but the original structure was there when I was here. It’s incredible really. It was a tiny school then but it had a really big buzz about it. I remember Arthur telling me that when he first started teaching, he remembered kids coming into school barefoot. They would walk across the border. Times have changed but I think rural schools are absolutely needed still. I want to see Ballougry thrive, not die. It deserves to thrive. That would be a huge mistake to see a growing school left out of the educational equation in rural areas.”

Ballougry Primary School have set up a petition in an attempt to save the school and raise funds for the campaign: https://www.change.org/p/save-ballougry-p-s?signed=true