A former pupil (and proud 'weirdo') looks at what made Newpark Comprehensive stand out from its peers - for Sunday Miscellany on RTÉ Radio 1, listen to 50 Years of Newpark Comp by Tim Carey above.
People thought we were a bunch of weirdos. Among those was a local convent girl called Sinéad, whose house I used to walk past on a weekly, if not a daily, basis, to visit a friend who lived on her road. With my long hair, denim jacket with a Che Guevara patch on one arm and a CND patch on the other, a cloud of smoke wafting in my wake, I not only fitted the stereotype of a Newpark Student, for a year or two I probably was the stereotype of a Newpark student.
I started going to Newpark Comprehensive in Blackrock, County Dublin, in September 1980. As with many people my teenage years were far from the best of my life – family challenges, acne, insecurity are not things I like to dwell on.
Newpark, which marks its fiftieth birthday this year, was one of a new generation of free secondary schools. But there were a number of things that made it stand out – or gave us that alternative, "weirdo" reputation...
Listen to more from Sunday Miscellany here.
