Never mind that headlong rush to buy your Ryanair tickets for a summer escape after two years of gulag: when the sun is shining and the air is fresh and clear, there is no better place to be than on an Irish headland facing the sea. And if it is Killiney Hill, all the better! Yes, Gav Maguire may well be in charge of St. Conleth’s International Travel Portfolio but Mr. Lonergan is challenging for the position of local tour guide: today, he led Third Years and their Form Teachers through Dalkey and up Killiney Hill, stopping for tax-free tea at Bono’s.

Third Year is always a tough year: you have the accelerated physical and social changes of adolescence and state exams combining in an unholy mess. Add in Covid restrictions, and the corresponding mind-forged manacles, and it is easy to see why it has been a tough time for the boys and girls… and their poor teachers! Well, Lonergan’s Lark was just the tonic. The sun and the sky and the sea and the serenity that just radiates between the three: it is all you need. We breathed deeply and freely and can face anything… even getting back to school on time for Afterschool Study!