Irish School of Excellence

Kieran O'Brien founded the Irish School of Excellence in 2005 as a venture to reduce the number of road deaths of young drivers killed on our roads each year. He has devised a course that promotes a common-sense and safety led approach to driving for transition year students at school between the ages of 15 - 18, which is taught during school hours.

After a successful pilot scheme in Ennis, the course is now being made available nationwide. Kieran has recently engaged the services of Professional Accounting Solutions in Galway who have a wide range of experience in dealing with such projects. PAS was set up in 1992 by Padraig Considine to cater for bookkeeping / taxation requirements for small businesses and has since began to specialise in delivering training programmes in financial management, bookkeeping and taxation. With their expertise in financial planning and delivering training programmes, Kieran is confident that he will be able to promote this project beyond the pilot stage to schools in Clare and neighbouring counties.

From September onwards the course focuses on preparing students to take the Driver Theory test. Talks are given by representatives of the Road safety Authority, the Gardai and the insurance industry.

Kieran hopes that by the end of the course students will have gained the knowledge and confidence to take a full driving test. Apart from local schools, Kieran has also received a positive response from government departments, local politicians, and particularly the Clare County Enterprise Board who have been supportive in more ways than one.

While not promoting the school of excellence programme, Kieran can be found in the summer months at Lahinch at his smoothie bar on the promenade outside seaworld. Just look for the big orange, but if you can't make it to Lahinch and you just want to surf there on the web - you can at www.coolbananas.ie

Polish Classes

Polish students with a difficulty with English can receive Tuition with our night classes run by our instructor Magdalena Musial. Magdalena has already taught over 70 students over the past year and they have all passed even though some of her students had no english whatsoever. Magdalena teaches with the Driver theory CD but with Polish Translations handouts, which has proved to be a huge success. Along with helping her Students to get their permit for driving, Magdalena stresses with great detail to her students the importance of safe driving for both her students and the other road users.

Magdalena can be contacted at Magdalena@irishsoe.com or 085-1324966 for more details and booking appointments.

Sign Language Classes

We would also like to hear from students with hearing difficulties as we are in a position to deliver classes through sign language.