Lathallan pupil and guest blogger Joe Barry (S4) has been conducting a series of “interviews” with Lathallan School teachers so you can better get to know our team behind the scenes. 

In September, I had the pleasure of speaking with Miss K. McIlroy in the first of a series of “interviews” that I will be doing with the teachers here at Lathallan School. This will provide insight and background to the fantastic teaching body we have. 

Miss McIlroy teaches Spanish and French at Lathallan and is also Head of Teacher and Pupil Collaboration. Her love of languages was fostered by her growing up in Oman, a country that is completely saturated with different cultures and most importantly languages.

Miss McIlroy has taught at Lathallan for 8 years and for the purpose of this blog, she has shared a bit about what she has come to love about our school. 

“Before I came to Lathallan, I had a variety of experiences across a wide range of schools in both the national and international community. Lathallan is the first place felt completely at home and got on so well with colleagues, there is a real sense of community. It’s the first school where I know the names of almost all of the students in the entire school thanks to the genuine family atmosphere.

“As teachers we have autonomy and we’re encouraged to think creatively about our class delivery. I feel it’s this freedom that helps us to coach our pupils to achieve good results. But, the best thing about Lathallan is driving down the drive in the morning and thinking, even eight years later, I work at Hogwarts.”

Although Miss McIlroy teaches languages, she wears many hats at school. 

“There is such variety each day. I’m always doing something different. Either I’m teaching French, or Spanish, or I’m leading a school Zumba session or I’m teaching dressmaking and crafts.”

As a pupil, I see Miss McIlroy teaching in the Ballroom on a daily basis, in the summer it has an incredible view into the Walled Garden and in the winter months the fire is lit to warm up our 19th Century Castle classroom. So I was intrigued to know a bit more about her interests outside of school. 

“I love to sit on the sofa and read books. My favourite author? Gosh, that’s an interesting one. There are a few I read over and over again, such as Philip Pullman, I love the Dark Materials trilogy. JK Rowling – as you may have guessed from my previous Hogwarts reference, I am a Harry Potter fan. I also sometimes get lost in the girly romantic books. But my all-time favourites are the Little Women books by Louisa May Alcott – simple innocent stories with a moral.

“In a lot of the books I like, there’s always another world. A supposed utopia that is usually a dystopia. I like the idea that people see things in different ways. And I like using my imagination. I’ve always read since I was a kid, my parents always read to me when I was growing up. And I think that has a huge impact on me. And I don’t think many parents do that these days in the days of social media, and telephones.

“I like doing individual sports, let’s say aerobics, swimming, that kind of thing.  I love sewing and dressmaking. I’ve recently started making all my own clothes. That’s something I’m going to bring to life during our Senior School Professional Development Afternoons (PDA).“

For the past 8 years Miss McIlroy has been teaching languages in this school, and never lost her passion for teaching or the languages. She continues to be a beacon of happiness and joy, someone who I have got to know as a pupil and I hope you will have the pleasure as well.