School Life(2017)

Storyline

• A year in the life of two passionate and inspirational teachers in the only primary-age boarding school in Ireland. Headfort School, housed in an 18th Century Hogwarts-like estate, embraces tradition and modernity, and this is John and Amanda Leyden's life. For John, rock music is just another subject alongside Maths, Scripture and Latin, taught in a collaborative and often hilarious fashion. For Amanda the key to connecting with children is the book and she uses all means to engage the minds of her young charges with literature. For nearly half a century these two have shaped thousands of minds but now they must start making preparations for their retirement? What will keep them young if they leave? — Soilsiu Films John and Amanda Leyden have taught for 46 years at Headfort School, the last remaining primary-age (6-12 year old) boarding school in Ireland. The school, not unlike Hogwarts, is emblematic of a crumbling class system. John and Amanda were young teachers in their '20s when they met there, married and have lived their whole adult life in the school grounds. The film focuses on how John and Amanda face the possible end of this lifetime of commitment to the school they love, while at the same time they rise to the ongoing 'challenges' amongst the children.