A self-paced immersive journey into the heart of Irish language, culture and heritage.

Scoil Scairte, the Irish School you always dreamed of, presents a self-paced edition with lifetime access to 22+ hours of pre-packaged content celebrating the very best of Irish language, heritage and culture.

This special boxset series offers a pathway for you to dive into the Irish language - An Ghaeilge, at your own pace, in your own time, anywhere in the world.

Course price: €219

What is Scoil scairte?

Created by The Trailblazery in collaboration with Manchán Magan and supported by Foras na Gaeilge, Scoil Scairte is an award-winning cultural learning experience that weaves language, heritage, creativity, indigenous wisdom and kinship with individual, social and ecological wellbeing. 

We understand that the Irish language is a portal to many realms and when we connect with it we are woven into a beautiful web of interconnected relationships with cultural memory and ancestral wisdom. So, we offer a holistic roadmap to help reorient and root us back into right relationship with ourselves, each other, the Irish language and the wild world. Our intention with Scoil Scairte is to engage in a structured and somatic way with ancient and emerging Irish cultural heritage. Our proven success shows that people are seeking a direct felt experience that opens the heart, sparks the soul and rewilds the mind.

More than an Irish class, Scoil Scairte is an immersion into the psyche and soul of a powerful language, culture, people and place.

For the curious life-long learner, this is a golden opportunity to begin a love affair with Ireland and the native language our ancestors spoke. Inspired by the grá (love) for the live series, this bumper edition combines all our favourite parts of the first two live Scoil Scairte programmes.

Now available to all as a pre-packaged course, Scoil Scairte is suitable for Irish-language beginners and refreshers and anyone drawn to know more about Irish cultural heritage.

What's Involved

Our Scoil Scairte self-paced programme offers a roadmap to help reorient and ground you back into relationship with our cultural heritage and native language. A key element of this programme is a focus on holistic learning (and unlearning) from the inside-out, so that you enjoy a direct experience of the language that is sensual, magical and practical. All of our work is somatically informed and trauma sensitive.

This course includes 9 core learning modules, with both introduction and integration features. Each module is themed and you will receive a range of videos, audio prompts, PDF care packages and bonus resources to explore as you go. Our trailblazing guides take you on a journey into the heart and soul of the Irish language and culture, through a broad range of shared experiences from storytelling and music to folklore, hip hop, hurling, knitting, sean nós singing and other creative practices. 

The creative syllabus features bilingual learning sessions with inspiring teachable moments, music by internationally renowned artists and activists, and a language learning component led by our brilliant muinteor Mairéad Ní­ Chonghaile. These elements will be available as independent videos curated from the recordings of the live Scoil Scairte series. You will also receive two seasons of Manchán Magan’s exclusive Focail agus Fís film series, where he explores vocabulary and themes, from the language of love to the navigation of forests as Gaeilge. Also included are 2 immersive Immramas - bilingual guided rituals infused with Irish cultural motifs, images and phrases led by Kathy Scott. As this is a self-paced course, you will have lifetime access to all materials anytime, from anywhere in the world.

This self-led course is guided by inspiring bilingual multidisciplinary artists, activists, creatives, educators and indigenous language keepers from Ireland and beyond, including Kathy Scott (Host, Creative Director of The Trailblazery), Manchán Magan (Writer, Presenter, Bee Keeper, Documentary-Maker), Mairéad Ní Chonghaile (Presenter, Actor, Múinteoir), Kneecap (Sundance Award-winning hip-hop trio) and Liam Ó Maonlaí (Musician, Hothouse Flowers), Dr. Louis de Paor (Poet, Director of the Centre for Irish Studies at NUIG), Annemarie Ní Churreáin (Poet, Writer, Mentor), Úna-Minh Kavanagh (Journalist, Gamer, Forager), Timmy Creed (Actor, Writer, Theatre-maker), Maggie Creed (Yogi, Recording Artist, Scientist), Róise Goan (Artistic Director, Producer, Writer), Dr. Margaret Ann Noodin (American poet, Anishinaabemowin language teacher, Professor of English and American Indian Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee), Ola Majekodunmi (Journalist, Commentator, Filmmaker), Siobhan Moore (Ajeet) and Aisling Urwin (otherwise known as Woven Kin), Ceara Conway (Performer, Visual Artist and Singer), Diarmuid Lyng (Hurler, Campaigner, Wild Irish Retreats), Bayo Akomolafe (Poet, Philosopher, Professor, Writer and Activist), Clare Sands (Singer, Songwriter, Multi-Instrumentalist, Composer), Seán Ó Tarpaigh (Psychotherapist, Actor), Rising Appalachia (Musicians, Songwriters), Fearghus Ó Conchúir (Choreographer, Dance Artist and Artistic Director), Iarla Ó Lionáird (Singer, Producer) and Carmel Winters (Playwright, Filmmaker).

✦ 22+ hours of pre-recorded content

✦ Contributions from 20+ Bilingual Guides & Musicians

✦ 9 Language Lessons with Mairéad Ní Chonghaile

✦ 2 seasons of Focail & Fís (Words & Vision) with Manchán Magan

✦ 2 Immrama Immersions - guided rituals led by Kathy Scott & produced by Brian Crosby

✦ Bonus Interview Specials hosted by Manchán Magan

✦ Curated Field Notes & Resource List

Our Scoil Scairte, self-paced edition is a dynamic Irish language learning experience curated with care. This course offers you a pathway to venture into the realms of Irish language and culture at your own pace.

The purpose of these recorded sessions is to provide a modern, multi-faceted platform and create a supportive environment that inspires people to connect with the potency of this ancient living language. It taps into a growing cultural desire for new ways of learning and unlearning, connecting and sharing at this extraordinary time on our planet.

This course is a wild initiation into the power of Irish cultural heritage. Join us today and explore how language can shape how we see the world and our place in it.

We believe that Scoil Scairte should be available to folks from all walks of life and so we have created a number of partial scholarships for those who may need support in accessing this course. Please see FAQ below for further details.

✦ You feel pulled to discover more about Irish cultural heritage and native language

✦ You have lost your comfort with the Irish language

✦ You are keen to explore the Irish language for the first time

✦ You would simply like to enjoy an cúpla focal

✦ You wish to reclaim your cultural roots

✦ You want to revitalise the Leaving Cert Irish you learned at school

✦ You are seeking new ways of engaging with nature, landscape and the inner realms through the Irish language

✦ You are drawn to engage with indigenous ways of seeing, sensing and knowing

✦ You are called to speak your mother tongue as an ancestor-in-training

Scoil Scairte: Self-paced FAQ’s

Scoil Scairte: Self-paced is a package of videos, audio files, PDFs and assorted digital files so you can complete the course independently at home. As such, there are no live elements in this course. Each module will have approx. 60-mins of video content to review at your own pace, with detailed Field Notes slides and lists of bonus resources for your own exploration. 

There is no set time to complete the course in and you will have lifetime access to all materials.

The programme is beginner-friendly as many of our participants are totally new to Irish or have been out of practice since school. We teach bilingually, in Irish and English, so everyone can follow. 

For those with intermediate or advanced Irish, our programme features language surrounding many niche subject areas, such as foraging and traditional craft making, that can deepen your connection with and conversations in Irish.

After completing your purchase, you will receive an email with a link to the course hosted on Kajabi. You will be prompted to create an account there and after doing so will have permanent access to the course materials.

You will have lifetime access to all course materials. You will be able to return to the materials at any point in future.

This course serves as a perfect introduction to the live Scoil Scairte series, and you are welcome to join any upcoming spirals to continue the journey.

We believe that Scoil Scairte should be accessible to people from all walks of life.

However, we understand that due to life circumstances, many people do not have the privilege to participate in a learning experiment like this, so we will offer a limited number of partial scholarships after all general admission tickets have been claimed.

If you or someone you know would like access to this work but circumstances are holding them back, please apply. Individuals from BBIPOC, LGBTQ+, marginalised communities and anyone who may experience economic hardship are encouraged to apply also.

In service of those in greater need, if you are in a position to be able to pay the full tuition, we kindly ask that you do not apply for a scholarship.

Note: with partial scholarship, the cost is reduced from €199 to €99.

If you have any further questions please contact hello@thetrailblazery.com