Brian Baker describes his experiences as a youth at Killyleagh school, which had a mostly Irish student body. His teacher was Mrs. Lillian Prince, and he had to walk over 2 km to school through summer and winter. He remembers how many of the girls had to warm themselves from the cold over heat registers after walking to school in the winter because they were required to wear skirts. The students were also all children of farmers. He remembers his first year of school in 1947 there was no hydro or washrooms in the school, and one teacher taught all eight grades. Once every two weeks a music instructor from Hillsdale would visit, and once or twice a month a Reverend from Thornton visited to deliver customary religious instruction.
