THERE is a photograph on the wall of a Catholic primary school taken almost a decade and a half ago.
It shows the smiling faces of the 165 children who then attended St Joseph's PS in Lisburn.
The image, which was captured at the end of Maria Gough's first year as principal, is a good example of a 'before' picture.
This was before a greater number of families began to move out to Lisburn in search of both a new environment and a new school.
St Joseph's experienced a modern evolution in the 14 years Ms Gough has served as principal - its pupil numbers now exceed 400 and it is in high demand.
The present building opened in 1965 and replaced the Convent National School, which was built in 1902.
Ms Gough was the school's first lay principal, every previous leader having been a nun.
She joined St Joseph's, having spent the previous 22 years as a vice principal at St Mark's in Twinbrook.
She said she was joining a school that had appeared to be in decline.
"The school was living on the past families. There were 14 P1s the first year and I left 90 P1s at St Mark's. It was a culture shock," Ms Gough said.
"Twinbrook had grown through the Troubles, anywhere where people could get a house. Twinbrook had a lot of housing and it fairly filled up.
"At St Joseph's I got to know all the P1s, I made it my business to know everybody's name. It was easy the first year when there were only 14."
Ms Gough has strong views on some of the more contentious educational issues - she is anti-academic selection saying children should not be made to feel failures at age 10 or 11.
She is also an advocate of reception classes, something the education minister is keen to phase out. She also says she has no love for the controversial new end of Key Stage assessments.
In the past 14 years, her school has flourished and developed. It now has a fully equipped ICT suite, two log cabins used for group activities and wrap around child care.
Ms Gough said she was particularly proud to be the first school to provide round the clock service to children and their families.
It was also one of the first schools to offer Educare - education and child-care on the same premises.
With working parents in mind, the school began to organise an 8am breakfast room with organised activities for pupils - a "youth club in the morning".
"Parents can drop off their children from 8am and pick them up at 5.30pm. It has flourished and parents love it. This is staffed by a fully qualified team," she said.
St Joseph's is a bright and welcoming school - artworks are on prominent display throughout. If Ms Gough could choose one word to describe her school, it would probably be "happy".
"I want the children to live life to the full. Life for me is fun. I want a safe and happy place for them and an excellent standard of education. This is a happy school," she said.
Musical talents of all pupils have been developed with an active programme of music tutoring in instruments including violin, tin-whistle, guitar, recorder and African drums.
Ms Gough, a former camogie player from Fermanagh who says she is now an honorary Antrim fan, also helped increase pupils' involvement in gaelic games.
She said was a long battle because there had previously been no strong tradition of football, hurling and camogie.
"I always talk about the holistic development of the child. What I have tried to make sure is that the academic work is supported by the development of sport, the arts and music," she said.
"Even though I don't agree with the system, we have a moral duty to the children in this school. We are giving children the best chance and we are proud of the academic achievements of the school.
"Across any class we have a breadth of abilities with all talents being taught together."
Ms Gough said while she would miss the day-to-day involvement in the life of the school, she was looking forward to retirement.
She is from a family of educationalists - two of her daughters are teachers and her husband Kevin recently retired as head of Edmund Rice College in Glengormley.
"I just want to do other things. I've given all my life to helping other families, now I want to help my own," she said.