Andrew Sweeney
Founder & Director
Why I started WILD
Wild as in real. Wild as in the west of Ireland.
I chose the name WILD because it represents both something in me and the experience I want every student to have here.
Not wild as in chaotic. Wild as in nature: the raw, beautiful landscape of the west of Ireland. I want students to leave with something memorable, something fierce and something that stays with them long after they return home.
To create that kind of experience, I knew WILD could not be a normal language school.
The story behind the school
Our programmes reflect that idea. The Dual City Journey gives students one week in Limerick and one week in Galway. It is a brave idea, but that is exactly the point: we want to create experiences that feel different and genuinely worth travelling for.
The same thinking shaped our City and Sea Syllabus. It is not book-led; it is experience-led and place-led. What students see, hear and do outside the classroom becomes the material they work with inside it. Their activities, conversations and daily experiences become podcasts, projects and digital work. English is not separated from the journey — it is part of the journey.
My background is in education. For ten years, I ran Rightword Language School in Limerick. Rightword began in one room in the basement of a building on O’Connell Street: one student, one teacher and one whiteboard. It grew into a five-storey school in the heart of the city and achieved Eaquals accreditation during COVID — one of the proudest moments of my career.
What stayed with me most were the students: young people who arrived frightened and unable to speak, then became fluent, confident and ready to build lives of their own. That transformation showed me what education can do when it is personal.
“We want to be big in our ideas, but personal in everything else.”
We want to know every student’s name. We want partners and parents to call us and speak to someone who genuinely knows their child or group. Our promise is simple: a real education, a personal experience and an authentic Ireland.
Educational philosophy
Communicative, or nothing
Language is used, not studied
Every class produces something real — a podcast, a debate, a guided tour — so English becomes a tool rather than a subject.
Place is the curriculum
The Burren, the Shannon and Connemara supply the content. Students learn vocabulary they will stand in the middle of that afternoon.
Small enough to be accountable
We cap the season at 150–200 students. Directors know every group leader by name and answer the phone themselves.
Real families, real Ireland
Full-board host family stays with vetted households who eat with our students, drive them and argue with them about hurling.
Our mission
English fluency through authentic cultural exchange
Fewer students, better connections, actual immersion.
A direct line to the founder
If you call WILD, we answer.
View on LinkedIn“We want you to have the time of your life with us.”
Ten years in the business, with vast experience across Irish ELT — teacher training, CEFR curriculum design, host-family networks and outdoor programming across Limerick and Galway City. WILD English School is a new venture built on all of it: a small, teacher-led school on the Wild Atlantic Way that answers the phone, meets the contract, and keeps the groups small enough to know every student by name.