General Members Meetings

March 5th 2008- Clarion Hotel, IFSC, Dublin- General Members' Meeting on the Ethical Educational Curriuclum.

Agenda

January 26th 2008- Mont Clare Hotel, Dublin- General Meeting on Second Level
Please visit the Second level page for slides of presentations, feedback, notes from workshops and photos of the day.

November 10th 2007- Castleknock Educate Together National School

The first General Members Meeting of school year 2007/2008 was held in Castleknock Educate Together N.S. on Saturday November 10th. A fantastic welcome awaited everyone on the day and congratulations and thanks are due to Castleknock ETNS Board of Management, Staff, Volunteers, and Parents. Representatives from thirty-one schools in the Educate Together network were greeted by a warm speech from Sean Jennings, Chairperson of Castleknock ETNS Board of Management. The turnout at the meeting was very high with almost one hundred members from all over the country attending.

Castleknock Educate Together N.S. hosted the event in their new building which they moved into last April. The school was officially opened last Friday by Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin.

General Members Meetings are consultative opportunities for activists from Educate Together schools to get together to discuss matters of common concern, best practice and policy issues that need to be brought to the organisation for decision.

The Agenda was as follows:

VEC Community Primary School - Briefing and Consultation of Member’s views on the Governments proposal
Emergency Opening of Bracken Educate Together N.S.
New Staff in Educate Together Office
Intent to apply to open in 20 areas for 2008
Second level project


Download Slides of all the presentations

These issues prompted lively debate and vibrant discussion from the members and the proceedings were chaired by Noreen Byrne, Chairperson of Board of Directors of Educate Together. The atmosphere on the day was very positive and provided great opportunities for networking for all representatives.

The following are the handouts that were sent to members and were available on the day :

Educate Together's statement on Governments proposed VEC community primary school

Educate Together's statement on the emergency opening of Bracken ETNS

Educate Together's statement on the submission of intent to apply to open in 20 areas in 2008

Progress so far on Second Level Project

Click here to visit photos of the day

February 10th 2007

Swords Educate Together National School
The second Educate Together General Members Meeting of school year 2006/2007 was held in Swords Educate Together N.S. on Saturday February 10th. Swords ETNS is a rapidly developing Educate Together school based in pre-fabricated buildings in Applewood, Swords. The school opened in 2001 and they are hoping to move into a permanent building very soon. General Meetings such as this are consultative opportunities for representative members of Educate Together schools to get together to discuss matters of common concern, best practise and policy issues that need to be brought to the organisation for decision. A fantastic welcome awaited everyone on the day and a huge congratulations and thanks are due to Swords ETNS Board of Management, Staff, Organising committee, Volunteers, Children and Parents. Representatives from 27 schools in the Educate Together network were welcomed by a warm speech from the Chairperson of SETNS's Board of Management, Pat McNally. The turnout at the meeting was very encouraging with well over 100 members from all over the country attending.

The Agenda was as follows:
(The powerpoint slides/ notes of the presentations may be downloaded by clicking on the relevant link)

10.00- 10.30 New Schools for 21st Century Ireland - SLIDES- Paul Rowe, Chief Executive, Educate Together
13.30- 11.00 Campaign 2007 - SLIDES- Jane McCarthy, Development Officer, Educate Together
11.30- 12.00 School Size
Presentation 1: Jane McCarthy: SLIDES
Presentation 2: Theresa Hagan, DCU School of Education-SLIDES)
12.00- 12.15 Break
12.15- 13.45 Practical Whole School Approach to Ethos Delivery
Presentation 1: Niamh McGuirk, Teacher, Donabate Portrane ETNS
Presentation 2: Gerard Kelly, Princpal of SETNS
13.45 Lunch

These presentations prompted lively debate and vibrant discussion from the members and the precedings were chaired by Chris Lennon, Director of Educate Together. To conclude we watched a short film of the children of SETNS singing their school song. Overall the atmostphere on the day was very positive and provided great opportunities for networking for all representative.

Also on the day 'Our World, Our Future- a teaching resource on development for Senior Primary Geography, for 5th and 6th classes' was available for schools to take away. This valuable resource is published by Irish Aid, Department of Foreign Affairs. If your school missed out on your copies please contact Louise Daly at the Educate Together office (01 4292500 or louise.daly@educatetogether.ie)

Other important handouts that some of you might have missed on the day:

Executive Summary of the Business Plan
Campaign 2007 Case Statement
Campaign 2007 letter to the Minister
DCU research (literature review) on School Size

14th October 2006
The first General Members Meeting of the school year 2006-2007 took place in Griffeen Valley Educate Together N.S. by kind permission of the Principal Tomas O'Dulaing and Board of Management. At the meeting the Board of Directors presented our new 3 year Business Plan. This plan has been a work in progress since the Summer. Educate Together's campaign- New Schools for 21st Century Ireland was also formerly launched on the day in an attempt to mobilise all members in the run up to the 2007 general election. The office would like to thank all at Griffeen Valley ETNS for their help in the run up to and also on the day.

March 2006
The second National Forum of Educate Together in the school year 2005-2006 will be held on Saturday, the 4th of March 2006 in Waterford Educate Together N.S., by kind permission of the Principal and Board of Management, at 11:00am.

The purpose of the meeting is:

• to provide a Forum for Educate Together school communities, Staff and Directors to meet and mingle
• to introduce key speakers to the Educate Together sector and vice versa
• to stimulate debate on educational issues within the sector
• to launch the National Campaign for this year

Each school is invited to send a delegation. The delegation can be a combination of people from the Board of Management, Patron (where applicable), Staff, Parents' Association, etc. There is no limit on how many delegates can attend per school. Morning coffeeand light lunch will be provided for each delegate at a cost of €10.  This charge can be paid on the day.

However it is important that names of all delegates are sent to the National Office by Wednesday 1st March to arrange sufficient catering along with a short (max 200 word) summary of information or issues that you would like to have raised at the meeting.

If you have any queries, please contact Deirdre Mangaoang at 01 4292500, or by email deirdre.mangaoang@educatetogether.ie

We would encourage schools to use this opportunity to participate fully in defining the issues that are to the forefront of our thinking and practice as an educational movement.

The Directors and staff of Educate Together look forward to meeting with you,

Mary Aust, Director with Responsibility for the National Forum, Educate Together
email: nationalforum@educatetogether.ie

Educate Together
National Forum Meeting
Waterford Educate Together N.S.Morrisons Avenue, Tycor, Waterford (tel: 051 355714)
4th March 2006
11:00am – 3:00pm
Agenda

11:00 - 11:30      Coffee and Registration
11:30 - 11:35      Welcome:  Mary Aust, Director
11:35 - 12:05     Talk by Dr Sarah FitzPatrick, Deputy Chief Executive, National Council for Curriculum and Assessment
“What has the NCCA been up to?” – An overview of work at early childhood and primary level
12:05 - 12:15     Questions and Answers
12:15 - 12:30     Report on the On-going Work of the National Office
12.30 - 12.45      Campaigns Committee
12:45  -14.00      Light Lunch and Networking Opportunities
14.00 - 14:15      “The Democratic Process in Educate Together” – How your school community can get involved
14.15 - 14.30      “The new schools of 2005”  - Highs and Lows during the first six months in each school
14:30 - 14:45  Open Forum - An opportunity for representatives from school communities
to talk about what current issues and challenges they are dealing with
14:45 - 15:00      Response from the Board of Directors - David Denny, Chair

November 2005

The first National Forum of the 2005/2006 school year took place on Saturday November 12th and was kindly hosted by Ranelagh Multi-denominational school. This National Forum was focused on the "We need a hand!" campaign . A full report and photo is available here.

March 2005
The second National Forum was held on March 5th, 2005 at Limerick School Project. Our guest speaker was Ms. Joan Crowley O'Sullivan from the Special Education Support Service. Copies of the key presentations are available from the the office. The National Office would like to sincerely thank everyone at Limerick School Project for hosting a dynamic and hugely enjoyable Forum

The first National Forum took place on October 16th, 2004 at the Central Hotel, Dublin 2. Copies of the key presentations and workshop notes are available from the National Office.

Broadly the National Forum is designed to cover the following areas:

• To provide an opportunity for schools to exchange information and ideas based on experience;
• To provide an opportunity for schools to support each other;
• To provide an opportunity for personnel in schools to network with each other;
• To act as a line of communication between the Directors of Educate Together and schools; in particular, to ensure that the Directors have an efficient way of reporting on their activities to the constituent members of Educate Together;
• To operate as a medium to consider policy issues required to be considered by the Directors;
• To bring forward policy proposals for consideration at an annual meetings;

Membership and Format of the National Forum:

• Each school has the right to nominate four persons to the National Forum. The manner of selection of these people is the responsibility of each school. The National Forum meets three times during the school year, at venues to be decided, but at least one of which will be outside Dublin.  The meetings are organised by Mary Aust, in conjunction with the National Office team.
• The meetings of the National Forum are day-long affairs, with a reasonably long lunch break, on the grounds that one of the important functions of these meetings is to provide networking opportunities.