Educate Together Second-level News Vol. 1, Issue 4, May 2008
Professor Tom Collins Gives Boost to Second-level Project
Speaking at the Educate Together Principals’ conference, Tom Collins, Professor of Education at NUI Maynooth, offered great encouragement for the Second-level Project, when he said that he felt that Educate Together had an important contribution to make to second-level education in Ireland. Responding to a question about whether Educate together could really make a difference in the exam-driven second-level context, Prof Collins said “Educate Together moving into the second-level system can, I think, make an important and significant contribution to a momentum for change that is already occurring within the second-level sector”, adding that he felt the organisation had “a duty now to do that ”.
Professor Collins also congratulated Educate Together on the recognition of 12 new primary schools for September 2008. He warned that the organisation would have to work hard to continue to be “exciting and vibrant” and to maintain its distinctiveness in the context of this rapid expansion.
Public Meeting in Lucan – Wed May 28th, 8pm
A public meeting will be held in Finnstown Country House Hotel, Lucan, at 8pm on Wednesday May 28th. This is being organised by parents from Educate Together schools in the Lucan area who wish to revive the campaign for a second-level Educate together school in Lucan, which began in 2000.
The 2000 campaign resulted in over 1,200 children being pre-enrolled for a proposed Educate Together second-level school. However, despite this substantial demand and a concerted campaign on the part of local parents, the Department of Education and Science did not accept that there was a need for such a school in the area at the time.
As of September 2008 there will be five Educate Together primary schools in the Lucan area. This growth in demand, along with the establish of the Second-level Project in the Educate Together national office, has led a group of local parents to decide that it is time to revive the campaign. The purpose of this public meeting will therefore be to re-launch the Lucan Campaign for an Educate Together Second-level School, to provide local parents with information and to gain public support.
Please come along to learn more about the campaign, or simply to show your support. For more information contact lucanETsecondlevelschool@gmail.com or call Carol Dunne on 086 195 1037.
Facilitated Public Workshop in Waterford – Sat May 17th, 10am
A facilitated public meeting will be held in Waterford Educate Together National school on Saturday, May 17th at 10am. The purpose of this meeting will be to bring people up to date with the Waterford campaign and to discuss parents’ and students’ needs and wishes for the proposed second-level school. For more information email: contact@secondleveletw.com or visit the Waterford campaign’s newly published website: www.secondleveletw.com.
Working Groups Meeting This Week
The next working group meetings are taking place as follows:
Ethical Education Curriculum – Wed 7th May, 6pm, ET national office
Teaching and Learning Methodologies and Curriculum – Sat 10th May, 11am, ET national office
Management and Structure – Wed 21st May, 6pm, Westbury Hotel, Dublin.
It is also hoped that the Campus and Built Environment working group will meet for the first time this month. We are also looking for people to get involved in Lobbying and Campaigning.
Volunteers Wanted
If you have an interest in ET second-level education and would like to join a working group, or if you (or someone you know) has particular skills which would be useful to these groups please contact Emer at the national office or email secondlevel@educatetogether.ie.
Patronage and Trusteeship Negotiations
Department of Education and Science
We continue to await a reply from the Department of Education and Science in relation to documentation sent to them on 13th March in support of Educate Together’s application to register as a second-level patron.
IVEA / VECs
Discussions with representatives of the Irish Vocational Education Association as to how Educate Together and the IVEA might work in partnership at second-level are continuing. The next meeting is scheduled for June, when a delegation is due to visit some Educate Together National Schools to gain first-hand experience of how the Educate together ethos operates in practice at primary level.
That’s all for this month. Don’t forget to visit the second-level rooms in the forum and get chatting! www.educatetogetherforum.ie
Educate Together Second-level Project
Email: secondlevel@educatetogether.ie
Web: http://www.educatetogether.ie/2_campaigns/secondlevelet.html
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Educate Together Second-level News is published by Educate Together, the national representative organisation for multi-denominational education in Ireland. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily the policy of Educate Together unless expressly stated. Any non-commercial organisation is free to copy the contents of this newsletter as long as the source is attributed. Educate Together supports the standards proposed by the ePhilanthropy Foundation. See Code of Ethics (http://www.ephilanthropy.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ethics) If you have received this email counter to your wishes or no longer wish to receive it please contact secondlevel@educatetogether.ie. We also undertake that the details of any person who subscribes to this newsletter will not be forwarded to any third party or used for a purpose other than to receive this newsletter unless you have expressly given permission.
Educate Together 2008
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