Educate Together Second-level News  Vol. 1, Issue 8 - December 2008

Date for Your Diary: Petition To Be Delivered to Minister

On January 28th at 12 noon, the second-level petition will be presented to Minister O’Keeffe. It is hoped that supporters of the second level campaign will join parents from Educate Together schools around the country and deliver the petition to Minister Batt O’Keeffe, calling on him to allow Educate Together to open its first second-level school.

Over 6,000 people nationwide have signed the petition calling on the Minister for Education and Science to register Educate Together as a patron of second-level schools as a matter of urgency, and to facilitate families who wish to exercise their right to choose a second-level school with Educate Together's specific ethos.

Of note is the wide geographical dispersal of the petition signatories, with the four corners of Ireland represented. The range of signatories is also impressive – as well as many parents, the following have signed: Prof Sheelagh Drudy, Chair of Education, UCD, Prof Aine Hyland, former Professor of Education UCC, Shahzad Ahmed, Muslim Board of Education, Mark Kelly of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Colm O’Gorman, Irish Director of Amnesty International, and the Dublin Multicultural Resource Centre.

We would like to have as many supporters of the Second-level Project, there on the day. Educate Together will be holding a press conference in the morning to highlight the issue and then assembling at the Dáil to deliver the petition to the Minister.

So Come Along and Join Us On

PETITION ACTION DAY
JANUARY 28th
At 12 noon outside Leinster House

Student Voice Research Project

Plans are underway to carry out a research project on Educate Together past pupils’ perspectives on the idea of Educate Together second-level schools. The qualitative research project will explore the perceptions of past-pupils as to the core values of Educate Together schools as they experienced them and explore how these students feel these values could develop in an Educate Together second-level context.

A steering group involving collaborators from Dublin City University and the University of Limerick has been established to guide this project. The findings from this research project will contribute to and inform the development of the Educate Together Second-level Project.

Second-level Education Officer

We are delighted to announce that Fiona Richardson has joined the second-level team at the Educate Together national office. Fiona brings a wealth of experience to the team, having worked in second-level schools in Ireland and the UK, as well as in the Second-level Support Service, on the Junior Certificate Schools Programme (JCSP), and the National Behaviour Support Service (NBSS).

Fiona was also involved in developing and implementing the Civic, Social and Political Education programme for second-level schools. She is an Educate Together parent and served on the Board of Management of Ranelagh Multi-denominational School. During her first few months as Second-level Education Officer, Fiona will be focusing on developing a Blueprint for Educate Together second-level schools.

Fergus Finlay Launches Lucan Second-level Website

On 12th December Fergus Finlay, Chief Executive of Barnardos launched the new website of the Lucan Task-Force for an Educate Together Second-Level School. The event took place in Griffeen Valley Educate Together NS, Lucan. A Children's competition for the design of the logo for the proposed new Second Level School was also launched by the Task-Force on the day.

Check out the website at: www.lucanet2.com/

That’s all for this month. Don’t forget to visit the second-level rooms in forum and get chatting! www.educatetogetherforum.ie

Season’s Greetings & Happy New Year to You All

Educate Together Second-level Project
Project Manager: Emer Nowlan
Education Officer: Fiona Richardson
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.