What is the future of Educate Together?

How will our ethos transfer to Second-level?

Where will Educate Together be in 2020? – Will our ethos have changed?

How many Educate Together schools will exist in 2020?

What aspects of the education system need reviewing? – What can WE do to improve it?

Come to the Educate Together National Forum  - on Saturday Feb 25th – in Donabate Portane Educate Together NS

This is an opportunity to all involved in our schools to have their voice heard. The sessions will be facilitated, there will be small groups and a friendly atmosphere.

Details in brief

• 25th February 2012, 10am to 1pm
• Venue: Donabate Portane ETNS, Ballisk Common, Beaverstown Road, Donabate, Co Dublin
• Lunch provided at 1pm
• Children welcome – please advise the number & age of children on your RSVP

RSVP Essential

• Please RSVP by 17th February by email of by telephone
• email: NationalForum@EducateTogether.ie
• call: 01 4292500

Downloads

• National Forum timetable & agenda
• Driving directions to Donabate Portane ETNS
• Public transport links to Donabate Portane ETNS

Application should include:
Standard Application Form for Teaching Post (as this is an Educate Together school, please ignore the section on qualifications to teach religion, candidate’s religion, etc.)

Application to be sent by email only:
bspapplications@gmail.com

Applications must be received no later than 13^th February 2012

Following a successful public launch of our pre-enrolment list in Ashbourne, we are hopeful that a new Educate Together primary school will be opened in the area in the near future. As a result of the high level of interest from parents and guardians in Ashbourne, an Educate Together Start-up Group has been established in the area and will now proceed to make contact with the many parents who have expressed interest in setting up an Educate Together school.

Gerry McKevitt, our Regional Development Officer for Leinster said: “The demand we are seeing for an Educate Together school in Ashbourne is mirrored in other towns and cities across Ireland. We are looking forward to hearing the Department of Education and Skills plans for this area and are hopeful that the demand we are seeing will be addressed.”

Parents who wish to pre-enroll their children for the proposed new school can Click here to download the form and return it to:

Ashbourne Educate Together
213, Cluain Rí,
Killegland,
Ashbourne,
County Meath.

We’d like to remind all schools (with Educate Together as Patron) to return a copy of Appendix G ‘Declaration of Acceptance of Membership of the School Board of Management’ to the national office. You should keep the original of this on record in your minutes folder and send a copy to us.

To help you get to know us a little better we’ve  included a team photo of us all busy at work below!   Going clockwise from the left is Louise Daly, School Support Officer; then Sarah Williams who is the Volunteer Officer and Emma Grainger -the Ethos Development Officer. Last but not least is Deirdre O’Donoghue who is Head of Leadership & Governance Development. We are all looking forward to working with you over the next few years.

The Leadership & Governance Team- clockwise from left- Louise Daly, Sarah Williams, Emma Grainger & Deirdre O'Donoghue.

This is the third round of schools to take part in the Self Evaluation Process and on completion will bring the total to 22 schools. The list of schools interested in the next phase is being compiled with 6 eager schools already registered to start in September 2012.

If your school would like to be included please contact Emma by May as the briefing day will be set up before the summer break (seems a million miles away at the moment!)

Overall the comments have been very positive but we recognise that some participants, especially those with slower internet speeds, have had difficulty viewing some of the content. To help with this we have split up the video presentations into shorter instalments so they will load faster.  We have also made the  presentations available as .pdf documents so that these can be printed off if desired.  The interview section (between Barra and Trish) is currently being transcribed so that you will be able to read the conversation as well as listen. We are going to update the User Guide (simplifying it!) to assist with the initial logging on stage.  Thank you to all board members who have provided comments and have given feedback on the modules. It helps us to improve and adjust to your needs.

The next new module that will be available for board members will be on Appointments Procedures (aimed at Principals, Chairpersons and potential Independent Assessors). Further modules on Financial Management (for Treasurers), Child Protection (all board members) and Legal Issues (all board members) will be available in the future.

Rachel will be working with the team until 16th March!

We are delighted to welcome Rachel Bachar to the Leadership and Governance Development Team – Rachel will be an Intern with us until the 16^th of March, particularly supporting the development of a Volunteer Programme and helping with Ethos Evaluation sessions. A graduate of Theology and Drama Studies, Rachel hopes to become involved with young people in their ethical education through activities that promote inclusion and diversity.

The National Procurement Service (NPS) was established by Government decision in 2009 to ensure maximum efficiency in the area of public service procurement of goods and services. Following discussion between Educate Together and the NPS this facility is now available to Educate Together schools. The NPS uses information provided by participating groups of the public service community (including schools, local authorities etc) to bargain with service providers/ suppliers for a better rate for all involved.

Recent developments in public procurement mean that schools should be adhering to the following EU thresholds when selecting services/goods/ suppliers. By registering with NPS schools will be assured of compliance with these guidelines for all services purchased by NPS.  Check out the Public Procurement Guidelines for more information.

Schools are invited to register with the NPS on the link below. By registering for procurement the Board of Management of your school consents to NPS managing a competition to source electricity on its behalf. NPS advises that when a Board of Management registers it commits for a minimum period of one year with the electricity supplier subsequently chosen by NPS.NPS will initially invite energy suppliers to tender as part of a procurement competition for electricity supply.   This competition will identify a better rate than currently available to individual schools because NPS will be able to negotiate on the basis that it is representing thousands of contracts for the suppliers.  Having identified an energy supplier as a result of the procurement competition, NPS will forward contracts directly to schools by post or email.  Further competitions will be available to schools in the near future- e.g. Natural Gas, Fuels, stationary etc.

The more schools that register for national procurement the greater the potential savings for all.

Register for Procurement

For more information please check out these documents from the National Procurement Service

Public Procurement Guidelines

Facilitating SME Participation in Public Procurement

Application should include:
Standard Application Form for SNA Posts (as this is an Educate Together school, please ignore the section on qualifications to teach religion, candidate’s religion, etc.)
Referees (name, role, contact number)

Application to be sent to:
Chairperson,
Board of Management,
Tullamore Educate Together N.S.,
Collins Lane,
Tullamore, Co. Offaly.

Applications must be received no later than 8^th February 2012

Please send only documents requested. Please send relevant professional references i.e. related to experience in SNA positions.

Application should include:

Standard Application Form for SNA Posts (as this is an Educate Together school, please ignore the section on qualifications to teach religion, candidate’s religion, etc.)
Letter of Application
Written references
Referees (name, role, contact number)
Copies of Certificates, Diplomas, Degrees

Application to be sent to:
FAO: Chairperson Board of Management
Address: Maynooth Educate Together N.S,
Railpark,
Celbridge Rd,
Maynooth

Applications must be received no later than 03^rd February 2012

A panel of suitable applicants may be set up to fill vacancies which may occur within a four month period from the date of this advertisement.

This position entails working the Junior Infant day ie. 0.83 post.