Educate Together launched their prospectus for Lusk’s new second-level school at Rush & Lusk Educate Together National School on Thursday, December 8th. Local parents, community representatives and North Dublin TD Clare Daly were in attendance.
CEO Paul Rowe and Education Officer Ann Ryan presented the prospectus and gave insight into how the new Lusk school would run with Educate Together patronage. New teaching and learning methods, an integrated curriculum, student councils and parental involvement were some of the many features of the Educate Together model that were well received on the night.
Paul Rowe spoke of Educate Together’s role in the future of Irish Education. ‘Over the past five years, Educate Together has invested heavily in research and has developed an innovative model for second-level education in Ireland. This model is based on national and international best practice and is now ready to be implemented in the new school being built in Lusk. If appointed patron, Educate Together will offer the children in Lusk an excellent, state-of-the-art education in a school designed to help them reach their full potential’
Ann Ryan’s presentation focused on the formal structure of the school and how the latest teaching and learning methods would work in practice. Clear practical examples were given of how a student’s day would be structured, how their academic progress would be monitored and enhanced and additional skills would be nurtured.
Educate Together has been working on its second-level project for over five years. Its ‘Blueprint for Second-level’, launched in 2009 drew universal acclaim for the quality of its proposals to create a new standard of second-level school in Ireland. The Minister of Education Ruaíri Quinn praised it as a model of excellence when formally recognizing Educate Together as second-level patrons in May this year.
Commenting on the syllabus Clare Daly TD said ‘I am very impressed with the vision for second-level education Educate Together is planning to implement in Lusk. I’m sure that in years to come there will be a number of Educate Together second-level schools across North County Dublin’.
The campaign for an Educate Together school in Lusk has been led by a group of local parents. Chair of the group John McKenna gave his impressions of the meeting ‘ I feel it went very well and the parents attending were very interested in Educate Together’s proposals. Hundreds of local families have already registered their interest in the school and we are very hopeful that Educate Together will get patronage. An Educate Together second-level in Lusk would offer our community the most modern education available in Ireland in a state-of-the-art facility’.
Educate Together is applying to open five second-level schools over the next few years. In addition to Lusk it also has strong local parent campaigns in Drogheda, Greystones, Tyrellstown and Blanchardstown where new schools are planned. Groups have also been established in Waterford, Cork, Galway, Mullingar, Swords and Balbriggan– all of which are lobbying for schools to be opened in the near future.
- Parents interested in expressing their interest in the school or to organize a copy of the prospectus should go to www.et2ll.info
- For more information on the Educate Together’s current application process & campaign groups for second-level schools, click here
