Public Meetings

Educate Together organises regional meetings with local parents and start-up groups to support their efforts towards the establishment of a new school in their area. These meetings generally serve to provide information to a local community on how an Educate Together school could be of benefit to them.

Public regional meetings are generally held as part of a new school application process.  The Department of Education and Skills now uses geographical population and CSO data to establish which areas are in most urgent need of new school places. Over the next five years 40 new primary and post primary schools will be established by the Department and patronage of these schools will be awarded by the Minister on the basis of applicants establishing the viability and local demand for the school (amongst other criteria). 

Local Parents attend a public meeting about Educate Together second-level schools.

Educate Together's Regional Development Officers work closely with local parents in an area to get a group established. This group then become a focal point for local engagement and the distribution of information in the locality. Public meetings are held to give the local community a chance to hear directly from Educate Together staff how their schools operate and how their children will benefit from our educational approach. 

The areas where Educate Together are actively engaging with local communities for new school development are listed by county in the Our Schools section.