Developing our school

 

The Educate Together network of schools is going from strength to strength as more and more schools are opened each year throughout the country. This gives parents in Ireland real choice in the type of education they wish for their children. At the recent Educate Together AGM a significant step was taken in the history of Educate Together history as delegates voted to replace the term ‘Multi-denominational’ in the Educate Together Charter with the term ‘Equality based’, which more accurately reflects the changing face of Ireland. Paul Rowe explains the decision here

http://www.educatetogether.ie/blog/no-child-outsider

In Rathfarnham Educate Together we are about to celebrate the 25th anniversary of our school opening its doors. Today, as ever, RETNS offers an education which is inclusive and equality based, and which sees the child as paramount in the education process. We are extremely fortunate as a school to have a vibrant community of support which has meant that we can offer the best possible education in a school that is well resourced and aesthetically pleasing for all who work here. We have a staff who care deeply for the children they teach and a strong body of parents who work tirelessly to ensure that we maintain the high standards we have set for ourselves. Most importantly, we have children who love coming to school, who value their school community and each other and who are the real beneficiaries of everything that we strive to do.

As a school we have recently completed some important developments, thanks to the continued generosity of our parents, past and present. We have a fantastic new playground surface which is being appreciated more and more by the children as they see the potential it offers compared to the previous hard surface. We have a wildlife garden that would be the envy of any school – a beautiful space for teaching, learning and reflecting. We have a state-of-the-art sensory room for those children who need time and space away from the everyday hustle and bustle, and already this is proving to be invaluable for some of our children. These developments have been made possible by the spirit of giving that is part of the RETNS ethos. We wish to continue to develop our school to carry us forward into the next 25 years and to be a place where all children, those who are currently here and those yet to come, will experience the vibrant, ever-changing learning environment that we are proud to deliver.

For this reason our Board of Management set itself a target of school development for this year and a plan to realise this target through a major fund-raising effort. We are very grateful to the small group of hard-working volunteers who have put countless hours of their own time into this fund-raising effort. We are grateful too to those who have given their support in less obvious ways and to those who are helping out with the development of our school in the myriad of other ways in which people help.

Tonight (June 4th) we host our biggest and most important fund-raising event of the last ten years. As well as a fund-raiser, the event will be a great school community night out, a chance for the adults of our community to come together in a combined effort to ensure that our school is continually growing and developing. A terrific night out is assured and all money raised will go directly towards school developments that will benefit the children and staff of RETNS for many years to come.