Educate Together is really on a tipping point from being a small movement of like minded people to a real choice for all families in Ireland. (www.educatetogether.ie)
On Sunday September 23rd, The Sunday Business Post published a very interesting and timely article on the rising demand for alternatives to the “one size fits all” system of education which has prevailed in Ireland until very recently. More and more families require an education system that truly reflects the more diverse society that is Ireland today and as such are actively campaigning in their own communities for more Educate Together schools to be built, while Educate Together has been calling on the Minister, Jan O’Sullivan, for immediate action to establish equality based schools around Ireland. (See full article on www.educatetogether.ie)
Thousands of students have had their primary school education in Educate Together schools since the first ET school, Dalkey School Project, opened in 1978. Although opened much later, in 1990 as South City School Project, RETNS is one of the older established ET schools and as such was one of the pioneering schools at the time. A group of very dedicated people worked day and night to find premises and set up a school which today has a demand for places which far exceeds its capacity.
Children in the school today know little of the work involved in setting up and resourcing a school from scratch, but through our 25th year anniversary project Aistear na Scoile we hope to develop an interest and insight into the history of the school and an appreciation of the work of those involved in starting a school because they believed passionately in an education system that would be equality based, democratic and ethical.
Part of our responsibility in educating children is in helping them establish links to the wider world and to be aware that they are part of a global citizenship that requires them to look beyond themselves. This year our work towards our 6th Green Flag – Global Citizenship, Litter and Waste takes up that theme, as will our work on the history of our school, linking to the National 1916/2016 Commemoration, Aistear na Tíre .
In order to develop our links with the wider Educate Together movement we are delighted to participate in the Educate Together fundraising event, One Day Together, which will encourage our pupils and families to support the ET network in ensuring that all parents in the future have choice in the education of their children.
In order to give our senior pupils an insight into the work of ET, Fionnuala Ward, Education Officer with ET, will visit the school to talk to pupils and give them the opportunity to ask questions. Hopefully visits such as this will also allow pupils to look outside their own school to our wider Educate Together community, in preparation for their work on becoming good global citizens.
We are asking all our families to get involved in One Day Together, to be part of the National Educate Together fundraiser and to help ensure that parents of the future have real choice, a real alternative in terms of the education of their children, and can avail of a network of support that is fully resourced and well equipped to meet the demands of this ever-expanding sector.
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