Cavan set for next Educate Together school

Educate Together, the patron body for 58 multi-denominational schools in Ireland, will host a public meeting in Cavan town later this month with a view to opening up a new Education Together school in Cavan in the future. The meeting will take place on Wednesday, September 22, at 8pm, in the Kilmore Hotel, Cavan. The meeting is open to anyone who is interested in finding out more about Educate Together and its plans for Cavan. Following the public meeting, there will be a launch of the pre-enrolment list for this potential new school. Currently, the nearest Educate Together schools to Cavan are in Navan, Ardee and Letterkenny. Jarlath Munnelly is the regional development officer for Educate Together. He explained to The Anglo-Celt that he works with parents who are interested in opening a new Educate Together primary school. "The teaching of children in multi-denominational schools is becoming an increasingly popular phenomenon with parents in Ireland," explains Mr. Munnelly, who points out that traditionally education in Ireland has been delivered through denominational schools where either the local Catholic or Church of Ireland bishop acted as patron to the school. Today, some 98% of Irish primary schools are still classed as denominational, though the increasingly multi-national and multi-denominational makeup of our society is now impacting on the Irish education system and wider choices of school types are being sought. About Educate Together All Educate Together schools are non fee-paying national schools that deliver the national curriculum, though they differ from the traditional national model in a number of key ways. Firstly all Educate Together schools are co-educational, boys and girls learn, play and interact together throughout their primary school life. Another key difference is the approach to the teaching of religion. Children attending schools under the umbrella of Educate Together learn about religion in "an equal and inclusive" manner. Mr. Munnelly explains: "In practice this means children learn about all faiths through a moral and ethical curriculum called Learn Together. Educate Together schools also offer individual faith formation classes after hours on the school premises with the assistance of parents and the relevant local clergy." He says that the schools run by Educate Together are about much more than just religion. "Educate Together schools were created to be child-centred with a significant emphasis on running the schools in a democratic, inclusive manner. Our focus on a child-centred approach to the manner in which the school is managed places children's welfare at the core of all school decisions. The school is effectively designed, from the ground up, around the child. Student councils in Educate Together schools give the children a voice, and it's not just tokenism. Senior children in an Educate Together school usually have an opportunity to input into school decision-making, including some policies." Mr. Munnelly says the schools are essentially founded by parents who are seeking an education facility with a difference for their children. "Educate Together schools are typically driven by parents who want the choice of a different type of education for their children that we offer. We believe every parent in Ireland deserves a choice in the type of local school that their children can attend." Funding Educate Together schools are funded in exactly the same way as any national school and children learn from the very same school curriculum. The state pays the teachers and a series of grants to the board of management mainly determined by the number of children attending. The grants are supplemented by voluntary fund-raising programmes. • The public meeting will take place on Wednesday, September 22, at 8pm, in the Kilmore Hotel, Cavan. Contact 01-4292500.