IPPN

Published: 28 November 2007

Conference 2008 will be held at the Irish National Events Centre (INEC), Killarney, Co. Kerry from Thursday 31st January to Saturday 2nd February 2008. The theme of this year's conference is Primary Schools - A Time for Fresh Thinking.

We have an excellent line-up of speakers including:

• President Mary McAleese
• Professor Tom Collins
• Mary Hanafin, TD, Minister for Education & Science
• David Ruddy, BL
• Caoimhe Máirtí­n

In addition there will be nine different workshops, each offered on 3 occasions.

We are looking forward to welcoming more Teaching Principals this year, as we have secured 2 days substitute cover from the DES for Teaching Principals to attend the Conference.

You may now apply for Conference by downloading the application form from the IPPN website by clicking on the link below. Hardcopy application forms will be sent to all Principals early next week. Please note that Conference bookings are accepted from 07/08 IPPN members only and are taken on a first-come, first-served basis. Accommodation can be reserved through Gleneagle Hotel Central Reservations 064 71550.

Conference 2008 Application Form

Is sinne le meas,

Larry Fleming | Seán Cottrell

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Published: 27 November 2007

Dear member,

We are currently preparing the Conference 2008 brochure which will be given to all Principals attending the event in Killarney. This year we are planning to include examples of children's creative writing in the brochure and we are looking for your help.

The suggestion is that you invite children in the middle to senior classes of your school to write a short, humorous piece based on one of the following titles:

• Our Principal
• What our Principal does
• What all the Principals do when they go to their Conference
• I want to be a Principal because...
  
  

  Please note that this is not a competition and we are giving maximum freedom for the subject matter. We hope that the children's writing will offer a very different and humorous insight into the role of Principal. We will leave it entirely up to yourself and your teachers to decide which pieces are to be submitted from your school.

  We look forward to receiving a few samples of your children's writing (with child's names, class and school name on each piece) no later than Friday 7^th December 2007 to 'IPPN Support Office', Glounthaune, Co. Cork or by email to project@ippn.ie.

Naturally if we have a significant number of contributions, only a few can be selected by the Conference Committee for this publication. Others may be used in future editions of Leadership+.

Le meas,

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Published: 31 October 2007

Hopefully the process of establishing your school's new Board of Management is well under way. Before the midterm break the Principal Advice service coordinated by IPPN Support Office was extremely busy with requests for information and guidelines on various matters relating to the new BoMs.

The DES, in consultation with the Education Partners, has produced an updated version of the Constitution of Boards and Rules of Procedure for Boards of Management. In addition, a further Information Manual has been produced offering practical guidance in relation to the creation and function of the new Boards.

Unfortunately these two important and essential documents will not reach schools for sometime yet. Both documents are available on the Department of Education website and, for your convenience, IPPN has arranged with the DES to make them easily accessible through our own website.

While acknowledging the Principal does not carry responsibility for the establishment of a school's BoM, in real terms many Chairpersons depend on you, the Principal, for information and advice.  It is important to note that there are several minor but significant changes to procedures for establishing new BoMs and we strongly recommend that you are familiar with and have access to these two key documents.

Is muidne le meas,

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Published: 25 October 2007

IPPN is supporting a one-day conference on commercialism in Irish education in Trinity College Dublin on Saturday 17th November 2007. "Education: Whose Business is it Anyway?" will feature speakers from all areas of Irish education with the keynote address being given by Prof Alex Molnar of Arizona State University.

Many in the educational community are concerned about the effects of supermarket voucher schemes in primary schools, junk food vending machines in PPP secondary schools and an increasing dependency on corporate funding in Higher Education. This conference will highlight the dangers for education in following a commercial agenda and explore positive responses from educators, parents and students to this trend.

To better understand principals' experiences and perspectives on this issue, we would ask you to complete our short on-line survey - click here to visit our survey

To register for this conference please visit www.commercialfreeeducation.com

Is sinne le meas,

Larry Fleming | Seán Cottrell

President | Director

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