Green light for gaelscoil [fingal-independent.ie]
- Published: 11 June 2009
Wednesday June 10 2009
PLANNING permission has been granted for a long-awaited permanent school building for a gaelscoil near Swords that has been housed in prefabs for almost two decades.
Scoil an Duinninigh on the Feltrim Road is celebrating the green light given on a planning application by the Minister for Education to construct a new twostorey school building on the site. The new school will have 16 classrooms and will finally allow the prefab buildings on the site to be demolished. The development is to be carried out in two phases with phase one involving the construction of the new school and a temporary access from the church yard.
Phase two will see the demolition of the existing school buildings which will continue to house classes during the construction phase of the new school. The second phase of the project will also involve the construction of a car park, ball courts, a play area and soft and hard landscaping.
Councillors on the Malahide/Howth Area Committee put their weight behind the project when the application for the development was lodged.
Council planners revealed that there has been a lot of pre-planning discussion on the project with the school authorities in a bid to have the minimum disruption to classes during the construction phase of the project.
- John Manning
IATSE Annual Conference 2009 [iatse.ie]
- Published: 11 June 2009
IATSE ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2009
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Click here to download registration form
This year is the 21st annual conference of the association. We hope that, with your support as presenters and delegates, that it will be as special and memorable as previous events. If you are a long-time attendee come back and join us again this year. If you have never been to our conference join us and see how much the various events and presentation have to offer in term of professional development, information and interaction with teachers and other personnel working with students with special needs in Ireland and abroad. In addition our conference has always been noted for its friendly atmosphere and the warm welcome to all our participants.
The conference will, as usual, be held in St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra, Dublin 9 from Thursday, 11 June to Saturday, 13 June, 2009. The title is "Partnership for Learning" and there promises to be a wide diversity of papers and discussions on the many facets of the topic. We are looking forward to positive and supportive exchanges and debate especially in this time of doom and gloom in educational and fiscal matters.
As usual the Opening events of conference will be held on Thursday evening, 11 June at 8 pm in the College Auditorium. The Official opening will be followed by the keynote address. The opening address will be given by Sheelagh Drudy, Professor of Education in University College Dublin. This year's keynote speaker is Fergus Finlay, a well known public figure from the political arena and more recently active in the area of children's rights and services. After the formalities there will be a reception in the College canteen, kindly hosted by the President of the College, where delegates, presenters and guests can meet and chat.
The conference will then follow the usual format with concurrent paper presentations on Friday and on Saturday morning. The papers will cover a wide range of topics and issues related to the theme of conference. The majority of our presenters come from Ireland but we hope to welcome presenters from Scotland, England, India, and the USA.
There will be a social event early on Friday evening just after the last paper presentation for those delegates and guests who wish to attend. Again details will be given as soon as final arrangements are made. Many delegates like an opportunity to meet in the early evening for a chat and a chance to discuss the conference to date. Then all are free to make their own arrangements for dinner or other options around town!
The conference will finish on Saturday with the Open Forum at 12 noon on Saturday, 14 June. All are invited to attend and participate.
As this is the 40th anniversary of IATSE it is hoped that some of the founder members will come to conference and have a reunion where they might discuss the events and changes of the past forty years. They may share some of their insights and memories with us all at the Open Forum on Saturday before we end conference.
The full programme will be available very shortly and will be displayed on the website and distributed by post to all members of IATSE as well as presenters and guests.
Each year the Department of Education has provided sanction for teachers to attend the Conference subject to certain conditions. The criteria allows for leave of absence for class teachers as well as special needs teachers and teachers in special schools, We are currently awaiting formal notification from the DES for this years conference. As soon as this is available the full details of conditions and criteria will be posted on the website and notified to members.
If you have any queries on any aspect of conference please contact the Conference Organiser by email ; conferencedirector@iatse.ie or ajackson@crc.ie
You can download the conference programme here.
Click here for information on DES sanction regarding attendance.
'Rat-infested' primary school to be refurbished[Irishtimes.com]
- Published: 09 June 2009
'Rat-infested' primary school to be refurbished
A PRIMARY school in Co Galway, described by its own principal as the most rundown in the whole country, has been given €180,000 in emergency funding for complete refurbishment.
Elizabeth Mulry, principal of Eglish National School in Ahascragh, said last year that the school was a "rat-infested fire trap".
The 49-pupil primary school was given the money by the Department of Education after Ms Mulry went public on the problems in the school last year, saying that spores in the wall were causing asthma in children and slates falling off the roof were a potential hazard.
She also said that about half of the pupils began getting hives and headaches when they returned in September because there was no natural ventilation. The roof was sealed and the windows could not be opened.
Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe sent an inspection team into the school following the complaints.
A health and safety inspection identified 17 different areas of potential hazard, including the roof, the walls, the electric wiring and the windows, which do not open.
The money will be used to replace the roof, all the windows and the wooden floorboards. The school will be damp-proofed and rewired.
The work has already gone out to tender with a view to starting as soon as the pupils leave on July 1st and completing it over the summer while they are on holiday.
The refurbishment plan was approved by the school's board of governors this week.
Ms Mulry said the original preference for the 109-year-old school, which Mary Harney's father attended, was for it to be replaced by a new school.
However, Ms Mulry said she was "absolutely thrilled" by the decision.
"The children will have a lovely space to come back to in September and I can do a proper job as a teacher and principal instead of having to do repair jobs every morning. So many people have worked hard to get this for us."
A department spokesman said the school had applied for a new building to replace the old one last year, but the department did not have sufficient funds to build a new one.
Instead, the €180,000 has been secured through emergency funding for health and safety works to include rewiring, roof works, windows, underpinning, dry lining and floors, the spokesman explained.
Historic opening of new School [Communityvoice.ie]
- Published: 08 June 2009
Since the foundation of the state all primary schools in Ireland were owned and managed by churches. While in recent years, the Educate Together movement introduced a new scheme of school patronage, it is only with the opening of Scoil Choilm that the state has finally accepted its full role as a provider of education to the children of the nation.
Scoil Choilm, which will operate under the aegis of the County Dublin VEC, is a school "for children of all religion and none."
The school was established to meet the critical need for a third primary school to serve the growing community of Porterstown / Carpenterstown and the community school model was developed as a direct result of the education crisis of a couple of years ago in Dublin 15. Together with its sister school, Scoil Ghráinne in Phibblestown, Scoil Choilm is a direct response to the need for a new model of school provision for a rapidly changing Ireland.
The official opening of the new school before a large group of assembled dignitaries and parents was a memorable occasion. It was very much the children's day too as they entertained the large attendance with a selection of presentations and musical entertainment to complement the various obligatory speeches of such an occasion.
Thanking everyone "for celebrating this great day with us," principal Treasa Lowe said "I knew from day one that this project was destined to be a big success when Ian Murphy was appointed as our manager. A former schools inspector, he brought a wealth of knowledge and understanding to our school and has worked tirelessly on behalf of the pupils, parents and staff to get us the best facilities possible.
"The ethos of the school has been etched out from day one when we started in the Institute of Horology in Blanchardstown on a temporary basis. Many of our families are international newcomers to our country who have brought a wealth of culture and diversity to our school. This is something we are very proud of," she said.
She also explained the concept of "all religions and none" which is underpinned by a "multi faith programme being developed under the direction of Dr. Clare Moloney and an ethics group."
Ms. Lowe's speech was followed by the junior infants who sang a number of songs which were most appropriate to the occasion including "Let's get together", "You've got a friend in me" and the ever popular "What a wonderful world."
Lyrics such as: "I hear babies crying, I watch them grow, they'll learn much more than I'll never know and I think to myself what a wonderful world" underlined the universality of the music and togetherness of the new school community.
Minister Brian Lenihan TD who performed the official opening confessed to being "very moved by the children's singing."
Looking back on the school's short history, the Minister said "in 2007 I was given a mandate by the Minister for Education to resolve the schools problem here in Dublin 15. I met with the various agencies involved and must thank them for their assistance in arriving at this new model."
The Minister particularly thanked Ian Murphy, who he said was "deserving of great credit for his guidance, wisdom and advice throughout." He also praised the principal Treasa Lowe "who has shown such commitment and dedication in getting the school up and running and ensuring it would be such a success story."
A short multi-faith ceremony followed with representatives of various religions and none giving blessings. One noteworthy contributor was Brian Whiteside from the Irish Humanist Association who explained that he represented "the none".
He read an old Irish blessing and there were some smiles as he invoked the "blessings of the sun" which coincidentally marked a loud splattering noise on the roof of the marquee as it started to rain!
Junior Golden Spiders to inspire the net generation [Siliconrepublic.com]
- Published: 08 June 2009
The first-ever Eircom Junior Spider Awards are set to take place this December, pitting primary and secondary-school students ; Ireland's digital natives ; against one another in a bid to gain recognition for brilliant website creation.
The competition will be open to school students in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and will serve as a benchmark for best practice in the use of the internet for education in Irish schools.
"It is wonderful to know that teachers' representative groups are fully supportive of this initiative," said the Minister for Education and Science, Batt O'Keeffe TD.
"Teachers are key to facilitating and guiding students in entering this award scheme. We are all very much aware of how adept our young people are in the use of modern technology. They instinctively personalise its use and are capable of bringing added functionality in ingenious and creative ways.
"The Eircom Junior Spider Awards provide a timely way of recognising Irish students' creativity and inventiveness in their use of the web in a learning context."
There are two levels to the competition, one for Primary and one for Post-Primary. Primary-school students will compete across five categories including: Best Educational Website and Best Website Design (including blogs, podcasts and social networks), while there are seven categories at Post-Primary level including: Best Web Application, Best Concept and a 'Watch Your Space' category.
Teachers will also be awarded at the Eircom Junior Spider Awards, as students can nominate a teacher for their contribution to the use of the internet in their school. The award for Best Teacher Contribution will be given to one teacher from a primary and a post-primary school.
The awards ceremony will take place on 18 December next.
By John Kennedy
