Graiguecullen is getting excited. This coming September the community will throw open its arms to a brand new school. The school, an Educate Together multi-denominational school will open for day one of classes on Monday September 1, 2008.
The school, which is currently under construction is located in the Shamrock Business Park and has the capacity for 240 children to attend classes from junior infants right up to sixth class.
School Principal Simon Lewis said everything is going according to plan.
“The builders are doing a great job and will have all eight classrooms completed by August 16. And through our website and our Start-Up group we already have pre-enrolled 20 students for the school,” said the 29-year-old Dubliner.
With a second teacher just hired, and some revenue earned from a recent field day in Graiguecullen, Simon is upbeat about the future.
“This was two years in the making and its great to be getting this close,” he said. The school, which begins teaching with children aged four years, is a multi-denominational, child centered, co-educational, democratically run school whose curriculum is approved by the Department of Education.
In the school the children, who are not asked to wear a uniform though guidelines on dress are offered, are taught everything a child in primary school expects to be taught just not through one religion.
“Actually they learn about religions and cultures all over the world. We usually ask in experts for those classes, which fall under ethnic studies. In the last school I was in, we had a yogic teacher come in and we learned how to breathe the yogic way and we even had some baby yoga,” said Simon.
The school, which is already expecting pupils from as far away as Ballylinan and Tullow does celebrate catholic communions but in a different way than in other schools.
“Everyone in the class wouldn’t be getting communion together, it would be like any other after-school program, those interested in getting communion would get together with the local parish and organize a communion service. We would then celebrate that event with them as a way of teaching.”
The school is non-fee paying and State funded but like all primary schools needs more money than those funds provide. It is with that in mind that Simon and the Start-Up group have come up with a unique way to raise money locally.
They are going to buy one hundred canvasses and set them up in the atrium of the school. The project called the 100-square project will be Carlow Educate Together National School’s centrepiece for visitors who come to the school from September 2008.
Individuals and businesses are invited to sponsor one or more of the 100 canvases. The sponsor then chooses somebody - a child in the school, a local artist or even themselves - to create a piece of art on that canvas. The paintings are displayed for the school year in a prominent area along with the sponsor and artist’s name.
The funds secured from the project will help to keep the school going. But as a way of teaching philanthropy, the pupils will be asked at the end of the school year, to select a local charity and the paintings will be auctioned to raise money for the chosen cause. There is a suggested minimum contribution of €100 per canvas.
Carlow was chosen for the school because of its geographical location and the repeated demands from parents for an Educate Together school. Almost 55 schools have already been established all over Ireland since the first Educate Together school was set up over thirty years ago.
The name was carefully chosen to reflect the coming together of children of different social, cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds and was first used in the 1970s together with the concept of “No Child an Outsider”.
If you want to get involved in any way log on to www.carloweducatetogether.ie for more information or to pre-enrol your child. Volunteers are also always welcome to help with fundraising or are encouraged to come up with alternative ways to help to make the school a success.
