Vol.3 No. 9 - February 21, 2003

News From the Launch of the Educate Together National Office

Thursday 20th February 2003 at the Gresham Hotel O’Connell Street, the National Office for Educate Together and the Ethos Conference 2003, were officially launched.

The attendance at the press conference for the launch is a clear indication of the progress of the Educate Together sector and demand from the general public for Educate Together schools.

The New Educate Together National Office Team consists of:-

Paul Rowe, Chief Executive Officer

Deirdre O’Donoghue, National Coordinator with responsibility for School Support Services

Jane McCarthy, Development Officer with responsibility for new schools.

Kate Morris, Foundation Development Officer, with responsibility for Fundraising and Communications

Susan Kennedy Bergmann, Education Officer, with responsibility for Educational Programmes, curricula development and In-service and Pre-service provision

Penny Forbes, Team Assistant, with responsibility for Administrative Support

The four speakers at the conference included David Denny, Chairperson, Paul Rowe, CEO, Carmel Mulcahy, DCU, and Ray Dooley, Children’s Rights Alliance.

Speaking at the launch David Denny, Chairperson said,

“There is a wealth of experience within the Educate Together sector with more than 200 accumulated years of experience of operating democratically managed, multicultural schools as a partnership between teachers and parents. Today we are announcing our new national office team. This will deliver five times the resources that were available to the sector previously. With this new national centre, we are setting out on a programme to build a national network of Educate Together schools so that the education system can truly reflect the democratic rights of all children.”

As I am sure many of you are aware, Educate Together is holding its third Ethos Conference in Citywest Feb.28- March 1st. This will concentrate on the unique multi-faith programme that has been developed in our schools over the last 27 years.

Reflecting the human rights priority of the sector, the guest speaker at the conference was Ray Dooley, Chief Executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance. Speaking at the launch of the conference programme, Ray said,

“I am delighted to be part of the Conference. Since its inception, Educate Together has made an enormous contribution to promoting the rights of all children to an equal education. The Educate Together ethos - that children from all social, cultural and religious backgrounds must be equally respected - should be fundamental to educational philosophy and practice in Ireland.”

Please do not hesitate to call any of your staff with questions or queries.

Dates for your diary:

Ethos Conference 2003:
Friday 28th March, Saturday 1st February 2003
City West Hotel, Saggart, County Dublin

National Executive Meeting: 8th March 2003
National Executive Meeting: 12th April 2003

AGM:
Saturday, 17th May 2003
Galway Educate Together National School, Co. Galway