Minister Noel Dempsey Officially Opens Educate Together School in his Home County

The Board of Management, Principal, staff, pupils and parents of Navan Educate Together National School welcomed the Minister for Education and Science, Noel Dempsey, to officially open Navan Educate Together National School today.
The school community were delighted to also be granted permanent recognition. Finally the schools annual rental fee will fall from 25% to 5% of the overall cost and the school building can now be placed on the Capital Building Programme.

Navan Educate Together National School (NETNS) first opened in September 2002 and was originally housed in the Order of Malta Hall in Academy Street, Navan. The parents had to pack and re-pack all the school equipment every day and the facilities were very limited. Despite the difficulties, the school grew on account of the dedication of teachers and parents. It is now a four teacher school with children and has moved to a large building in Flower Hill, Navan.

“Educate Together is delighted that the Minister has permanently recognised this school. This is a well-deserved vindication for the years of commitment and effort by the parents and teachers of Navan Educate Together National School. However the experience of this school shows that we must move away from the practice of forcing new schools to open in unsuitable temporary accommodation and move to a situation in which there is a properly planned delivery of accommodation for a school from the moment the viability of demand is recognised. The Department must attend to those schools who are still languishing in temporary accommodation and we must attend to the developmental needs of all established schools. The Minister is to be congratulated on starting on the process of reversing the chronic under-funding of primary education and we are determined to work with him and his Department to ensure that there continues sufficient Government funding to solve the accommodation crises facing Irish primary schools.” Paul Rowe, CEO, Educate Together

Educate Together schools are set up and developed by groups of parents in a local communities, who wish to send their children to a national school that is multi-denominational, child-centred, co-educational and democratically run. The schools are recognised by the Department of Education, are non-fee paying and operate under the same rules applying to all national schools.

Educate Together’s main objectives are based on empowering the rights, skills and knowledge of its students and respecting their identities, abilities and equality. This involves playing a key role in the root and branch reform of the Irish education system so that it becomes modern, integrated and inclusive. To this end we are committed to building a national network of schools that provide a legally binding commitment to children, teachers and parents to support their cultural, religious and social identities.

There are currently 31 Educate Together schools in Ireland, of which 16 are in the greater Dublin region. Educate Together acts as patron of new schools and represents all its members in negotiations with the Department of Education and Science and other national organisations.

Please contact Principal, John Keaveney (086-8374992) if you need further information

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© Educate Together, 2004