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An dráma An Triail ar chamchuairt

November 14, 2012

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New Aitheantas employee organises public meetings for Irish-Medium Education

September 21, 2011

Caitríona Bairéad is the new Development Officer for Aitheantas, the joint campaign for Irish-medium education, and she has organised a series of public meetings for establishing local all-Irish primary schools in Co. Dublin and in Co. Kildare next week.

In light of the lack of all-Irish schools opening in recent years, Irish organisations Comhluadar, Conradh na Gaeilge, Foras Pátrúnachta na Scoileanna Lán-Ghaeilge and Glór na nGael joined forces last year to form the Aitheantas campaign to redress the situation, and Caitríona Bairéad will now undertake to establish new Gaelscoileanna in different areas across the country in her new role with the campaign. Aitheantas are hosting public meetings with the aim of creating founding committees for local Irish-medium schools at Draíocht, Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, Monday, 26 September 2011; The Maldron Hotel, Whitestown Way, Tallaght, Tuesday, 27 September 2011; and Kildare Education Centre, Friary Road, Kildare Town, Wednesday, 28 September 2011, with each meeting running from 8.00 – 9.00pm.

Caitríona Bairéad, new Development Officer with the Aitheantas campaign said: “Irish-medium education has been central to the revival of Irish in recent years, and in my role as Development Officer with Aitheantas in the coming months, I hope to determine and support the demand that is out there for all-Irish education in various parts of the country, starting with the meetings in Leinster next week.” Caitríona is no stranger to working in the Irish-language sector as she took up the post of Administration and Support Officer with the Irish-language festival Seachtain na Gaeilge in 2008, a job she held for two years, after graduating with a degree in multimedia from DCU. She undertook a postgraduate diploma in Cultural Event Management in IADT, Dún Laoghaire while working for the national festival, and she is looking forward to taking on the challenge ahead of her now in her new job promoting all-Irish education with Aitheantas.

“Now that Gaelscoil na Mí has received official recognition from the Department of Education and Skills earlier this year, I can’t wait to build on that progress and to help support parents who wish to give their children an all-Irish education,” said the Dublin-born Bairéad. “In order to ensure the rights of those parents are upheld, Aitheantas is calling on the Department of Education and Skills to include the provision of Irish-medium education in the criteria used when selecting areas for all types of new schools in future, primary and secondary schools alike, to ensure that the national demand for all-Irish education is catered for.” Caitríona Bairéad will work from the offices of the national patronage system for all-Irish schools, Foras Pátrúnachta na Scoileanna Lán-Ghaeilge (An Foras Pátrúnachta) in Maynooth, where both she and the staff are available to speak to anyone interested in helping the campaign for Irish-medium education in any way.

Caitríona Bairéad
Development Officer, Aitheantas
+353 (0)86 3965045 / caitriona@foras.ie

Caoimhín Ó hEaghra
General Secretary, An Foras Pátrúnachta
+353 (0)86 1738044 / Caoimhin.OhEaghra@mie.ie

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Which are the fastest growing schools – and which are down?

April 12, 2011

Which schools have seen a surge in pupil numbers over the past decade and which are most popular with parents, writes SEAN FLYNN

SCHOOL ENROLMENT figures provide a fascinating glimpse in parental choice. They help track which schools are seen as ‘successful’ and which ones are struggling to fill numbers. The lists published on this page track a decade of change in Irish education. They compare school enrolment figures for this school year with the position a decade ago.

The main features of the list include: – “Free’’ State-run schools which experienced a drop in enrolment during the Celtic Tiger have managed to reverse this trend in recent years. – Many VEC schools – especially those outside of Dublin are booming. Irish language schools have seen a surge in pupil numbers. – The popularity of fee-paying schools remains very resilient despite fees averaging €5,000 per year; – Schools which perform well in The Irish Times Feeder School Lists have shown a surge in pupil numbers.

Another feature of the data is the surge in pupil numbers in the post-Leaving Certificate colleges; these cater for students in the year or two after they leave secondary school. In Dublin alone, colleges of further education in Dún Laoghaire, Killester, Sallynoggin and Dundrum have seen enrolment increase by at least 50 per cent over the past decade. The fastest growing school on the list is Coláiste Chiaráin, Croom, about 20 minutes from Limerick city. On its hugely impressive website, it describes itself as the “school of the future.” In 2004, the headmaster, Noel Malone was awarded the Dell Technology Award for Excellence in Education, the first recipient outside the US. Remarkably, virtually a huge majority of of the top 30 fastest growing schools in the State are all in the VEC sector. All of these schools challenge those lazy cliches about the VEC.

The fastest growing school in Dublin is St Colmcille’s Community School in Knocklyon, an area of rapid population growth. Like many community schools in Dublin, the school has built a very strong local reputation since it was opened in 2000. The second-fastest growing school in Dublin is St Kevins CBS in Finglas is an interesting case study. The school suffered a severe decline in enrolment for decades but it has managed to dramatically turn this around in recent years.

Other Dublin schools which have reversed a decline in enrolment include Oatlands College, Stillorgan. Pupil numbers are up from 340 to over 500 and there is a long waiting list. This comes after a period during the boom when the school was squeezed by the huge number of “big brand” fee-paying schools in the area. Overall, the picture for Christian Brothers schools in Dublin is a mixed one. While places like St Kevin’s are booming, schools like O’Connells, St Joseph’s in Fairview and St Paul’s in Raheny are continuing to see declining pupil numbers. Many of these schools have been hugely successful in integrating newcomer children. Another school worthy of mention is St Brendan’s College, Dunboyne, Co Meath which has registered growth of 58 per cent in enrolment. St Brendan’s was featured on the successful RTÉ documentary The School last year.

Among fee-paying schools, the most striking feature is the 28 per cent growth registered by one of the more expensive schools in the State – St Gerard’s in Bray, Co Wicklow. Most of the big name schools have seen growth over the past decade including Gonzaga (up 11 per cent), Belvedere and CUS (both up 10 per cent ) and Blackrock College (up 4 per cent).

The published lists are based on Department of Education figures for the 2001-02 school year and the current school year. The percentage increase/decrease quoted represents the growth/decline in pupil numbers.

All schools with less than 200 pupils in either 2001 or 2010/11 have been excluded from the lists on this page – except for fee-paying schools. Broadly new schools in new areas have also been excluded.

Data on enrolment patterns in PLCs is available on irishtimes.com

The Irish Times

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A new plan for education

March 21, 2011

Madam, – It was most refreshing and encouraging to read Seán Flynn’s advice to the new Minister for Education (Education Today, March 15th) regarding “breathing new life into the Irish language”.

It is a rare experience to read the direct clarity of the message “overturning 90 years of failed Irish language policy”. Those of us who speak and love the Irish language and value it as a gateway to the land of our forefathers, are aware of the malign effect of this policy on generations of young people. We have had nearly a century of State compulsion, even, for a time, to the extent of “no Irish, no job” in the public service. We have had bribery in the form of grants to Irish-speaking homes, and jobs as translators for Irish language university students, in the pretence that it is necessary to use tons of paper for translations of legislation, to be read by a person or persons unknown. However, “an rud is annamh is iontach”, so full marks to Mr Flynn. The question is, will Ruairí Quinn, or any other Minister, stand up to the Irish language lobby and its phalanx of support organisations? The Taoiseach seems already to have backed down on compulsory Irish in the Leaving Cert. – Yours, etc,

PD GOGGIN,
Glenageary Woods,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.

Irish Independent – Litir chuig an Eagarthóir

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Don’t force students to study Irish

March 3, 2011

FORCING students to “study” Irish up to Leaving Cert level is unfair and does little to revive the language in so far as the majority of the students are involved.

In the majority of mainstream primary and second-level schools the standard of written and spoken Irish has declined. I know this from my own experience in education for the past 40 years and from my experience in dealing with children and young people outside the school environment. The all-Irish schools and the gaeltacht schools are doing well principally because the parents and families are engaged with Irish and support their children in learning the language. They deserve to get every support possible and they do a great job.

However, in the other schools the interest may be there but the engagement of parents and the general population certainly is not . Could we not have an honest debate about how we might best hope to revive the language The pious aspirations of politicians will not bring about change and it is unfair to impose a subject on young people who do not choose it and have little interest in it and see little active support from adults, including the politicians. The Leader’s Debate does not reflect the situation in the Dáil and Senate. We need to respect our students and let them decide in the present unsatisfactory situation. By the way, I love and I am fluent in the language. I have written poetry and prose in Irish which has received some acclaim, I even promote the language where I get the opportunity, but I will not impose it on others.

Can we not have a national debate on where Irish is at, where we want it to go and draw up a realistic plan on how we can get there. There are many of us who would involve ourselves in this debate as we would dearly love to work with others in improving the situation.

David J Fitzgerald
Dun Laoghaire
Co Dublin

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Links

August 5, 2009

Despite regular monitoring of this website, Gaelscoileanna Teo. accepts no responsibility for the content of other websites not managed by us. We hope that the following links prove useful.

Go to:

Irish-medium Education

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Education

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School Patrons and Support Organisations

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The Media

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Irish in 3rd Level Institutions

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Irish Language Organisations

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Language Resources

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Resources for Naíonraí and Schools

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Teaching Jobs

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Summer Camps

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Educational Psychologists with Irish

  • Niamh Ní Fhoighil B.Ed., M.A. (SEN), B.Sc. (Psych), M.A. Ed. Psych. Available to assess students that are learning through the medium of Irish. Years spent teaching in Irish-medium schools.

Contact: 085-7301367 / niamh@kildarepuzzles.ie

Contact GAELSCOILEANNA TEO. if you would like your details listed above.

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