Following a very successful public meeting in Kildare Town recently, Educate Together are hopeful that a new Educate Together primary school will be opened in the area in 2012. As a result of the high level of interest from parents and guardians in Kildare Town, an Educate Together Start-up Group has been established in the area and will now proceed to make contact with the many parents who have expressed an interest in sending their child to an Educate Together school.
At the meeting, Educate Together provided information to local parents, guardians and other interested parties about Educate Together, and outlined their plans to apply for patronage of the new school. Many parents pre-enrolled their children on the night and these pre-enrolment figures will be used to illustrate the high level of demand for the school.
Amy Mulvihill, Educate Together Regional Development Officer for South Leinster said: “The demand we are seeing for an Educate Together school in Kildare Town is mirrored in other towns and cities across Ireland so we are delighted to see plans being put in place to make this type of education available to the parents and children of the area. We are looking forward to submitting the application and are hopeful that the demand we are seeing will be addressed.”
Today there are 60 Educate Together schools throughout Ireland. The Educate Together school network has grown significantly with 19 new schools opened in the last five years. The primary education population in Ireland continues to grow and the Department of Education and Skills plans to open 20 new primary schools around the country in the next five years. At present there are 13,000 pupils in Educate Together schools nationwide. Demand for places is strong and the organisation has multiple applications to open new primary and second-level schools.
Educate Together Schools are fully recognised by the Irish Department of Education and Skills and work under the same regulations and funding structures as other national schools. However, they have a distinct ethos or governing spirit that is child and parent-centred in its approach.
Parents who are interested in pre-enrolling, can do so at www.kildaretownet.ie
