The Educate Together National School at Holywell, Swords officially opened for the first day of school today Wednesday 1st September, with TDs Trevor Sargent and Michael Kennedy joining the staff and pupils for a balloon release and tree planting ceremony. Temporarily located in a prefabricated building, the school welcomed a brand new intake of students from Junior and Senior Infants.
Educate Together’s Regional Development Officer, Gerry McKevitt said, ‘Today is a proud and exciting day for the entire community of Holywell. I would like to thank local residents and parents for the huge amount of hard work, dedication and support they have put in over the years.’
Commenting on the school opening, Holywell Educate Together’s Principal Maria Boyne said ‘On behalf of all the staff I would like to welcome all new parents, children and families to the school. I look forward to getting to know each family in the school and hope we can build a happy and dynamic learning environment.’
Christian Welters, whose son Nathan and daughter Skyla will be starting Senior and Junior Infants respectively said ‘”For the past year I have been actively involved in campaigning for an Educate Together school to open here. My wife and I are from Germany and we feel that Educate Together is similar to the German school system, being co-educational and multi-cultural. Previous to starting school here we travelled daily with Nathan to the Educate Together school in Thornleigh so we when we heard about the proposed new school here in Holywell we wanted to help out anyway we could.”
Emma, whose son Karol started Junior Infants said “Our main reason from choosing Holywell was due to its proximity to our home. However, Educate Together has a great name in the community. Karol hates wearing uniform and likes to be his own person so I’m sure he’ll love his Educate together experience.” The new school in Holywell is the 58th Educate Together primary school to open and the third in Swords. Educate Together schools are multi-denominational and place a strong emphasis on learning through equality of esteem.
