The five Educate Together primary schools in the Lucan area will come together in Griffeen Valley ETNS on Monday 21st December for a seasonal celebration of Light and Giving. The event will include a ceremony of lights and a plea for the gift of an Educate Together second-level school for Lucan.
As part of their Learn Together ethical education programme, each Educate Together school in the Lucan area is currently focussing on a different winter festival or celebration and preparing displays for the event. Pupils from Griffeen Valley ETNS, who are hosting the event this year, are learning about the Winter Solstice. Esker ETNS are covering the Hindu festival, Diwali and children from Adamstown Castle ETNS are preparing a display about Christmas. Lucan ETNS is studying the Jewish holiday, Hanukah and pupils from the newest Educate Together school in the area, Lucan East ETNS, are working on a display about Eid, the Muslim celebration which marks the end of Ramadan.
The event is being organised jointly by the Griffeen Valley PTA and the Lucan Task Force, which is campaigning for an Educate Together second-level school in the area.
Carol Dunne, Chair of the Task Force, says; We are hoping that this will become an annual event for all our school communities, hosted by a different school each year. This is an important time of year for so many people with different religious and other beliefs. We wanted to help people to come together to celebrate – and the themes of light and giving seemed to be two that many of the traditions represented in our schools had in common.
The Educate Together schools in the Lucan area are working hard to build a vibrant, respectful intercultural community. Their equality-based ethos provides an ideal environment for fostering positive intercultural community relations – as well as for harnessing the positive resource that the multicultural and multilingual diversity of the Lucan area provides.
Parents from the schools have designed this logo for the event. The symbols represent many of the belief systems that are represented in the school communities.
At the event on the 21st December following a performance including singing, dancing and drumming a ceremony of lights will take place, during which parents and pupils will ask for the gift of an Educate Together second-level school for the area. Representatives from different faith and other belief communities will take part in the ceremony.
Campaigns for an Educate Together second-level school for Lucan stretch back nearly ten years and the Minister for Education and Science has been considering an application from Educate Together to be recognized as a patron of second-level schools for the past two years. Officials from the Department of Education and Science recently indicated that a decision on the organisation’s application would be made in a matter of weeks.
For more information contact:
Emer Nowlan, Second-level Manager Tel: 01 429 2500
