Celbridge Community School welcomes 70 second-level students
Celbridge CS is a new community school opened in partnership with Kildare and Wicklow ETB. The school is currently based in the premises of North Kildare Educate Together Primary School.
Principal Gerard O’Leary: ‘I am very excited that we have arrived at the point where Celbridge Community School can open its doors to the most important members of a school community, our students. We look forward to building a dynamic and innovative school which will prepare the students of this community to meet the needs and challenges of the 21st century through the delivery of a holistic education.’
Amy Mulvihill, New Schools Programme Manager, Educate Together: ‘Celbridge Community School is the culmination of collaboration between Educate Together and Kildare Wicklow ETB. We are anticipating an innovative school offering a robust curriculum and equality-based education’.
What Makes Educate Together at Second-level Different?
Teaching Educate Together’s model of second-level education is learning-centred rather than exclusively focused on 'teaching to the test'. Students will develop skills in creative and critical thinking, communication, teamwork, research and leadership.
Student Participation - The school management process ensures that parents, students and teachers all participate in decision-making. Educate Together is committed to having the voices of students represented in the decision making process in the school.
Learner-centred - The needs of individual students guide decision-making. Teachers use assessment as an important tool for planning; taking individual students’ strengths, weaknesses, needs and progress into account and working with them to ensure they achieve their full potential.
Ethical Education - Students will follow a broad Ethical Education Curriculum. The ethical curriculum is based on values of equality, human rights and active citizenship. Students explore issues relating to equality and social justice in the classroom, considering different ethical approaches and belief systems.
About Educate Together
Educate Together has been offering parents a choice in Irish education since 1978, when its first school, the Dalkey School Project opened. This September, there will be 77 Educate Together primary and four second-level schools in Ireland. Educate Together has added approximately 1,500 school places to its existing school network this year, providing education for over 21,000 pupils.
We believe that it is eminently possible to build a national network of equality-based Educate Together schools that will provide all families in the country with this choice within 30 minutes travel time in the morning. Our assessment suggests that a national network of approximately 300 Educate Together national schools is now needed. This is a modest number making up only 10% of the primary education system. Educate Together is calling on the Government, the Department and the Catholic Church to work with us to provide this network by the year 2030.
Educate Together schools are child-centred and teach the national curriculum. A founding principle of its approach to education is that all children are treated with equal respect, regardless of social, cultural or religious backgrounds. Further information about Educate Together schools can be found on www.educatetogether.ie
