THE MULTIDENOMINATIONAL group Educate Together is set to challenge Co Dublin VEC’s bid to become patron of a new secondary school in north Co Dublin. If successful, the school in Lusk would be the first Educate Together second-level school in the country.
The second-level school is due to open its doors in 2013 and its patronage has yet to be decided.
John McKenna, chairman of the Educate Together Second Level Lusk group, said an Educate Together school would be a school for the whole community.
Both prospective patrons – Educate Together and Co Dublin VEC – are offering a multidenominational and coeducational model. The main distinguishing factor, as far as Educate Together is concerned, is the educational approach.
Co Dublin VEC argues that it has a “tried and tested model of education”. Chairman of the VEC and Labour councillor Ken Farrell said, “A lot of children in the area go to VEC schools and I think they have been very happy with the education provided.” Co Dublin VEC is one of the largest VECs in the country and is responsible for 26 schools and community colleges in the county.
Educate Together is patron of 60 primary schools nationally, 27 of these are in the Dublin area. The organisation bid to become a second-level patron in Gorey in November 2010, but a decision was made to award patronage to Wexford VEC.
However, its ambitions were given a boost in May of this year when Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn formally recognised that Educate Together met all the requirements to operate as patron of a second-level school.
In 2009, Educate Together published a blueprint for second-level education that it claims will step away from the “teaching to the test” nature of the current system.
Applications for the Lusk school will be submitted to the Department of Education and Skills in late February. In the meantime, both possible patrons are gathering expressions of interest from parents to bolster their applications.