“Many of us spend up to 14 years of our lives in a classroom. But most of us rarely see how a school is run. This is the story of the creation of a brand new school. And shows us the parts of school life that students never see.”
These are the opening lines of what sounds like a fascinating two-part documentary following the principal, teachers, parents and pupils over 18 months in the setting-up of a new school, Hansfield Educate Together Secondary School, in the ethnically diverse west Dublin suburb of Ongar. As it's a new school, the students have a hand in drawing up the school rules, including what to wear and how to make it a bullying-free zone. The tense period in the run-up to the opening in August 2014 figures in episode one. A Different Class by Wildfire Films Production starts on RTÉ1 on Thursday, October 22nd
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The past pupils at St Raphaela's Secondary School in Kilmacud, Stillorgan, punch above their weight for a relatively small state school. At Saturday's 50th jubilee celebration the special guest was Justice Elizabeth Dunne of the Supreme Court, and other past pupils include Judge Anne Watkin of the Dublin Metropolitan Court, Cathriona Hallahan head of Microsoft Ireland, Antoinette Switzer of Netgear and Ann Derwin, deputy secretary general at the Department of Agriculture.
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Students heavily involved in volunteer work have a few days left to apply to their principal to enter the Pramerica Spirit of Community Awards. The all-Ireland youth initiative rewards postprimary students for outstanding acts of volunteerism and their contribution in local communities and further afield. Students can send their applications to their principal by October 23rd, and the school will then nominate students for national-level recognition by November 6th. Schools can submit up to two applications on pramerica.ie/spirit
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A beautiful, colourful book, Yeats2015: The Magic Within, will be landing in all primary schools and libraries around now. The book, a compilation of schoolchildren's responses to Yeats, is the result of Yeats Among Schoolchildren, aproject where schoolchildren submitted an artwork or poem based on their interpretation of a Yeats poem.
Over 100,000 primary pupils got involved through schools and education centres, and the winning entries form The Magic Within. It was co-ordinated by Sligo Education Centre and published by the Association of Teachers'/Education Centres in Ireland and Kids' Own Publishing Partnership.
