Belmayne Educate Together N.S. opened on the 1st of September 2008 in a new building. We had a very enjoyable and busy year! As a new school we had twelve children on our first day with me as Principal, Sinead O Meara and Fiona Ni Ghloinn as the second mainstream class teacher. With an increase to over 60 students, we welcomed new members to our teaching staff during the second year: Joeseph Kavanagh, Gearóid O Flatharta, Vivienne Gaynor and Deirdre Keegan. Elaine Moran and Zara Slattery also joined us as SNAs. In 2010 we grew to over 160 students and our staff expanded once again and we were joined by Aoife O Reilly, Sarah Griffin, Paul Timmins, Johanne O Sullivan .This year our staff grew again with Karl, Paula and Caterina joining us at the beginning of September 2011. All staff members are very talented and dedicated and are instrumental in the development of Belmayne ETNS.
Fiona is our Vice Principal and is very musical. She sings, plays and teaches the tin whistle and is very creative and artistic.Joe is our singing teacher and is often seen and heard with his guitar in class and also in the afterschool classes.Gearoid and Deirdre are interested in sports and are promoting athletics and GAA in the school. Stephen Behan from Trinity Gaels GAA Club has also been supportive of our development of hurling in our school. The children played in Croke Park on the 2nd of April during the Dublin versus Kilkenny game. Viv is our media teacher and has been instrumental in developing our website, our newsletter and some film production with the children. Paul has a keen interest in Maths and is helping us with the School Plan. Paul also works in the Chess afterschool Club. Johanne is a qualified Speech and Drama teacher and runs the speech and drama afterschool clubs. Aoife has a Media and Art background which is evident when you walk along the top corridors. Sarah teaches EAL and is also very creative and artistic. Sarah teaches the Cookery Afterschool. Both Karl and Paula have a keen interest in G.A.A. and I.C.T. Both teachers have been working with Gearóid to develop our hurling and football teams and are working on developing our school newspaper.
Due to the surge of interest in our school, we currently have students pre enrolled up to and including 2016. While many of our students will come from the local Belmayne/Castlemoyne/ Malahide Road and Clongriffin area, we will also have students attending from Baldoyle, Howth, Malahide, Portmarnock, Sutton,Beaumont, Drumcondra and Artane. Belmayne ETNS strives to ensure that all children reach their potential both in academic subjects but also in Sport, Music, Drama, Art etc. We place a strong emphasis on the Irish culture and language. Many of staff has been educated in Gaelscoils/Coláiste Mhuire Marino. When teachers are being interviewed the needs of the school and the pupils are taken into account in order to ensure that we get a high caliber of teacher.
Teaching Staff
Starting from the top, left to right
Sarah, Karl, Gearóid, Mel, Fiona, Viv, Dee, Aoife, Joe, Paul, Johanne, Sinéad, Paula.
Ethos
Since our first year we have had many successes, not least due to the great support given to us by the parents involved in our school, the pupils and also our Board of Management. Some of our successes in our first year include
• All classrooms are now interactive as we had interactive whiteboards installed in all mainstream classes. Children benefit greatly when using computers and have no fear of using IT. Computers also support teachers making lessons visual and therefore more stimulating. There are also computers in each classroom and we hope to add to this store of computers annually.
We will reach 6th class this year. We will have over 200 students in August 2011. There is currently a waiting list in place for Junior Infants. Our school is now full to capacity re classrooms. There are however some limited places available in some classes-
Senior Infants, First/Second/Fifth/Sixth.
We are hoping to have our new school for the school year 2012/2013
We have a new Computer Room which the children use weekly. This is also used for the afterschool Media Class.
We have a full time afterschool programme in place for parents who are working. This service is also provided during the holidays. Children are collected from class and brought to the afterschool facility. Children who stay full time have their dinner and snacks also.
• A parent and toddler group runs in the Parents’ Room each Tuesday from 11.30 a.m. This facility is open to the community also.
• Afterschool clubs run daily with a varied programme. Activities this year include GAA, Athletics, Guitar, Speech and Drama,Art, Media Club, Chess Club, Cookery in Irish and Maths Games . The clubs run Monday-Thursdays from 2.20-4.20 Teachers are involved in the delivery of these programmes.
• A gardening club is running weekly on Tuesdays-1.20 onwards by the Parents and students.
We have developed Integrated Teaching throughout the school in English and Maths. This ensures that all children, children who are average, children who need support or children who are gifted are supported and achieve success at their own individual level. Check out our Learning Support link for further information.
We are beginning to coach basketball after the Easter break in all classes.
We hope to run a week’s Summer Camp the first week in July.
School reopens on the 29th of August 2011. The school calendar is available on the website for next year for parents who are planning their holidays etc.
SNA’s
Left to Right
Zara, Caterina, Elaine
Parental Input
Belmayne Educate Together opened as a result of parents campaigning for an Educate Together school in the Baldoyle area for a number of years. We opened with fifteen children and twelve families. Since opening our school has developed greatly, with the introduction of afterschool clubs, parents’ groups etc… We currently have seventy four students and are looking forward to two new classes in September 2011.
We have active parental involvement. Our Food Fair is on in O Tooles GAA Club Friday the 8th of April from 5-7pm. We also have an Open Day coming up-check on upcoming events for more details.
If you would like to find out more about the history of Educate Together in general please see EducateTogether.ie
