On Wednesday 21st May.2008, the 25th Anniversary of the incorporation of the North Dublin National School Project was celebrated. Honorary membership was endowed on those exceptional people who gave so selflessly of their time, energy and expertise to ensure that our school opened successfully. This was the third multi-denominational school in Ireland and the first within the city bounds and also the first on the Northside of the city.
Times were very different when our school was set up and those involved were an exceptional group of people with a vision for the children of the future. They gave selflessly of their time and not all of them had even the vested interest of having children of their own for whom they were working.
The first Board of Management and first Staff of the school were also honoured.
Good Evening and welcome. We are delighted that so many of you were able to
come tonight. Not everyone we invited was able to be with us in person, but
we have received some lovely letters from friends and colleagues sending their
good wishes to you and to us, and assuring us they will be here in spirit.
What we propose to do is first to
outline why we have chosen to have this reception here this evening. Myself
,Mary Byrne BOM and Sally would all like to speak. We will then make the presentations,
before hearing a reply from one of the founder members, Rody Ryan. This will
conclude the formal aspect of the evening, after which we will have an opportunity
to get to know one another over cheese and wine .
One of our tasks this year was to
read through early minutes, In doing so we developed a profound respect for
the pioneers who saw a need for radical change in educational opportunities,
and who worked together to find a solution.
The minutes themselves are not a
record of the ideas or the ideals these individuals and groups of committed
people had. They do not spell out why they all came together over the three
year period prior to the opening of the school, to work so hard to find this
solution. They do not report specifically what motivated and drove them to undertake
such extraordinary work. They are neither a treatise nor a sermon.
What we can surmise is that these
people were committed to bringing about a school which was Multi – denominational,
co educational and democratically run, because they believed, utterly, that
this was a model which was good for children and for families whose needs were
not being met within the system at the time.
We can see, from the minutes, something
of their vision, their dedication and their commitment to democratic process
throughout. There is thoroughness there, and an attention to detail and reflection
on process. They aimed high, threw their nets wide and learned as they went
along.
We can also see, most clearly, what
their vision, their dedication and their commitment required of them in practical
terms. It required them to be down to earth, diligent and robust. It required
them to meet, as a whole committee, 17 times in 1981, 27 in 1982 and 26 in 1983.
In between these meetings it required them to work extremely hard, and often
in the face of obstacles and barriers.
They worked on a range of sub-committees
dealing with recruiting public support, fundraising, finding a site and linking
in with all the relevant agencies and public bodies of the time. They undertook
numerous leaflet drops, drafted press releases, met with local public representatives
and journalists, liased with relevant Govt departments and with the only two
likeminded Schools established in the Republic at the time,- BSP and DSP.
They ran coffee mornings and sales of work and marathons.
In Oct 81, the funds available to
the then steering group were £30. A suggestion was made that all members
make a contribution of 20p each meeting to help pay for a public meeting in
Wynns Hotel which was to cost £55.
The public meeting was held on 4th
Nov, and a further 12 people there expressed an interest in becoming actively
involved. They were invited to a meeting (“followed by a party”),
in John and Sile Deadys house the following Saturday. Time was evidently of
the essence!
The group knew the importance of
garnering vigorous support, and especially of having a persuasive pre-enrolment
list to present to the Dept of Ed. By 3rd Dec, there were 103 memberships and
76 children’s names on the pre-enrolment list.
The inaugural meeting, at which the
first elections to the Executive Committee were held, was on 28th Feb 1982.
Progress continued apace.
In November 82 the first mention
of the Glasnevin site appears, and the focus of the following year was, inevitably,
in moving forward with making ready those premises and to open our new school.
Negotiations ensued with the Dept of Ed, the Board of Works and the INTO, among
others.
In tandem with these developments,
work also continued on the registration of the NDNSP with the Companies Office.
The Articles and Memorandum of Association were signed on 20th May 1983. These,
as you know, form the infrastructure of how it is that the NDNSP conducts its
business, and it is this one point in the emergence of the school which we are
celebrating tonight.
We have chosen this pivotal point,
as it defines something important about the work of those early members. It
was both a culmination of the efforts which had gone before, and a foundation
stone for the work which was to follow. Its completion paved the way for the
appointment of the BOM and the first teachers, and thence, to the opening of
the school.
We know that there are many people
who have given generously of their time, their talents and their energies who
did not happen to be on the Executive of 1983, the first BOM, or who did not
take up the first posts teaching in the school. To them we extend our gratitude,
and hope that they will forgive us for our focus on this one crucial period
in the schools history.
Fortunately, many of the people who
we are honouring tonight were involved in some if not all of the activities
and developments already mentioned. Talk of their vision, dedication and commitment
may embarrass them slightly, and if it does, I apologise, but from my reading
of the archives, I cannot find less admiring words with which to speak about
the gifts they brought to our school. Thank-you all most sincerely.
Before Rody comes up I would like
to call on two people who are not expecting to be called, but whom we would
also like to honour. Jennifer, and Maeve. Neither needs any introduction to
any of you associated with the school over the last 16 years or more. Maeve
has been school secretary for the last 16 years, and Jennifer has been teaching
here for 22. However the decision to award them honorary life membership is
not based on this alone, but more specifically their consistent contribution,
throughout this time to promoting the ethos of the school. Both have given generously
of their time over a number of years to either the Executive or the BOM. Both
have worked tirelessly in relation to various aspects of the Core Curriculum
Cttee. Jennifer has indeed been its longest serving member. We see this as a
golden opportunity to express our appreciation to them both.
I would like to add my voice to Sallie's in extending a warm welcome to you
all here this evening from the school's Board of Management. We would also like
to congratulate the current Patron Committee of the school as they celebrate
their 25th Anniversary.
In preparing for this evening's events, I have been thinking about the work
of the first Board of Management which took place in a very different Ireland
from the place in which we now live. I am aware that at the time, the school
community took great care to ensure a democratic structure on the BOM which
was not the case in other schools at the time. You achieved this by agreeing
that the person who came in third place in the election for parents would be
automatically selected as the patron nominee on the BOM, thus ensuring that
there were three parent reps and three patron reps on the board as opposed to
a 4-2 ratio in favour of the patron. This was a simple, yet very clever and
effective device that made a real difference to the democratic structure of
the board.
Over the years that have followed, members of Patron Committees and Boards of
Management have worked hard to honour your ideals and to keep your belief and
commitment alive. I think that it is interesting to reflect that on this the
25th anniversary, we still continue to debate some of the same issues - for
example during the current school year, we have had lively discussion evenings
around the schools pre-enrolment policy and are struggling to find ways in which
our wish to embrace diversity can be reconciled with our wish to welcome siblings
of children into our school.
It might surprise you to know how often we think of you, the founder members
of the school. However, it is the case that we often look around this lovely
school and reflect on how hard people worked to achieve this, often in the full
knowledge that their own children would never see the inside of the building.
To-night is an opportunity for us to publicly acknowledge this selfless effort,
to thank you and to say how much we still appreciate it.
But perhaps above everything else, the most important thing you did for us was
to appoint Sally Sheils as the first principal of the school. She embodies the
ethos of the school, understands what is necessary to uphold the important principles
upon which it based and has faithfully tended the flame over the last 25 years.
We hope that she will continue to do so for many, many years into the future.
In the same way, the first appointment of a deputy principal and the first teacher
appointments were pivotal in determining the way in which the ethos of the school
would be lived out in the classroom situation. I have often heard it said that
one of the most important factors in a teachers professional development is
the first staff-room into which they arrive. Imagine how fortunate teachers
were to arrive in the NDNSP staff room and to meet there the quality of teachers
who were first appointed to this school and who continue to be appointed in
the intervening years.
I feel privileged here this evening to have the opportunity, on behalf of the
Board of Management to say a heartfelt 'thank you' and to say that your work
was not in vain but has borne great fruits. Through all these years, generations
of children have had a wonderful educational experience in this school and have
grown into confident adults, well capable of making a positive contribution
to the country in which they live. It was your work and your vision which provided
the solid foundation for what was to follow and tonight we celebrate your achievement