Update from New School for D8 Campaign Group Meeting 01/08/2023
A summary update from the first meeting of the campaign team in early August.
The aim and mission of the group was defined as:
1. Meet minister Norma Foley
2. Obtain agreement from the minister that a new school is required for Dublin 8 and commitment to deliver.
It was felt that at this stage it is best to focus our energy on securing commitment for a new school. The type/ethos of school can be decided once that is in place. This is aligned to the departments process – the first step of which is identification of a need for a school (through modelling). Patronage and ultimately ethos are decided later.
There are 5 existing schools in d8 (and some more nearby). We will undertake additional research to understand more about the existing schools, in particular intake, capacity, ethos and subject provision. We are in favour of improvements to these schools but regardless, a new school is still required and that is the focus of this campaign.
By the departments own modelling, D8 meets the criteria for a new school (a gap of 600 students), but has been overlooked. Further, we believe the departments model has inbuilt bias against areas such as D8 – we believe there is a gap of 2000 places. It is not our fight to fix the departments model, but falling foul of a broken model provides a strong argument for our new school.
The department have specifically referenced the new Sandymount school as built to address the d8 need. We need to highlight why this doesn’t work for the students of d8.
In terms of the campaign, we have been advised that we should keep it positive and show that we want to help, and to have new angles to keep the campaign fresh and in the public eye. So far, we have held a local meeting, secured political engagement, issued a press release and had articles in print media and on radio.
Some ideas for the next steps in the campaign are below – more ideas are always welcome!
- A walk to the Sandymount school. This is the departments solution in their responses to the campaign – show how impractical it is through a family walk.
- Involve local celebrities and personalities.
- Petition / pre-registration site for a hypothetical school
- Testimony from children doing long commutes (written or vox pop)
- Survey of 6th class / 1styear kids to show impact of fragmentation.
- Post card campaign
Looks like we have a winner in terms of campaign name – Educate D8: Secondary School Action Group.
The campaign team are looking to meet again next week to plan our next steps and will send a further update following this meeting.
Thanks to all for your support!
The Campaign Team