Consultation for the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector
SUBMISSION BY PORTOBELLO EDUCATE TOGETHER IN RESPONSE TO PRESENTATION BY PROFESSOR JOHN COOLAHAN
28th November 2011
Portobello Educate Together – a multi-denominational school start-up group
- Introduction – the Portobello Group
The Portobello Educate Together group is an active, energetic and enthusiastic group seeking a new multi-denominational school to serve the communities of Dublin 2, 6, 6W, 8 and 12. We have already made a submission to the Forum. This document represents our response to the presentation made by Professor John Coolahan on behalf of the Advisory Group to the Public Session of the Forum on 17th November 2011.
- What Our Group is Seeking
The key priority for our group is to ensure the provision of increased numbers of multi-denominational school places in our area for September 2012. We would ideally like recognition as a new school, or to achieve a new school through transformation/divestment of an existing school currently under denominational patronage on a whole-school basis.
Many parents in our area have sent their children to denominational schools because they could not get a place in a multi-denominational school. They would move their children to a new multi-denominational school if places were available beyond Junior Infants level.
| “Parental demand doesn’t change as soon as your child starts in Junior Infants.”
Mary Frances, mother of Mabel, age 4. |
We recognise, however, that a more restricted type of divestment (whereby we are given space to operate our school, potentially starting with Junior Infants class/es only, in premises currently occupied entirely by a denominational school) may be the most practical way to ensure that we have a Portobello Multi-Denominational school open for September 2012.
The demand for change in our area is so great, and the numbers of children pre-enrolled (see Appendix) are so large that under this model of divestment, we could open a two-stream Junior Infants class in September 2012.
- We Welcome the Reflections of the Advisory Group
We welcome the tone and content of the presentation given on behalf of the Advisory Group, and we greatly appreciate the opportunity to participate in the Forum process.
At the presentation, we were very pleased to hear that the Advisory Group will recommend adapting the primary education system to make it become more inclusive, and in particular that they will say that ‘the status quo is not an option.’ We also appreciate the recommendation that the onus is upon existing stakeholders to provide leadership.
- We Need Clear Time-Frames
We are very glad to see that the Report of the Advisory Group will provide a set of practical steps towards “Divesting School Patronage” to achieve greater diversity in school provision. However, we are very anxious indeed that clear time-frames be provided in the final Report for each step in the divestment process, as our members are extremely anxious to see change in our area by September 2012.
As Professor Coolahan said at the public session, there is urgent need for action on divesting. We are very glad to see this urgency acknowledged. At a recent general meeting of our group (26.11.2011), our members emphasised the need for urgency above all else.
| “My mother had to start a school in 1987 to get the education she wanted for us and I didn’t think I’d be in the same position 25 years later!”
Jessica, mother of Matilda, 4 and Max, 14 months, and daughter of a founder of the Kilkenny School Project. |
We support the catchment/district approach to divestment, and would also support the Advisory Group’s recommendation that the 47 catchment areas previously identified by the DES will be used to form Phase One of the Divesting Process.
We are pleased to note that our area, comprising the postal districts outlined above in Dublin South City, has already been identified as being within one of the 47 catchment areas. We are ready to proceed with the process as soon as possible; and would like to be among the first groups or pilot areas to be considered for divestment/transformation.
We welcome also the recommendation that, in order to facilitate divestment and as part of ‘Phase One’ of the process, the DES should provide all relevant data to Patrons who should report within a time period to DES. In fact, a good deal of information is available only to Patrons/BOMs within schools; in particular, information on individual school waiting lists, and on the numbers of children taking faith formation classes and who are ‘opting out’ respectively within each class in a particular school. We would recommend that a clear onus be placed on Patrons to provide this information to the DES to facilitate the process of divestment. A clear time-frame for the provision of this information is needed.
We support the imperatives outlined for Phase One, particularly the need to protect social inclusion and special needs provision in diversification.
- We Support the Parental ‘Preference Register’
We support the recommendation for the creation of a parental ‘preference register’ based on adapting the DCYA enrolment form for the free pre-school year. We believe it is imperative that parents be asked to outline their preference at the pre-school stage; preferably as early as possible, or at age 2+ as was suggested by Prof Coolahan. In addition, preferences should be counted per child, not per parent; as this will give a clearer indication of the number of school places required under particular patronage.
We also agree with the proposal to measure the views of parents of children already in school. But great care must be taken to ensure that the process is carried out independently of the individual school/BOM/Patron; so that the views expressed in questionnaires would be the genuine views of the parents themselves. In particular, we would suggest that the distribution and collection of the questionnaire should ideally be carried out online, not through the school, perhaps under the aegis of the small specialised independent group or by the DES itself.
We would suggest that in order to assist with measuring parental demand, two other considerations should also be taken into account in each of the catchment areas.
First, waiting lists and actual enrolment figures for each individual school within each area should be examined as this can provide a useful indicator of parental demand. In our own area, we are conscious that the two existing multi-denominational schools, both only single-stream, have a combined waiting list each year of approximately 500 pupils. While there is clearly some duplication within lists, this is in sharp contrast with the lack of waiting lists and indeed surplus of places in many of our local Catholic schools.
Second, the pre-enrolment figures for any local multi-denominational school start-up groups in each catchment area should be examined. In our own case, we have over 300 children pre-enrolled for the school years 2012 – 2016 (see Appendix). We have over 80 pupils pre-enrolled in some of those years. We would be very happy to make our pre-enrolment forms available to the specialised independent group set up to assist with the Divestment process, perhaps on an anonymised basis, to ensure that these figures could be verified.
Finally, we commend the Forum’s reference to the views of children, and would recommend that the views of children themselves should be sought to complement the parental preference register. Children at sixth class level across different primary schools in an area could be interviewed, perhaps again with the assistance of the Ombudsman for Children.
- We Recommend the Setting-out of Clear Steps in ‘Phase Two’
We are delighted to see such detailed thought has gone into setting out how Phase One of the divestment process might proceed. We are also delighted to see the acceptance that ‘non-denominational schools’ may be established; and to see the many important recommendations relating to the ‘Stand Alone schools’ and to changing the curriculum within denominational schools to ensure greater inclusivity of pupils of minority faiths or no faith.
But the divestment process is the issue most relevant to our own group. We are very anxious indeed to establish how the divestment process itself will proceed beyond Phase One.
Once parental views within a catchment area have been measured, and assuming that there is clear demand for greater provision of multi-denominational schooling in the area, it is not clear what steps will then be taken to ensure the demand is met within a strict timeframe.
There is a suggestion that local school communities following self-evaluation might consider change of patronage or co-patronage. However, it is our view, and indeed our experience based on our own contacts with local Catholic schools, that this will not happen without leadership from the relevant Patron.
We are very anxious that the Advisory Group would set out clear steps for ‘Phase Two’ ie what happens next where there is clearly demonstrated parental demand for change, but no change is happening ‘from below’ in any area.
The Group has recommended that the appropriate approach might be through the transfer of school leases to the State, where parental demand for change in patronage exists and schools have become surplus to a particular denominational Patron’s requirements.
However, what is required in the Report is an indication as to what would be the ‘trigger’ or imperative required to bring about the transfer of a lease in a particular catchment area. We would hope to see that detail set out in the final Report.
- Conclusion – the Need for Urgency
Finally, we would emphasise the need to set out clear timelines for implementation of the recommendations contained in the Report. We would like also to see an indication of the first date by which the Advisory Group envisages divestment could occur in a particular catchment area. In our area, we are working to achieve divestment by September 2012.
We do not want to see any legal or other obstacles placed in the way of achieving that goal, particularly as it is now so widely accepted that divestment must take place as a matter of urgency in order to achieve greater diversity of patronage and to reflect our changing pluralist society.
| “The system has to change because what people want from education has changed. But how long will it take?” Feargal, father of Cal, 6 and Rosa, 2. |
We are very grateful indeed to Prof Coolahan, Dr Caroline Hussey and Fionnuala Kilfeather of the Advisory Group and all their staff for the immense work that they have put into the Forum and we await the imminent publication of their Final Report with great anticipation.
APPENDIX TO SUBMISSION
- Up-to-Date Pre-Enrolment Figures for Portobello Educate Together
(at 25.11.2011)
|
Year |
Number of Children Pre-Enrolled for Junior Infants |
|
Sept 2012 |
85 |
|
Sept 2013 |
82 |
|
Sept 2014 |
78 |
|
Sept 2015 |
64 |
|
Sept 2016 |
12 |
(Pre-Enrolments for classes other than Junior Infants: 16)
