Most people think that Educate Together is a very new concept in primary school education.  Everyone I speak to is surprised when I tell them that it’s been around for over 30 years when the first ever school project opened in Dalkey in September 1978, a couple of weeks before I was born.  It was an honour, 30 years later, to open the doors of Carlow Educate Together in September 2008, in Educate Together’s biggest expansion.

I always say I became a teacher through a series of fortunate events.  Back in 2001, I never dreamed that when I left my Computer Science degree in the midst of the dot com bubble bursting, that I would be a principal of a primary school. I began my teaching career as an unqualified teacher in Killinarden, Tallaght and instantly fell in love with the job.  Two years later I had gained my teaching qualification and Irish exams.  I ended up randomly living in Carlow and started teaching in Athy where I spent three years.

However, the urge to teach in an Educate Together school brought me to Gorey, where I commuted from Carlow each day for two years.  When the opportunity came to apply for the principalship in Carlow Town, I jumped at the chance and thankfully, the rest is history.

I love teaching in an Educate Together school.  The ethos sums up everything I believe in.  As a colleague of mine said, “I am ‘Educate Together’”.  So what does being Educate Together mean and what does it mean to me, personally?

Most people understand that Educate Together schools run on four basic principles: They are multi-denominational; they are co-educational; they are democratic; they are child-centred.  These four principles guide everything we do from the children calling teachers by their first names to making sure that no child is ever an outsider.

Every ET school has its own personality including Carlow Educate Together.  Our vision is that everyone in the school has a right to be happy, safe and be able to learn.  This vision is not only for the children but includes staff, parents and the wider community.  Everybody in the school should feel they are an equal part of the place.

Another aspect that we are well known for already is our technology involvement.  Every classroom in our school is equipped with good technology and, as a staff, we communicate very effectively using a fantastic internal Internet.  Children have access to some great projects including video conferencing with schools around the world, learning how to program and make their own animations.  Our school web site has been shortlisted in the Eircom Junior Spider Awards, the Irish Blog Awards and it won the Scoilnet Star Site.

Some of the challenges of being an ET school lie in dispelling some of the misconceptions that exist around what we do.  Many people believe we are a private school or a special needs school.  Some people believe that we don’t teach subjects like Irish or religion.  We try our best to educate people.  To lay it out in simple terms, Educate Together schools are fully funded Department of Education National Schools.  We teach the full curriculum including Irish.  Some Educate Together schools have special needs classes within but all are mainstream primary schools.  We teach children about different religions as part of our ethics programme and we offer religious instruction after school time.

Once you walk through the doors of our school, you’ll be amazed at how bright and colourful our building is as you are greeted with a warm welcome. Carlow Educate Together is a very special place to visit and a wonderful place to work.

Simon Lewis is the principal of Carlow Educate Together National School. He is also editor of Anseo.net, a monthly webzine dedicated to primary school education in Ireland.