On the 23rd of October, a School of Sanctuary Monitoring team visited Educate Together Secondary School in the heart of the City of the Tribes. On arriving at the school, we were warmly welcomed by Tara Broderick, Leader of their school SOS team, Sarah Molloy, school principal, and Sinead Conlon, the school deputy principal. Walking through the school, it was immediately apparent that it was a wonderful, calm learning environment.
We were soon joined by Anthony Cichocki, Zubair Mobin, Dolamu Adekeye, Sadbh Murphy, Sonia Abbah, and Olivia Gordon, six of their Educate Together SOS Ambassadors.
They gave an inspiring presentation about the school and their SOS journey in the school music room.
We learned that since the school opened in 2019, it has grown and flourished, including students from 51 countries who speak 35 languages. The school Tech Team created a beautiful world map highlighting these countries, and it is on display as you enter the school alongside their signed SOS pledge.
They spoke of how they strive to create an environment of inclusion and embrace their diversity, which all align with the three Sanctuary Principles: LEARN/ACTION/ SHARE.
Among many of their achievements, they won a Diplomatic Passport for their work on Global Citizenship Education.
It was very impressive how proactive the students were. They took action beyond the classroom also. One example was when they held parent focus groups to determine their needs. They learned that parents would like the school website to be able to translate from English to other languages. The students then took action, and their website now has a translation option.
After their presentation, we had the opportunity to speak to the Ambassadors. It was inspiring to hear how passionate and enthusiastic they were about SOS and helping people. They were a credit to their school.
We were then brought around the school by some SOS Ambassadors to see examples of project-based learning and an Ethical learning lesson. We witnessed students give project based learning presentations on various countries such as Nigeria, Ireland, and New Zealand. The presentations were very well-researched and informative. At the end of each project, the students gave ideas on how they can make their school more inclusive. Examples included providing more ramps for better wheelchair access and
posters about various religions around the school to make students and staff more aware of the diverse religious groups within their school community. It was very noticeable how respectful all the children were during the presentations.
During their presentation, the Ambassadors expressed how valuable they thought the school’s Ethical Education classes were as they offered them a safe space to talk about a range of ethical issues.
We saw an example of one such lesson where they first watched a short video about Direct Provision centers in Ireland, and then the students talked about them. It was insightful to hear the students’ views about the video. The openness shown by the students and the teachers during this discussion exemplified the good relations staff and students have in the school.
At lunchtime, some parents and guardians spoke to us about how they are in the process of writing a recipe book. We were then treated to delicious food that they had made, and we had another opportunity to talk to students, staff, and parents about their school’s SOS journey.
The school choir sang a beautiful rendition of ‘Colours of the Wind’ after lunch.
The students ended the day with a whole school House table quiz on Culture and Diversity.
The monitoring team on the day was comprised of Sara Hakim, Director of Schools of Sanctuary Ireland; Sive O’Connor, Schools of Sanctuary Coordinator for the West; Susana Núñez, Education Officer for Educate Together; Chipo Kubamu, Sanctuary Ambassador based in Galway; Niamh O’ Brien and Michael Hannelly, Champion School Teachers from Scoil Bhríde Shantalla, Galway’s first Champion School of Sanctuary,
We want to thank all the students and staff of Educate Together Secondary School Galway for a beautiful day. 