Irish Vocational Education Association

The announcement today by the Minister for Education and Science that three of the seven new national schools to be established in the State will be under the patronage of VECs is welcomed by the Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA).

General Secretary Michael Moriarty says, "The proposal to extend the pilot community national school model to Naas (County Kildare VEC), Navan (County Meath VEC) and Balbriggan (County Dublin VEC) is a vote of confidence in VECs to deliver on a new model of primary school patronage, multi-faith, inclusive and responsive to the needs of the local community."

"IVEA is confident that these new schools will find favour with both parents and staff. Boards of management will have access to the support mechanisms of the VECs, which can include building maintenance and human resource supports as well as I.T. and curricular supports."

"It is important also to develop this school model in different communities in order to fully assess and develop the benefits of these new community national schools," concludes Michael Moriarty.

Note:

At IVEA's annual Congress in September 2009, Minister O'Keeffe paid tribute to the work of the VECs and expressed his confidence in their capacity to deliver high quality education that responds to local community needs.
The first two community national schools in the state were established in 2008 under the patronage of County Dublin VEC (Scoil Ghráinne in Phibblestown and Scoil Choilm in Porterstown).

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