John Scottus Primary School, of Northumberland Street, will be holding an Information Day for prospective parents on Tuesday February 4th. Between 12 noon and 2pm.
The school will be open, with opportunities for visitors to sit in on classes. Where previous years, only junior and senior infants teaching has been open to inspection, this time the whole school will be on show, and every subject taught will be showcased. Also an Art and Video exhibit will be open to provide an overview of how the school functions and its ethos in teaching younger children, and afterwards, of course, there will be time for tea.
This ‘information day’ is a change from conventional open days. NewsFour spoke with the principal Mary Telford about the change and what distinguishes John Scottus Primary. “We found that we were not reaching parents. In fact, I got a shock when parents said we didn’t know this, we didn’t know that. We felt we weren’t getting our name out.”
The selling point of the school (for lack of a better phrase) is its basis in three broad principles which guide their approach to their pupil’s development: ‘Self-Discovery, Resilience, and Universality’.
Those are big words, Mary would be the first to admit, but they boil down to a concern for the individuality of the child as he or she develops, and “nurturing their capacity for stillness”. There are two quiet time periods per day, for the children to collect themselves, and pupils over 10 can choose whether or not to learn to meditate.
“It took us years to recognise the distinctive feature of our school. We had a philosophy that we wanted to embed in education. The current education needs to be infused with something, and what we felt that is, is more of a concern for the being of the child. I think where we’re unique is that we have lived that message for 28 years.”
For more information, contact John Scottus Primary on 01 6609309 or e-mail primary@johnscottus.ie
By Rúairí Conneely
