Dear R.E. Teacher / Chaplain,
Over the last two years I have had the privilege of visiting 180 post-primary schools of the Dublin Archdiocese and meeting such dedicated and hardworking teachers and chaplains. I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to assist you and your R.E. department in both delivering an excellent R.E. programme and also further developing the faith of your students. The mailing list now has over 800 teachers and chaplains and I hope you found the resources and updates useful.
I am taking up a new position on Monday as an Advisor with Junior Cycle for Teachers so it would be helpful if you could let the new Diocesan Adviser know if there any new teachers in your school who would like to be added to the mailing list. The email address for the Diocesan Adviser is educationdublindiocese@gmail.com and she will be starting in the position in the near future. (Make sure to add this email address to your contacts so any future emails aren’t filtered as spam). Please email me if you are a teacher of English and would like to remain on my mailing list and hopefully our paths will cross over the next year as I embark on my new role.
Ember Leadership Teams: At the start of last year I established a pilot group of schools interested in participating in a programme similar to Meitheal called Ember and I linked with teachers from three schools and Scripture Union in developing the pilot programme. A key component of the Meitheal programme in other dioceses has been residential training for the students involved which gives them a sense of community. With this in mind a link was made with Ovoca Manor in Wicklow, as a venue for the residential training of the student leaders. The three pilot schools, Ovoca Manor and myself worked closely at developing a programme with the aim of creating a group of leaders within schools who will be an example of faith in action, striving to make a difference to the lives of those around them. The programme was given the name Ember with the word Ember as a metaphor of how a small flame can ignite a fire. The first Ember Teams residential training took place in Ovoca Manor in Wicklow May 13th – 15th 2013 with fifty students from five schools participating. Students working with a teacher from their own school received several workshops/training in areas such as listening skills, group dynamics, planning activities etc. Each evening ended with a reflective liturgy and at the close of the programme on Wednesday May 15th Bishop Eamonn Walsh visited to commission the new Ember teams. I wish the Ember Teams every success this year in the important role they will play in the pastoral care of the incoming 1st years and I hope that many other schools might consider participating in the future. Click here for further details about Ember.
Over the last year I have worked hard at developing the post-primary section of the Education Secretariat website www.education.dublindiocese.ie. There are numerous resources which you can download and view and I have updated the Religious & Justice Calendar Resources section of the website for the new school year. Click here to view September resources. This CALENDAR approach to teaching R.E. between September & May contains a selection of resources linked to events and important dates from international justice, peace and environmental calendars as well as important dates from religious calendars. This approach to teaching R.E. requires the use of a data projector and internet access and is mainly geared towards non-exam R.E. classes. You can follow the materials and resources fully or dip in at various times during the year. I have also put together a 1st year calendar based R.E. programme and I will be giving a presentation about this approach to teaching R.E. at the R.E. Congress on October 5th in Mater Dei and I hope to see many of you there on the day.
With every blessing for the future,
Gary