Diocesan News20 Feb 08

Church of Ireland School Boards meet the Bishop for training

The Right Reverend Paul Colton, Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross personally undertook, as Patron, the introductory training of the new primary schools’ Boards of Management in his Diocese on Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th February. ‘I decided to prepare for it and to do it personally,’ he said, ‘as a mark of my solidarity with, and high regard for, these hugely important volunteers in our education system. They deserve our admiration and support.’

The two training sessions – one for schools in West Cork on 18th February in the Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery, and the other for schools in Cork City, North Cork and East Cork on 19th February in the Radisson SAS Hotel, Little Island – provided a focussed overview of the role of the recently appointed Boards of Management.

Topics addressed included: a vision for our schools, what schools are for, the legislative framework of education in Ireland, the role of board of management and an introduction to the activities and functions of each of the partners in our education system (students, parents, parents’ association, teachers, the school principal, the chairperson, secretary and treasurer of the board, the school trustees and also the patron).

Bishop Colton said:

‘It was hugely encouraging to find that almost every single member of every single Board in the Diocese accepted my invitation to attend. I have the highest regard for these volunteers: I thank them and clearly (and rightly) they take their role very seriously. Society is indebted to people such as these on whom our education system depends.’