Last week was a very exciting week here in Citywest ETNS! As we prepared to say goodbye to our first ever 6th class, we held the inaugural Staff vs 6th Class basketball match. The rest of the school were invited to come and watch, cheering for the team of their choice!
The match ended in a well-deserved victory for 6th class... the staff will need to get training before the match next year! 

Last Monday was a very exciting day in Citywest ETNS, as we welcomed Senator Lynn Ruane to our school. Lynn is a native of Tallaght and a campaigner on issues of justice and equality. She is a member of Seanad Eireann (the Senate) since 2016 and has worked on various laws, legislation and policies during her time there. 

Following the meeting with the Student Council, Lynn was invited to visit Martha's 1st class. Here, they showed her some of their recent work, based on the Ethics and the Environment strand of the Learn Together curriculum. 
They made a short presentation to Lynn, before she shared some of her recent policy work on the environment. 
The next stop was to meet with some of our 5th class pupils, who engaged in an excellent conversation with her - covering topics such as homelessness voting rights, the environment, Brexit and much more. 

Finally, Lynn spent some time meeting with three of the parents who are on the campaign group which is aiming to bring a second-level Educate Together school to the area. You can read a little more about that here or check out their Twitter and Facebook pages. 

The Learn Together curriculum, which is the Ethical Education curriculum for Educate Together schools, has 4 strands: Moral and Spiritual, Equality and Justice, Belief Systems, Ethics and the Environment. You can read more about this curriculum and the ethos of our school here.

As part of our learning under the Belief Systems strand, pupils are provided with the opportunity to visit various places of worship throughout their time in our school. These visits complement the teaching and learning being done in classrooms, from Junior Infants - 6th class. 

​In the 2018/19 school year alone, 10 classes visited 6 different places of worship, while another 3 classes welcomed guest speakers to their rooms for an educational talk. Classes visited a Mosque, a Gurdwara, a Buddhism Centre, a Hindu Temple, a Synagogue and a Church, along with welcoming a speaker to learn about Humanism. Each visit provides us with new knowledge and an increased awareness and respect for the beliefs of others.
​We all learn together to live together!