Paul Fields, school principal, is on secondment to the Department of Education and Science since April 2002, firstly as is a regional coordinator of school planning and currently as Director of Kilkenny Education Centre.
Since this secondment, Leo Hogan has been acting principal. Paddy McGovern is acting deputy principal.
Leo Hogan is from Laois and has been teaching Science and Maths at St. Mary's Academy CBS since 1981. In 2001 he was appointed Deputy Principal on the retirement of Jack Ryan and has been principal since April 2002.
He has a keen interest in Irish culture, particularly traditional music and Gaelic games.
He was involved in the promotion of Hurling in the school in the past.
Paddy McGovern is from Offaly and has been a teacher of English and French in the school since 1974. He is widely known throughout Ireland in the Arts community and has played a major role in the promotion of the Arts in Carlow, through his work with Éigse Ceatharlach.
Paddy has a long history of involvement in Debating and Public Speaking. He managed the All-Ireland winning Squash team organised many successful trips to France to develop student language skills.
He has a strong interest in Gaelic games and has fond memories of his native county's victories in Football and Hurling, since 1972.
Welcome to our web site. We have set out to provide you with as much information on our school as we possibly can. I hope you find it easy to navigate around the site and I would welcome all your comments, positive or negative. I would particularly like to hear from past pupils and perhaps we will develop the site to allow classmates to make contact with each other.
The Christian Brothers, our trustees until August 2008, left Carlow in 1989. Trusteeship of the school is now in the hands of a lay trust board, the Edmund Rice Schools Trust (ERST). ERST provides the same type of support and guidance as the predecessors and ensure that the school, with the staff and Board of Management, continues to offer the type of education that Edmund Rice pioneered in 1802.
We have students from over thirteen different countries as well as students from our travelling community. The presence of these students in the school provides an opportunity for all of us to learn from each other and develop a mutual understanding of cultures and traditions.
There is a big emphasis on academic performance in our school. Formal testing is done 4 times per year - October mid-term, Christmas, Easter and Summer.However, there are many other aspects to human development and we make every effort to encourage our students to become involved in school activities. There is a wide range of extra-curricular activities, sporting and non-sporting, available in school. There are opportunities for students to develop leadership skills through involvement in the Meitheal Programme and the Student Council. The students involved in Meitheal are selected at interview while the Student Council members are elected by their fellow students.
Parents are encouraged to become actively involved in the school through the Parents Council. The council provides invaluable assistance and advice to the school and plays an important part in policy formulation. Further information on the the council can be found by clicking the button 'school' in the navigation panel on the left.
The school is a hive of activity and we are very grateful to the many teachers who are involved in promoting a very wide range of extra-curricular activities. Participation by students in school activities gives them a greater sense of belonging and has many long-term benefits.
In September 2008 the school trusteeship transferred from the Christian Brothers to the Edmund Rice Schools Trust (ERST). Further details are available from www.erstcharter.ie.
Our school is also involved in an Immersion Project pioneered by the Christian Brothers in 2000. Two teachers, Theresa O'Neill and Brighid Hennessy, along with 8 students spent 2 weeks in Calcutta working in schools, orphanages and among the street children in 2001. A second trip took place in March 2005 when Theresa O'Neill, Shane Storey and Leo Hogan accompanied a group of seven students. Their account of the experience is given in the article below. Numerous fund-raising projects were undertaken by the students and the teachers. Participants gain a first-hand knowledge of life in India and the problems encountered by inhabitants of the Third World. The project also provides the participants with an opportunity to evaluate their values and priorities.
The third trip will take place in February 2008. A group of nine students will travel. By sharing their experiences with us when they return, the team will contribute to the holistic approach to education in St. Mary's Academy.
The students who travelled in 2005 were::
Edward Cahill, Greg Watchorn, Conor Waldron, Shane Hegarty, Niall Dunne, Jeff Walshe and Robin Hogan.
The 2008 group list will be published in the near future.
Calcutta – City of Joy
A Report of Our Journey
On the 12th March a group of seven students and three teachers set of from St. Mary’s Academy CBS, accompanied by nurse Sandra Watchorn, to spend two weeks working in Calcutta. The school had become part of this project after teacher Theresa O’Neill volunteered to visit the city in 1999 with a group of teachers from other schools in the Christian Brother network around Ireland. Theresa and Brighid Hennessy took the first school group to Calcutta in 2001 and decided to make this ‘Immersion Programme’ an integral part of the school in Carlow.
The programme aims to raise awareness of Third World issues among the school and wider community of Carlow. Every student and teacher in the school was involved in raising the necessary funds for the group to travel and the people of Carlow responded magnificently. Over €24,000 was raised over a two-year period and this has allowed us to fund a series of projects in Calcutta.
We arrived in Calcutta on a warm Sunday morning, excited but a little apprehensive. The taxi journey from the airport to the city centre was unforgettable because of impossibly chaotic traffic, an apparent absence of rules of the road, honking cars and buses and slow-moving rickshaws and cows. We also had our first sight of street children and their families who had created little villages under advertising hoardings and in various nooks and crannies along the streets. Amazingly, these people didn’t look unhappy with their lot and appeared to be going about the business of rearing families and living. We arrived at the gates of the Christian Brothers monastery in Bow Bazar and, having received a very warm welcome, adjourned for a few hours of sleep. Sunday afternoon was spent walking around our area, getting our bearings and absorbing the sights, sounds and smells of a lively, interesting and friendly Calcutta.
We were up at 6am on Monday morning for our first assignment, Mother Teresa’s Hospice in Kalighat. The late Mother Teresa is synonymous with Calcutta and the poor. What wonderful people we met here and what an unforgettable experience. Theresa O’Neill had worked here before and she had given us some idea of what to expect but the sight of 51 patients on small beds, in various stages of ill health, laid out in 4 lines was unsettling to the uninitiated. We sang hymns and said prayers with the sisters and the other volunteers before getting to work. Breakfasts were distributed, patients were washed and clothed and laundry and wash-up was done. Lunch was also prepared. We were working alongside volunteers from all over the world. Some were retired professionals while others were students who were a little older than us. The camaraderie and friendliness of everyone was touching and spiritually uplifting. The goodwill and generosity of people is something that is often overlooked but I know there are volunteers like those in Kalighat working all over the world bringing relief and peace to the lives of the marginalised and the poor. All of us were truly enriched by the experience there and I believe we will all be volunteers again in some part of the world.
Afternoons were spent in a school for street children, Ashervad, run by the Christian Brothers. It was unbelievable that these children could be so beautiful, well presented and full of hope and joy given that they lived on the streets and had no sanitation other than a hydrant on the side of the street. They were extremely tactile and bursting with energy and apparently loved being with us. We certainly enjoyed our work there and learned a lot. We bought sets of resource materials for them that, to us, were very cheap but they would find it difficult to raise the necessary funds. Our long-term project is to buy and stock a van as a mobile classroom and this will be taken into neighbourhoods by a teacher who will teach children who would not otherwise attend school. Amazingly, this will only cost about €4000 for two years and we have funded this. It is expected that the first classes will begin in august 2005.
We visited the Loreto Sisters in Sealdah, and were overwhelmed by the structure and sheer scope of their school and operations there. Headed by Sister Cyril from Bray, the school takes care of the young girls of Calcutta and provides a real sense of community and achievement among the free and fee-paying students alike. Their system of students teaching younger years and general teacher training provides a working template for the future of education in the city. We were so impressed by the work and care we witnessed there that we have decided to sponsor a number of students within the school for their continued education.
We were also privileged to visit another school, this time just on the outskirts of Calcutta. As we left the city, row upon row of shacks and shanties led us to Tangra. This was a school founded by Michael Hopkins and Friends of Calcutta to service the needs of students who didn’t have access to the free schools within the city. It is located at a local dump, as there are families who survive by collecting and selling various items from the dump. Their children help them here and would otherwise not attend school. It is a source of pride to the people of Carlow that Michael, a native of Bagenalstown was chiefly responsible for the building, funding and ongoing development of this and many other schools in Calcutta. We are delighted to be able to assist in the purchase of a new jeep for Michael and his group for use by these schools.
Ultimately, it is impossible to convey the experience that is Calcutta – the colour, the incessant wall of sound emanating from the city, the throngs of people and the unique scents that greet the senses everywhere you turn. The rush of humanity, the colours and the smells all mixed together gives the ultimate insight into India. It is a most complex country that manages to continue to work. Calcutta is certainly a city of contrast, from the modern metro to the dilapidated trams and busses, from the grandeur of the Oberoi Hotel to the humble street dwellings. It is amazing for a city of almost fifteen million people that one can feel so safe and secure. In fact, Calcutta is one of the top five safest cities in the world.
For us it was an opportunity to meet Christian Brothers and to witness first hand the wonderful work they carry out on a daily basis throughout the world. This provided us with a deeper understanding of the ethos and philosophy of the Christian Brothers and the uniqueness of what their schools offer students. This would have been impossible without the generous support and help of the people of Carlow and surrounding areas. We are extremely grateful and indebted to all who have made such a difference to the lives and education of some of the most needy in Calcutta.
Thank you all,
Robin Hogan, Jeff Walsh, Greg Watchorn, Shane Hegarty, Conor Waldron, Niall Dunne & Edward Cahill.
St. Mary’s Academy CBS Carlow
L to R: Conor Waldron, Shane Hegarty, Niall Dunne, Edward Cahill, Greg Watchorn, Robin Hogan and Jeff Walshe
