In an Irish, European and Christian context, Kilrush Community School endeavours to create a community atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect within which students learn, mature and develop their respective talents.
Kilrush Community School Aims
- To develop a challenging learning environment which promotes high expectations of individual performance from students and enables staff to professionally discharge their duties.
- To give students acess to a broad and balanced curriculum with a caring.co-operative community.
- To ensure that all staff and students enjoy equality of esteem and opportunity.
- To foster among students an awareness of their environment,heritage and health enabling them to play a positive role within the local and wider community.
- To equip students with a strong sense of self-esteem,self-discipline and self-motivation.
- To foster universal values of compassion,integrity,honesty and respect.
Characteristic spirit and general objectives of the school
HISTORY OF SCHOOL
Kilrush Community School was established following the amalgamation in September 1992 of Mercy Secondary School (Sisters of Mercy), the Christian Brothers Secondary School (C.B.S.) and Kilrush Vocational School (Co. Clare V.E.C.).
The responsibilities of the patron of a Second level school are clearly laid out in the Education Act, 1998. In the Community School Sector, the Trustees of the school are the Joint Patrons of the school. The roles and responsibilities of the Joint Patrons of a Community School are laid out in the Education Act, 1998. These roles and responsibilities are also further defined in the Deeds of Trust of a Community School.
The Joint Patrons of Kilrush Community School are The Provincial of the Sisters of Mercy, for whom CEIST currently acts as agent, and the Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board represented by the Chief Executive Officer Limerick and Clare ETB.
Kilrush Community School saw the opening of a new chapter in the history of education in Kilrush when the Joint Patrons of the school came together to form the new school. One of the responsibilities of society is to pass on to the next generation the founding intention and inherited educational traditions that have successfully bonded, nourished and sustained that community. The beginning of a new school is a significant moment of faithfulness to the past and openness to the creativity of a new moment for the community of Kilrush. The aim of the Joint Patrons of Kilrush Community School is to carry forward the inherited educational heritage and values into the future with a renewed sense of service and relevance. The new Community School would endeavour to ensure that the Christian ethos is always nourished and cherished in the school, into the future. In doing so it is their wish that the traditions of Catherine McAuley and the Limerick and Clare ETB continue to be part of the school’s reality. The combined traditions of compassion, inclusion and devoted service to the local community, taken together with an openness to the transcendent and faith development as appropriate, point to values that the Joint Patrons wish to have encapsulated faithfully into the characteristic spirit of Kilrush Community School.
MISSION STATEMENT
Kilrush Community School is a vibrant dynamic and caring school committed to the academic, personal and spiritual development of all its pupils. It has a Christian ethos within which other traditions are welcomed and respected.
It encourages excellence by fostering a love of learning and by promoting a rich and diverse range of educational opportunities. Kilrush Community School believes in empowering and equipping our pupils to become well qualified and rounded individuals who can thrive in and contribute to an ever-changing world.
Kilrush Community School is a Christian community, which endeavours to be a happy and caring place striving to develop the academic, aesthetic, spiritual, physical and moral potential of each student. The school seeks to imbue a sense of respect for one another, for the school environment and for the whole community in which we live. The school is devoted to excellence in every way. The aim is to provide a comprehensive system of post-primary and continuing education open to all the community combining instruction in academic, artistic and practical subjects. Kilrush Community School promotes equal opportunity and recognises the importance of partnership between the school and the general community in fulfilling its role.
In keeping with the terms of the school Mission Statement Kilrush Community School is an active partnership between the Joint Patrons, the Board of Management, Parents/Guardians, Students, Staff and the local Community of Kilrush. Relationships within these partnerships are fostered, encouraged, empowered and enabled.
Kilrush Community School also:-
- values the on-going input ofall our partners in the life of our school
- aims to provide the best educational environment where effective teaching andlearning can take place
- aims to manage this with firmness and fairness
- recognises the individuality of our students
- provides a broad curriculum, designed to meet their individual needs and to help them to maximise their potential
- assists and empowers students to have a healthy, wholesome and confident self-image and to develop positive relationships through our curriculum and our extra-curricular programme
- endeavours to co-operate with parents and religious leaders of all denominations to encourage the development of religious, moral and spiritual values in each student.
CHARACTERISTIC SPIRIT
Kilrush Community school is a co-educational girls and boys multi-denominational post-primary school under the joint patronage of The Provincial of the Sisters of Mercy, for whom CEIST currently acts as agent, and the Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board.
Kilrush Community Schools provide a comprehensive system of post-primary education open to all the children of the local community. An innovative approach to delivery of a wide-ranging curriculum contributes to the spiritual, moral, mental, physical and social well-being of students within their community. KilrushCommunity Schools may also provide for life-long learning within their local community through the provision of adult education programmes.
Our school was established under the Deed of Trust and opened on (1992). The values of the Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board as a multi-denominational State Body and the inherited traditions, Christian values and founding intentions of The Provincial of the Sisters of Mercy, for whom CEIST currently acts as agent, are enshrined in the characteristic spirit and in the life of our school and are respected and cherished.
The core values of Kilrush Community School are care, respect, community, inclusion, equality, justice and fairness. These values combine to provide and support an atmosphere which is conducive to excellence in teaching and learning. We endeavour to assist each student to reach his/ her full potential in a calm, caring and creative environment.
Our values are reflected in how we live as a school community. The unique and intrinsic value of each member of the school community is recognised and respected. All are treated equally, regardless of race, gender, religion/belief, age, family status, marital status, civil status, membership of the Traveller community, sexual orientation, ability, disability or socio-economic status. All students are given equal opportunity for enrolment, in line with the Education (Admissions to School) Act (2018) construed in accordance with section 3 of the Equal Status Act 2000. Once enrolled, Kilrush Community School provides all our students with equal opportunities to engage with the curriculum, school life and the local community.
Kilrush Community School provides a safe physical and social environment that reinforces a sense of belonging to the school community and wider society. We strive to enable every student to realise their full potential regardless of any aspect of their identity, culture or background. Our school promotes a fully inclusive education which recognises the plurality of identities, beliefs and values held by students, parents and staff. We prepare open-minded and responsible citizens with a strong sense of shared values with a view to contributing to a just and fairer society.
Our school is multi-denominational where we welcome, respect and support students of all religions and beliefs. The provision of religious education, religious worship and the work of the Chaplain all combine to reflect the founding intention of the school, the school’s mission statement and the needs of the students within the school. The characteristic spirit of the school finds practical expression through the provision of pastoral, liturgical and social outreach activities, as appropriate, for each student.
Kilrush Community School, we celebrate the partnership, collaboration and empathy which nurtures and develops our young people in a community where the essence of our ethos is care and respect for self, others and our environment.