CRUBANY N.S. EXTENSION

I’m delighted to be with you today on this happy and important occasion in the life of Crubany NS. We’ve come to bless and dedicate the new extension, which has recently been completed   This has transformed the school, adding three beautiful new classrooms to the existing three, an administrative office, principal’s office, staffroom, toilets and two support rooms.

This school has gone from strength to strength over the years. It has had to grow to cater for the growing population of the area and these extra facilities will enable it to continue to provide the excellent all-round education that it has been providing in the past.

There has been a great history of education in this area, from the hedge school mentioned in the 1821 census to the old national school, opened in 1860 up the road from here, to the present school that was opened in 1965. The present principal, Ms Antonia Hayes, is the latest in a line of distinguished principals, beginning with Thomas Givney in the hedge school, down to Andy O’Brien, the late Niall Kenny, and Desmond Coyle, Ms Hayes’ predecessor, who is happily with us today.

You will be interested to know that the Department of Education and Skills has sanctioned a seventh mainstream teacher for September, because of the projected enrolment, so Ms Hayes may be an administrative principal in the next school year.

This is all a great tribute to the Principal and Staff of the school and I congratulate them on the success of the school. It provides an excellent education for its pupils. It has a wide curriculum which includes music, art and drama, so that the students here get the opportunity to develop their talents in a holistic way. We see the evidence of this in the participation of the pupils in today’s celebration and in the achievements and awards the school has won in recent times. So, I congratulate you the pupils of the school on all your achievements and I wish you many more in the future.

I know others will acknowledge in detail all those who have been involved in the completion of these major improvements to the school. But I want to congratulate all involved in a general way. I want to say a special word of thanks and congratulations to the Board of Management – the current board under the chairmanship of Fr Michael Router, and the previous board, chaired by Fr Tom Mannion which commissioned and carried out this project. The board members provide their services on an entirely voluntary basis – they don’t even get expenses – and they give generously of their time and expertise for the benefit of the school and the children and of the whole community. This is an outstanding expression of good citizenship and of lay involvement in the Church. Míle buíochas libh go léir.

This school is now equipped with the most modern facilities. No school now is complete without computers, interactive whiteboards and so on. Information technology and e-learning are the way of the future. It is wonderful that these young people are learning these skills at a time when it is easy for them to master them – and that they don’t have to struggle at it like we older people do.

But, as with all good things, there are dangers and downsides to these things too. At our annual Child Safeguarding Conference in the diocese recently we had a talk on the responsibilities of parents for their children’s use of internet, social media, video games and such things. It was a bit scary to see how easily young children can access very damaging and dangerous websites, how they can get involved through social media with total strangers, and how vulnerable they can be to exploitation. Our speaker, a mother herself who has children, said parents can’t afford to say ‘all this modern stuff is beyond me.’ All parents must learn enough about this to ensure the safety of their children.

Being a parent is a challenging task at any time, but especially at this time. Our speaker told us that parents should make no apology for keeping tabs on what their children are doing on the internet, or on social media, or the kind of video games they are using. The bottom line was: They should not have unsupervised access to the internet. No computers in the bedroom. You wouldn’t let a stranger stay in your child’s bedroom or be alone with them in your living room. The internet leaves the door open for total strangers, if it’s not supervised.

The two beautiful readings we heard today are my favourite passages in the bible. The first one, the prayer of St Paul for the people of Ephesus, has particular relevance here. It’s a prayer the God, through his Spirit, will make us our hidden selves strong. If you think about it, education is mostly about helping our hidden selves grow strong. It’s about developing our minds, our hearts, our spirits, our souls, our wills and our talents. Those are all inner things – part of our hidden selves and education is about helping them to blossom.

 Mark Twain said: “The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you found out why.” Education is important because it helps us develop our inner lives, our hearts and souls and minds. It helps us to find the answer to that all-important, Mark Twain question, why? Why am I here, what is life all about? If you find the answer to that question, all the others will fall into place.

Focal scoir. Is iontach an obair atá déanta, idir oideachas agus forbairt na scoile, anseo i gCrúbanaí. Ba cóir go mbéadh sibh bródúil as an méid atá bainte amach agaibh. Bá mhaith liom comhgairdeas a déanamh arís le gach éinne a bhí páirteach san obair seo.   Guídhim beannacht De ar an scoil, ar na scoláirí agus a dtuismitheoirí, ar na muinteoirí agus agus ar gach éinne a bfhuil baint aige leis an scoil. Go raibh maith agaibh.