Working with our gifts

t occurred to me recently that being part of a school community where people work with their gifts and give them willingly to the school is a great privilege. At the end of April we had a fundraising concert in Dunshane, organised by Dorly O’Sullivan, one of our teachers and an accomplished cellist (Dorly is pictured here playing the fiddle at last year’s St John’s festival). She co-ordinated both her own DARA quartet, and a host of other local classical artists who gave us a wonderful evening of music. Dorly uses her musical gift every day in the school where she teaches recorder and singing. We also host local musicians to teach our children violin and guitar, so we are very lucky.

In May one of our parents, Ger Loughlin organised two trad and folk concerts in the Moat, which were great craic (for adults and children!) and terrific fundraisers. Again the artists gave of their talents for free and we are particularly indebted to the wonderful local group Bunoscionn, as this was their second year running to support us in this way- if you see them advertised do go along – they are superb…..

Ger’s partner Carolina is a photographer and took the pictures for our new school brochure, which was then designed by Richard Lyons, another parent who had just completed a sponsored cycle ride to Hook Head and raised over 1,000 euro for the school. Isn’t it amazing what people can achieve, just with their raw talent and a will to help?

The craft group in the school is also something else….they got together last autumn and now have a thriving Friday morning group for parents, friends and anyone who wants to join really…. Pictured is Mags Kearney with some of the group’s handiwork. They have been concentrating on wet felting work and have made some really beautiful artefacts. They plan to extend their range next year and hold a series of workshops on other crafts such as spinning and willow weaving. We also hope to share some of these crafts with the children in the school who already learn knitting, tapestry, candle making and basket weaving. It is lovely to see the kids develop some of these ancient skills at the hands of people who have a natural skill and talent.

I think when the children see how the community comes together to share their gifts in this way it truly helps all of us to see how we can live our philosophy of educating the head , hands and heart in County Kildare. It is very powerful.

The School will be enrolling right through the summer, so if you are interested in finding out more about our holistic approach to education, contact Angie Ruane on 086 4005211 .