| Hello everyone!
All good things must come to an end (or at least take a break) sadly, and we have reached the end of a truly extraordinary year, our 5th year of Sligo Sudbury School. What a year it has been!
We managed to pack a lot into this last short month of June. Here are some of the highlights of this final month.
SAI Conference
Gayle Nagle represented the voice of democratic education at the Sociological Asssociation of Ireland’s Annual Conference at UCD, together with Paul Rowe, former CEO of Educate Together; Karin Fischer, University of Orléans; and Robert Hamm, Independent researcher. Together they presented papers on alternatives and changes in education systems in the past, present and future.
Music Generation concert at the Knocknarea Arena, ATU
Our junior band The Majestic Frogs and other young musicians played at Knocknarea Arena to a huge audience. Such a great achievement for all the young musicians and singers from all over County Sligo. Thanks to Music Generation for the amazing work they do and their passion and dedication. Check out the short video below for a glimpse of our young performers.
Community Meeting
Our end of year community meeting is an important event in the school calendar when we report on the work of the year.
Awards
2 students were presented with their YSI Awards by Angela Horgan, YSI Local Leader for the North West.
6 students were presented with the Gaisce Bronze Award by Andrew Hodson, CEO of Verus Metrology, and Member of our Board of Trustees.
Drama
The drama club performed two sold-out performances of The Boardinghouse to enthralled audiences. Absolutely magnificent!
Yearbook
We published our first school yearbook to celebrate 5 years of Sligo Sudbury School. The book was entirely planned, designed, produced and edited by students. We plan to make this an annual publication from this point forward.
Staff changes
Sadly we must say goodbye to staff member Willem, who has decided to leave in order to dedicate himself to other projects. We are delighted to announce that we will have 2 new faces joining our staff team in September.Jennifer Shannon is a qualified and experienced primary school teacher, and has just completed a Masters in Inquiry Based Learning. Jennifer carried out research in Sligo Sudbury School earlier this year for her Masters programme. She is passionate about self-directed education and following the child, and has extensive skills and experience including digital literacy projects, making podcasts and teaching yoga. She is a great advocate for self-directed education in IrelandCamille Secher is a qualified and experienced primary school teacher, as well as a university lecturer in Biology, with a PhD in Microbiology. She is passionate about democratic and self-directed education, and moved with family from France last summer so her two children could join Sligo Sudbury School. Camille is deeply committed to the self directed philosophy and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in the sciences. |
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Other stuff
We had fun and games with dress-up, a clown show, practical jokes involving live children jumping out of boxes, paddling pools in the sun, picnics in the field, cooking in the kitchen and much more.
Students have workied on car engine mechanics, dissected old appliances, created a new transport trolley, built forts and ramps, played boardgames, read, cooked, studied, chatted, and enjoyed the slackline and swing. Rounders became a favourite this term with the lovely dry and spacious field, mowed regularly by our kind neighbour, Richard.
Another first this year, we have 2 students completing their education with us and moving on to pursue further education and professional training. We are very proud of them both.
Huge thank you to Sligo Hospital Musical Society, who very generously nominated Sligo Sudbury School as one of their chosen charities to receive funds from their 2020 production of Alice Through the Looking Glass. They made a donation of €1,500 to Sligo Sudbury School. We are very grateful.
Also some good news on the school development front. The planning permission application is finally ready and signs have gone up at school. This has been a long and costly journey so far and we are very happy to have reached this important milestone. Huge thanks for the many donations and substantial contributions from parents and members of our extended community, we could not have got this far without your financial support. Huge thanks also to all of you who have supported by giving your time and energy on various elements such as Energy consultation and on committees such as the Funding, Build, and Funding and Development teams. We are going to need much more support to get this project off the ground and completed and we will be in touch over the summer with the next steps.
Summer party celebrated the end of our 5th year as Sligo Sudbury School. We have come a long way since 2018 and our first fifteen students to where we are now with 90 students enrolled for September 2023.
We wish you a wonderful summer wherever you are, and look forward to catching up again in September.
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