TeachingRE Issue 4.pdf - the Second Level Support Service

Religious Eductaion at KINSALECommunity SchoolBy Diarmaid O’DonovanDiarmaid O’ Donovan,teacher of ReligiousEducation at KinsaleCommunity School,shares with us a profile ofReligious Education in hisschool. Famous aswinners of the BTYoungScientist’s Competition,Kinsale CommunitySchool also has cause tobe proud of theexcellence of theirReligious Educationtradition; the dedication,skill and enthusiasm ofmembers of the R.E.department and theundeniable learning andwisdom which emanatesfrom its students andpast pupils of ReligiousEducation. Sincere thanksto Diarmaid for supplyingthis article, and to thestudents and past pupilswho share here theirexperience of LeavingCertificate R.E.HISTORY, ETHOS & PHILOSOPHYKinsale Community School officially began on August 1st1996, following the amalgamation of Our Lady of theRosary Secondary School and KinsaleVocational School.It embodies the best traditions of both of these schools.The school was originally built to cater for 450 students,but in recent years that number has swelled to just over700 students. As the only school in the town we caterfor all secondary school students from KinsaleTown andsurrounding districts.The school motto, “Omnes Communiter Discendo”adopted by the first Board of Management, states thatwe are ‘All Together in Learning’ and stresses ourcommitment to the education of all the students in ourcare.Kinsale Community School aims to cater for thecurricular, personal and physical needs of each individualstudent.We try to create a positive atmosphere, wherethe emphasis is on personal achievement, moraldevelopment and character formation. All students areencouraged to find their own strengths in order to growinto self-confident and responsible adults.With a firmlyestablished programme of pastoral care, we seek alsoto enhance the spiritual aspects of the lives of ourstudents through a programme of religious and moralinstruction in keeping with family traditions.RELIGIOUS EDUCATION ATKINSALE COMMUNITY SCHOOLWhile Kinsale Community School has enjoyedunprecedented national success in science by winningthe BTYoung Scientist’s Competition twice in the past fouryears (2006 and 2009), Religious Education has alwaysbeen a priority for management, staff and parents.Theschool management have been hugely supportive increating a favourable climate for the delivery of bothnon-exam and exam Religious Education.Religious Education is compulsory for both Junior andSenior Cycle and is delivered by a dedicated team ofseven qualified RE educators.The RE team is comprisedof an RE co-ordinator, Chaplain, and five RE teachers.The RE department meet regularly throughout the yearto plan the delivery and assessment of courses, organiseliturgical celebrations in the school, and to connect withthe Pastoral Care structure in the school. Recently wehave had our Religious Education Policy accepted by theschool’s board of management, which will secure thestatus of the subject for many years to come.Our RE team was involved in phase one of theintroduction of Religious Education as a Junior Certexam subject back in 2001. Junior Cert exam RE is nowcompulsory for all Junior Cert students at the school.Building on the success of this course at the school, weintroduced Leaving Cert exam RE as a subject option in2005. The uptake by Leaving Cert students has beenconsistently strong (for instance in 2010 twenty fivestudents are due to take the exam), and studentfeedback has been very encouraging.As an exam subjectLeaving Cert RE has been a major success for studentswho have achieved consistently high grades in thesubject. In 2008 for example, six students received an Agrade with the rest achieving a B or C grade – all athonours level.Leaving Cert exam RE holds many cross-curricularopportunities and resonates well with other Humanitiessubjects such as English and History. Many students findthese connections beneficial and the skill-sets requiredare transferable. There is no doubt that Leaving Certexam RE can present challenges for the teacher due tosome perceived inadequacies in the textbooks and theacademic nature of the course content. However, oncethese initial obstacles are overcome the benefits forstudents, RE teachers, and indeed for the status of thesubject generally are incalculable. Here at KinsaleCommunity School both management and staff arecommitted to the continued development of ReligiousEducation as both a non-exam and exam subject thatpermeates our entire culture of learning and experienceinto the future.The best way to illustrate the merits of Leaving Certexam RE for the educational culture of a school is toconsult with the students themselves.What follows arethe experiences of some Leaving Cert exam REstudents, both past and present at Kinsale CommunitySchool:Nicholas Croke (A1 student, LCRE class of 2008):“As a student who typically prefers the sciences to thehumanities I set out to study Religious Education aspurely a means to an end. I could never have realisedthat by the end of the course it would grow to be notonly my favourite subject but also the one whoseknowledge has resided longest in my mind.TEACHING RELIGIOUS EDUCATION ISSUE FOUR SEPTEMBER 200935