TeachingRE Issue 4.pdf - the Second Level Support Service

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION INOur Lady’s Grove Secondary SchoolGoatstown, Dublin 14By Karen O’DonovanThanks to Karen O’ Donovan, teacher of Religious Education at Our Lady’s Grove Secondary School,for contributing this article to ‘Teaching Religious Education’. In this perceptive profile of her school’scommitment to RE, Karen offers a sensitive exploration of the potential for RE to permeate the lifeand daily activities of a Catholic school. Our Lady’s Grove presents an interesting and enlighteningexample of how it is possible to include Leaving Certificate RE in a school while Junior Certificate REis not taught as a subject for State examination.Our Lady’s Grove is an all-girls secondary school in South Dublin. At present we have approximately 390 studentsfrom the surrounding area. Our catchment area would be Goatstown, Clonskeagh, Dundrum, Ballinteer, Churchtown,Leopardstown and Sandyford. For the academic year 2008-2009, we had two RE teachers in the department, BrianCulleton, a recent graduate of Mater Dei and myself, Karen O’Donovan, a not so recent graduate of St. Patrick’sCollege Maynooth and Trinity College Dublin. I have acted as RE Co-ordinator for the last two years and have aspecial interest in the area of liturgy and sacred music.Our foundress is St. ClaudineThevenet. Claudine witnessed the death of her brothers during the French Revolution.Instead of focusing on her grief, she opened her heart. She first welcomed two orphans and from this her communitycontinues to grow. She wanted to make God, Jesus and Mary known to all through Christian education. She gaveher students the skills and tools to become independent women. She wanted these women to live out the Gospelvalues, but also to bear witness and teach others of these values. Her philosophy promoted human dignity and fullactive participation of all members of the community.Guided by the philosophy of St Claudine Thevenet, our mission statement is:The Jesus and Mary Secondary School, Our Lady’s Grove, is a Catholic Communityin keeping with the educational philosophy of St Claudine Thevenet.We are committed to an education which fosters personal growth, self worth,an openness to the spiritual dimension of life for all its members.We aspire to educate, and to be educated and to promote personal responsibility.We aim to work together in a respectful, caring and just environment.Our Lady’s Grove has students from different religious and cultural backgrounds. For example, we have studentsfrom the Muslim faith, the Protestant faith, as well as others.Religious Education is fostered and promoted throughout our whole school community. As we state in our REpolicy,‘It is our hope to transmit the values of faith and social responsibility while harnessing the religious developmentof our students and providing opportunities for them to know their God. We strive to be faithful to the foundingintention of St Claudine Thevenet and the implications of what it means to be a Catholic School in the thirdmillennium.’And so our vision, as a Jesus and Mary school is to:• Recognise the human dignity of each person• Appreciate different cultures• Seek to live by Gospel values• Develop an awareness leading to reflection, self-knowledge and a strong sense of personal identity• Have a concern for the poor and the underprivileged• Be challenged to develop a curriculum which promotes the harmonious growth of the whole person• Celebrate the liturgical year during the academic yearTEACHING RELIGIOUS EDUCATION ISSUE FOUR SEPTEMBER 2009 41