On Wednesday 7^th May, Maynooth Educate Together held its second public meeting in NUIM (National University of Ireland Maynooth). This meeting allowed both members and parents to celebrate the sanctioning of the new school by the Minister of Education as well as the unanimous vote in favour of the planning permission given by Kildare County Councillors.

The chairperson, Andrea Valova welcomed the many participants and then invited Gerry McKevitt (Educate Together New Schools Officer) to develop various themes concerning Educate Together in general and Maynooth Educate Together National School in particular. Among other things, parents were given detailed information on:

• Enrolment, on a first-come first-served basis. Offers of Junior Infant places will be send to parent on 8th May. Enrolment is still open.
• The site where the school will be built (the map can be found below), and issues in relation to Health & Safety. In particular, a specific area where parents can drop/collect their children.
• The premises itself, which will be a two-storey building and will consist of 8 classrooms in total. Plans can be also viewed below.
• Recruitment of the Principal teacher.
• Pedagogy and educational tools in accordance with the Educate Together ethos and the national curriculum.
• Size of classes
• The role of the Board of Management and the Principal as well as importance of parent's involvement into setting up and running the school. Anyone who wants to contribute is welcome to join the startup group.

Gerry's presentation was followed by a Q&A session run by Gerry himself and Jarlath Munnelly (New Schools Officer). The presentation given by Gerry is available here.