At the time of posting, I would like to thank, former Principal, Mr. Michael Meade for providing the informational piece below.
Stephen O'Brien
St Aidan’s Community School was established in the late spring of 1984. As it was a community school it had as trustee’s, religious orders and the local Co Dublin V.E.C. The trustees could nominate their members each as members of the Board of Management. Parents would elect two members and the teachers would elect two members. As Community Schools had teachers from both Trade Unions, it was the usual practice the A.S.T.I and T.U.I would nominate a member to represent each union with the approval of the teaching staff.
The First Board
The V.E.C. nominated Paul Mulhern, (Former Chairperson), Sean Walsh T.D. and Larry McMahon T.D. The Loreto Sisters nominated Sr. Aoife Hyes and Sr. Consiglio && and the Mercy Sister nominated Sr. Victoria. The parents elected Betty Morgan who played a major role in the school for many years and Mick McLoughlin. As teachers were not employed at this stage, the TUI nominated Frank McGinn, later to be Principal of Blessington Community College and a Mr McCarthy from Templeogue was nominated by the ASTI. In September the teaching staff nominated two members to replace the temporary appointments, Jim Fitzgerald TUI and Cathal Travers ASTI.
First Staff
The Board advertised the posts of Principal, Vice Principal and teaching staff. Michael Meade was appointed Principal and Cyril Kevlihan Vice Principal.
As the building was not completed till autumn of 1985, St Aidan’s spent its first year sharing with Killinarden Community School. This was a great learning experience for all of us as Killinarden was an excellent school. We moved into our building in September 1985.
The school was called St. Aidan’s because St Aidan was the patron saint of the Parish. The schools motto was Caritas Viresque which means Love and Strength. In the schools crest caritas was represented by a lily, Vires was represented by an oak leaf and St Aidan was represented by a torch, which was his emblem.
The first school plan was written in 1985 in collaboration with the teachers. We introduced a school plan every 5 years.
Mission Statement
- The school will always be Pupil Centered
- Our Business is Learning
- Everybody is the School will be treated with Respect and Care
- Everybody in the school has a stake in the School
- The Professional Development of all Teachers is of Prime Importance
Below is a speech made by Mary McAleese, the then President of Ireland, on our school community in 1998, enjoy CLICK HERE
A very interesting article on the history of DEIS by Dr. Brian Fleming here