Hi Fellow Past Pupils and friends of Joeys,
Over the past decade, a much higher proportion of Joeys students (than in earlier years we all remember) hails from the Annesley Bridge to city centre community. As in the past, Joeys has kept itself relevant to the needs of its current community and pupils. In common with other urban schools, Joeys comes within the Department of Education’s social inclusion strategy for Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) to help children and young people who are at risk of or who are experiencing educational disadvantage. This helps overcome some but not all barriers to equal education opportunities through additional funding, smaller class sizes, etc.
Given this background the committee of the Past Pupils Union (PPU), in collaboration with school management, has been concentrating on 2 key priorities:
- Assisting the school to maximise its role in the community it serves, now and for the foreseeable future.
- Engaging in the best way possible with Joey’s past pupils and friends to maximise mutually beneficial
networking possibilities and keep you all as up to date and involved as possible with developments.
In this regard, we have been and are currently working on the strategic direction of the school, so as to improve how we enable students to realise their potential – either in the world of work and / or post Leaving Cert education.
Building on this work, at the 1 st meeting of new PPU Committee (members listed below) in October 2017 we decided on the following objectives for the year:
- Annual School Reunion dinner: Venue – Clontarf Castle, Date – Friday, 23 rd February 2018, Time: 7.30pm sharp.
Indicative price €50 (to be confirmed). Now is the time to round up support among your former school
colleagues for this most enjoyable event. As we are a small voluntary committee, we depend on class contacts
for each Leaving Cert year to organise for their old school mates to attend. Do please advise
ppu@stjosephsfairview.ie of contact name and email for your Leaving Cert year. More details on booking
arrangements will follow asap. - Strategic Direction of the school – focus is on student needs and links with industry / 3 rd level.
- Fundraising initiatives:
- The 3 Funds currently supported by the PPU are:
- Building Fund: Current balance €60,000. Need an additional €100,000 to build new Construction / Technology Studies Room, for which conservation report has been accepted and
is now going to planning stage. It is hoped that work will commence on this project in 2018 for completion in 2019. - Evening Tuition Fund: To provide students with after-hours tuition in preparation for Leaving
Cert. Need €10,000 per annum to support students for whom such additional studies would be
otherwise unaffordable for their parents. - College Scholarship Fund: To provide scholarships in the form of financial grants for students
who are accepted into 3 rd level and for whom this would be a great financial burden for their
parents. Target €10,000 to cover next 2 years.
- Building Fund: Current balance €60,000. Need an additional €100,000 to build new Construction / Technology Studies Room, for which conservation report has been accepted and
- Golf Classic: For the last number of years we have run a golf outing around about May each year, which has received good support. Given the new initiatives currently in hand, we feel the time is right to hold a Golf Classic in May 2018 in support of the above-mentioned funds. More about this will follow in the next PPU News Bulletin.
- PPU Annual Contribution Scheme: We will be launching this initiative as soon as possible whereby past pupils and friends will be asked to make an annual contribution of €25 (or more if they can afford it) to support the very deserving projects outlined above.
- The 3 Funds currently supported by the PPU are:
- Click Links in blue for Joeys Past Pupil on recent RTE programme “The Classroom Divide” (minute 5:46 onwards) and Journal Article.
- PPU Committee 2017/8: Dave Rafferty (President), Des O’Loughlin (Hon. Secretary), James Rogan (Hon. Treasurer), Brendan McGrath (Strategic Development), Derek Moran (Work Experience), Conor O’Reilly (IT), Gerry Cullen (Principal), Tim Quinlan (Teacher), Sean O’Connell, Dermot Martin, Paddy Walsh, Dave O’Farrell.