26.11.2014
Church of Ireland Primary Schools Management Association Holds AGM
The annual general meeting of the Church of Ireland Primary School Management Association (CIPSMA) took place yesterday, November 25, in the Church of Ireland College of Education. A large number of members from around Ireland gathered to hear the reports of the executive committee and a guest speaker addressed them on dealing with adult conflict in schools.
Delivering the secretary’s report, the Revd Norman Gamble, looked back on a successful CIPSMA conference in the King’s Hospital School in March and said that plans were already underway for next year’s event.
He said that the advent of a new Minister for Education may herald a more cooperative period for Church of Ireland schools. However, he said it would not mean more money and warned that schools could only do more with less money for a certain amount of time before the system died of starvation.
The organisation has proposed to contribute towards funding research being carried out by Dr Anne Lodge and Dr David Tuohy which seeks to further their work started with the ‘Our School Community’ survey which was published in 2012.
CIPSMA chairperson, the Revd Brian O’Rourke, said that the research to be carried out would be invaluable to CIPSMA and the General Synod Board of Education.
Treasurer, the Revd Adrienne Galligan, presented the financial report to the meeting.
Luke Monaghan of Cúram.ie addressed the meeting on the issue of managing adult conflict within schools. He suggested that schools were used to dealing with conflict among children but school boards of management needed to be equipped to deal with conflict between adults.
Photo caption: Canon John Clarke of CIPSMA, Scott Hayes of Ecclesiastical Insurance, the Revd Brian O’Rourke CIPSMA Chairman, Luke Monaghan of Cúram.ie and the Revd Norman Gamble CIPSMA Secretary.