Lay Catholic school gets top marks

PROFILE: THE TERESIAN SCHOOL, DONNYBROOK, DUBLIN:THINGS HAVE changed dramatically for the Teresian School since the 1980s. At that time the number of pupils was so low the private girls school feared it would have to close its doors on Stillorgan Road in Donnybrook. In recent years, however, waiting lists have grown to such an extent that extra classes have been assigned to first and second year at the secondary school.

Natuca Cordon, the principal, attributes the growing popularity of the school to the very clear values it enunciates.

“At Teresians, the laity brings a defined religious value to the school, but not a religious community tradition, as the orders do,” she explains.

The school is run by the Teresian Association, a small association of lay Catholics with a membership of about 20 in Ireland. The association is guided by the teachings of Pedro Poveda, a Spanish philosopher and priest. He established the movement in Spain in 1911 in answer to the growing secularisation of society. It was an attempt by the educator to seek out new ways of reconciling faith and culture.

The group, which is part of a global organisation, is celebrating 50 years in Ireland this year.The school is the only official representation of the association in Ireland, and the only Teresian centre outside Spain in Europe.

Like many organisations of its type, the association anchors itself to society through schooling. The Teresian campus has a pre-school, kindergarten, primary school and secondary school. The majority of the students are Catholic and there is an unusual concentration on the Spanish language here. All primary students take the language and continue with it until second year at secondary school, when it becomes an elective subject.

The school has achieved considerable academic success, featuring prominently in the 2010 Irish Times Feeder School list. In terms of individual subject grades, more than a third of all the marks awarded to its students in the Leaving Cert this year were higher level As.

Part of that success may be thanks to the make-up of the school’s staff. “We are of the world,” says Cordon, who was born in Seville and has been principal here for six years. “Our members are out there working in the real world, in law, business, government, medicine. We have a broader circle than a religious community would have.”

With the decline of the religious orders, Cordon sees a growing space for organisations like the Teresians. “Catholic is a dirty word in Ireland right now,” she says. “We are trying to show that there is another type of Catholic. I am seeing a real interest in this, especially now.”

Cordon has just completed interviews with parents seeking places for their daughters in 2014. She says she has never witnessed such an interest in the school and its values.

“All but one set of parents asked me about the ethos of the school, about how we would instil integrity and a sense of self in their daughters. There is a huge change in attitude taking place,” she says.

Cordon has already witnessed a change in the students, she says. “There is more softness, more kindness. They are more careful with their books, with their lunch. Our trees aren’t watered with mineral water anymore,” she says.

As at many private schools, some families are struggling with the €4,475 annual fee.

“We have some scholarships and we deal with fee issues on a case-by-case basis,” she says. “As long as the parents keep talking to us and don’t let debts mount up, we can work with them. People have left because of financial problems.”

Charging fees is a necessity, she says. “This is a school of choice and fees must come into it. We have 21 teachers in the post-primary school and only 10 of them are paid by the Department of Education,” she says.

That said, she adds that it is important to shield students as far as possible from the economic meltdown outside the gates where possible. “School needs to be a happy place. It’s not fair to bring these problems into a school where children are growing. School should be a bubble of joy and happiness. When they come out they will be paying for this crisis for long enough,” she says.

Cordon says it is not an exclusive school, despite the cost. “We operate on a first-come, first-served basis. We have mixed ability students and students from different religions,” she says.

“This is a Catholic school, students in the junior school do their First Communion and Confirmation, but our students are not ‘holy-holy’. It’s about faith and values.

“The Teresian Association is, I think, the only organisation of its kind that emphasises the relationship between faith and culture. We are ordinary folk, middle-of-the-road Catholics.” The sixth years recently attended the baptism of one of their classmates.

“There was great support for her at the school. But we also respect those who don’t believe,” says Cordon. “We don’t impose our values.”

The value system at the Teresian School continues to be a big draw, as it prepares for its third intake of dual first-year classes next year. Meanwhile, the waiting list continues to lengthen. “People don’t want their children to be numbers. They want to see evidence of a philosophy of education in a school,” says Cordon.

“We have a philosophy. Pedro Poveda spoke about ‘the educational moment’: that window that every young person opens to provide the teacher with the opportunity to teach, to draw out the best in the student.

“Recognising that moment takes a pastoral approach to teaching, to know when the student is open to change, when she can finally see that it is for her own sake.”

Reflecting on 50 years of the Teresian Association in Ireland, Cordon expresses the hope that there will be people after her to keep it going. “We have seen a rise in lay religious groups with the decline of the religious,” she says. “Let’s hope that Teresians continue to be part of that growth.”

Management

The Teresian School is run by the Teresian Association, a group of lay Catholics that has about 20 official members in Ireland. The organisation is much bigger in Spain and has a global presence, but only one school here. There are about 15 other lay-Catholic schools in the country

THE TERESIANS

Student numbers

Pre-school, 53; junior school 225; senior school 207

Fees

€4,475 per annum

Campus

It is on the Stillorgan dual carriageway and comprises a pre-school, a junior school and a senior school.

Unusual characteristics

The Teresian Assocation was founded in Spain and the Dublin school has a Spanish principal, Natuca Cordon.

Spanish is the dominant foreign language and students take it up when they are in junior school.