At OLM Drimnagh, we value our Christian ethos, embedded in the principles of the Sisters of Mercy and the vision of Mother Catherine McAuley. Our motto is ‘Shaping a brighter future for our young people’ and our school provides a holistic education for students that will equip them to meet the challenges that they will face as young adults in the 21st century.
Ownership of the school is vested in a trust body called CEIST. CEIST stands for Catholic Education in Schools’ trust and is a grouping of the secondary schools of five religious orders: Presentation, Mercy, Sisters of the Christian Retreat, Daughters of Charity and the Sacred Heart Sisters.
The core values that all CEIST schools subscribe to are:
- Promoting Spiritual and Human Development
- Achieving Quality in Teaching and Learning
- Showing Respect for Every Person
- Creating Community
- Being Just and Responsible
At OLM Drimnagh we are very proud to be a DEIS school. Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools allows us to support young people who may be at risk of not completing school and focusses on the areas of Retention, Attainment and Transition. More information can be found on our DEIS page.
We have an extensive wellbeing programme in place in OLM. We are a Jigsaw One Good School, employ a Guidance Counsellor and avail of counselling supports when we can. Each Class Teacher serves as a ‘Check and Connect’ mentor and we engage in Wellbeing days at least once per term. We timetable 400 hours wellbeing at Junior Cycle which inludes Physical Education, Social Personal and Health Education and Civic Social and Political Education. Other programmes that may run within the timetable include the ‘Friends For’ Programme and Mindfulness. We have a zero tolerance approach to bullying and our Anti-Bullying Policy is fully compliant with the Department of Education and Skills Anti-Bullying Guidelines.
At OLM Drimnagh we understand that people learn in different ways and excel at different things. We take a holistic approach to education and encourage students to avail of leadership opportunities wherever they can. Some of these include our Prefects, Peer Mentors, Student Wellbeing Committee, Students’ Council, Sports’ Council, Green Schools’ Committee, the John Paul II Award, Ember Programme, the Gaisce Award and Young Social Innovators.
Our Pastoral Care team comprises the Principal and Deputy Principal, Guidance Counsellor, Schools’ Completion Project Coordinator, Home School Community Liaison and Year Heads. The team meets on a weekly basis and discusses any issues that may arise for students so we can plan and act appropriately with interventions or supports as they are needed. If you need to someone regarding your child’s wellbeing, please enusre that you contact the correct person so that we may help them as quickly as possible. For more information on this please see our contact us page.