Principal’s Message
As Principal of St. Declan’s, it is my pleasure to welcome you to our school website. We thank you for taking the time to visit. We hope to provide you with some useful information.
The website showcases the wealth of experiences we offer the children and gives them a wider audience for their wonderful work. We hope you enjoy your visit and return regularly to check out our latest news.
Each child who arrives in St. Declan’s comes with their own individual challenges which have reached the point where they can no longer cope well in their mainstream setting, despite the good intentions and often valiant efforts of parents, teachers and other health professionals.
Our task during their time in St. Declan’s is to help them to come to love and accept themselves as they are, and to believe what is true; that they have much to offer this world should they choose to fulfil their own unique potential.
We try to build their self-confidence so that they are unafraid to take the risk of attempting new challenges, to help them blossom and grow as individuals and to give them the academic, social and emotional skills to enable them to better realise their true potential when they return to their own schools.
Every day I have the privilege of witnessing wonderful children achieve this transformation for themselves and emerge more confident and assured of their worth as individuals, helped by the loving and guiding presence of parents, teachers, special needs assistants and other members of the school community.
As a Jesuit school we offer a rich, inclusive and holistic approach to education in the Catholic tradition that is inspired by the life and teachings of St. Ignatius and which has been refined over four centuries of growth. We offer this to all those who come, Catholics and others, those of all faiths and none.
Because we are affiliated to a worldwide community of Jesuits, we can draw on inspiriation and enrichment from a community of educators that work in more than a thousand schools and colleges and universities in all corners of the globe.
It is above all else a true sense of community, where each member makes his or her own unique contribution, and where all experience the joys and struggles of working and growing together, which makes St. Declan’s a truly special place.
If you would like to here more about our school, or arrange a visit, please follow the contact links and rest assured you will be more than welcome.