I thought I’d try and extend the reach of School Policy ( http://schoolpolicy.ie/ ) beyond social media and printed a load of flyers, rolled up a banner and made some personalised energy sweets for the IPPN conference. I learned a lot from the other side of the Expo and I

Potentially huge news that should have an impact on how we teach religion. In a nutshell, the Supreme Court has defined Religious Education to be the same as indoctrination, as it is taught in Northern Ireland. In the south, we teach it the same way in denominational schools.

Hildegarde in the Hot Seat but will she have the appetite? McEntee arrived with promise, left without warning, and Naughton now inherits a system in knots. https://simonmlewis.substack.com/p/hildegarde-in-the-hot-seat-but-will

The Department’s job is not to manage a coherent network of schools but to referee a system built on ‘school choice.’ That means rules must replace reason. https://simonmlewis.substack.com/p/why-a-growing-school-lost-a-teacher

Why a Growing School Lost a Teacher and What It (Again) Says About Patronage https://simonmlewis.substack.com/p/why-a-growing-school-lost-a-teacher

Really happy to have a letter published in the Sunday Independent today. https://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/letters-sport-may-be-the-force-to-beat-spectre-of-creeping-racism/a593093079.html

This is a really confusing article by David Quinn with an even more deeply confusing quote. His defence of Catholic patronage ties itself in knots. He tells us Catholic schools are perfectly inclusive, yet complains they are not “properly Catholic” anymore because teachers are indifferent and parents want a watered-down

A Short Reflection on IPPN 2025 Marking twenty-five years of the IPPN and seventeen conferences of my own https://simonmlewis.substack.com/p/a-short-reflection-on-ippn-2025