Our Crest: An Explanation
Our sixth class (2014-2015) began to design a new crest for the school. Their ideas were given to an artist who tried to combine the ideas into a new crest. A crest that would sum up our school as it is now, having regard for the past and also looking to our future as we are “Ag gluaiseacht ar aghaidh le chéile”.
Our Crest is in the shape of a circle which represents the world. We try to mindful of our responsibility, to be mindful of the planet and all that live on it.
The motto around the crest “Ag Gluaiseacht Ar Aghaidh le Chéile”; is about moving forward together and looking forward, to the possibilities of what we can achieve now and in the future. Education gives us choice, a choice of the type of person I wish to become, the type of job that I wish to do but in all it is about the possibilities of how I can affect society locally, nationally and globally. I can be a change maker. The motto also shows us that we live in community, are part of society in which each person, individually and collectively, can make a difference for the good of all.
In the centre of the crest we can see a shamrock. This reminds us of the name of our school, Saint Patrick’s National School and it reminds us of our rich Christian heritage and of our school ethos. Although we have a Christian ethos, we welcome those of other faiths and none into our school community. The shamrock, or seamróg, also reminds us of our rich Irish heritage and we are reminded to be proud of being Irish. Déanfaimid iarracht Gaeilge a úsáid sa scoil seo chomh luath agus is féidir linn. The name of our school is written in Irish at the top of the crest, again reminding us of our Christian and Irish heritage.
The four main pictures symbolise the very life and actions of our school community. We aim to give each child many opportunities to experience different intelligences: artistic, physical, mathematical, language, social etc.
We thank our sixth class pupils (2015-2016) for inspiring our artist, Tony O’Brien who put together our crest. We also thank Martina O’Reilly for designing the writing around the crest.