The Ember Programme is an ethos leadership programme. There are six students from 5th year on the Ember Team every year and their goal is to be a team of students who foster a positive environment for the student body and school staff. A good example of that is their work as mentors to first year students during the academic year.
To become an Ember Mentor students apply via application form which is followed by an interview process. The interviews are held by the College Chaplain, Ms. Redmond, teachers and the Ember Team of that current year. Students must have a vision for how they see they will contribute to the team and to their school.
Once the Ember Team has been selected, they attend a 3 day 2 night leadership training programme in Ovoca Manor, Avoca, Co. Wicklow. Here the Ember Team attends leadership development workshops, reflection and planning sessions for the year, along with other schools in the diocese. During this training the roles within the Ember Team are decided. Typically, the roles assigned to members are chairperson, secretary, public relations officer
Some of the events the Ember Team runs include the following:
The Ember Team meets weekly or fortnightly, depending on what is on the agenda. During these meetings the Ember Team works together to evaluate the most recent event organised, discuss what they learned from that experience and look ahead to further small projects. They take their work seriously and collaborate with senior management regularly to discuss ideas and take advice. They are typically empathetic young people who know how important it is to be kind to one another. They show leadership by respecting each other’s opinions and ideas, by taking the initiative with a task and stepping in when help is needed. Our school’s values of excellence, care, community, equality and respect are reflected in the work of the Ember team and we value their important contribution to school life.