Independent Catholic school hopes to teach ‘beauty, truth and goodness’

The Mater Dei Academy, a new independent Catholic secondary school in Cork, hopes to form faith-filled Catholics through their Classical education model.

The school is a lay led initiative, facilitated by the Dominican community in Cork, which opened in September 2020.

Co-founder Padraig Cantillon told The Irish Catholic the school is “proud” of their “unique” curriculum and ethos. The school’s curriculum is based on St John Henry Newman’s ideas of classical education and the example of schools in France and the US.

“We spent almost a year writing a curriculum that would be classically based, inspired very much by the thinking of people like John Henry Newman about what classical education is and what its value is” Mr Cantillon said.

Mr Cantillon explained that the Junior cycle will take place across four years and is based on international exam standards such as the Teastas Euopach sa Gaelige and the GCSE’s. The final two years will be directed towards the leaving certificate.

“We’re hoping that the students will come away with the three Catholic fundamentals, of appreciation for beauty, truth and goodness,” Mr Cantillon said. “We want to create deep-thinking, fully formed young men and women.”