28 MAY, 2020. In this third article in the eight-part series on the St Louis School’s Handbook of Education, we look at the St Louis Crest. The Sisters of St Louis Crest is used in all St Louis Schools and shows in symbols the ideals and traditions that we love and want to remember always.

28 MAY, 2020. We saw it coming of course. Covid-19 had been steadily advancing towards the end of February. Sister Margaret Mary Joyce had already been self-isolating since the day the schools closed. And yet it came as a shock when, on the Nine O’Clock News, it was announced that cocooning for the over 70s would begin with immediate effect! Voluntary isolation is one thing, enforced cocooning, without preparation, is another!

29 APR, 2020. We are living in very extraordinary times during the Covid-19 pandemic. More than half the world’s population is in some sort of lockdown, with schools, restaurants and many stores closed, and the only places open are ones that are supplying essential services such as food, and pharmacies etc. We reached out to the St Louis School’s and invited them to share with us their experiences of the school closures, what they are doing to engage their students remotely during these unprecedented times, and any initiatives they have made to help others during the crisis.

29 APR, 2020. In this second article in the eight-part series on the St Louis School’s Handbook of Education, we look at the importance of education to the founders of the Sisters of St Louis. The origins of the Sisters of St Louis can be traced back to 1797, to Turkenstein near Strasbourg, when three people (Abbé Louis Joseph Colmar, Marie Madeleine Louise Humann, and Thérèse Brek) signed a spiritual act of union known as The Turkenstein Pact. A few decades later, this union profoundly influenced a priest named Louis Marie Eugène Bautain, and in 1842, he officially founded the Institute of St Louis in Juilly, outside Paris. The importance of education has been dear to the heart of the Institute of St Louis right from its foundation, which is not surprising, since Louise Humann and Thérèse Brek were both educators, and Louis Bautain, a University Professor of Philosophy.

30 MAR, 2020. The Sisters of St Louis’ Extended Leadership Team Meeting, which takes place every four years, took place in the Ballyvaloo Retreat Centre, Co Wexford, from March 1-13, 2020. The CLT and Leadership Teams had been preparing for this meeting for nearly a year, so everyone arrived well prepared.

30 MAR, 2020. Starting from the April issue of Musings (Issue 96), the Sisters of St Louis will be publishing a series of articles that encapsulates the St Louis ethos of education. The content of these articles, which will span seven issues until the end of this year, will be taken mostly from the St Louis School’s handbook, a copy of which is available in each St Louis School. We hope that in reading this series of articles and indeed the more detailed information contained in the St Louis School’s handbook, that our readers will gain a sense of the St Louis spirit which motivates the ethos of education in our schools.