quality goes to school

摘要

St Mary's is a large all girls' secondary school of almost 1000 pupils in the age range 11-18 years. It is situated in the Creggan/Bogside area of Londonderry-an area at the heart of the Northern Ireland civil disturbances of the last 30 years. It is also one of the most deprived areas in Europe with very high unemployment levels. A recent report on the Creggan area, 'Children of Creggan', states: 'Fifty years on, the combined effects of endemic poverty, long term unemployment and years of political violence have taken their toll on the social, economic and physical fabric of the area.'Despite these many difficulties, we are determined to make our school a success. Being 'good' is not good enough for us. We want to make our school not only the best in Ireland or the UK-but world-class. Everything that we do at St Mary's is geared towards doing the best for the pupils (who are, in the language of the excellence model, our most important customers) is order to provide them with the best possible education.