Bunscoil an Iúir get successful inspection report
May 9, 2012
The ETI visited Bunscoil an Iúir last week and have informed us that we have successfully moved out of the Formal Intervention Process. The inspectors reported very good practice in the school and have given us an overall grade of good.
The Chairperson of the Board of Governors, Mrs. Bernadette McCaul congratulated everyone involved saying, “ It is a credit to the teaching and support staff and to the parents and children who have contributed very positively to the outcome.”
During the Monitoring Visits, ETI reported back to the school the following areas of improvement that had been implemented by the school:
- The Board of Governors has been re-constituted and governor training has been instigated.
- Parents are more involved in the life and work of the school.
- Co-ordinators have been appointed and there is now a more equitable re-ditribution of roles and responsibilities. They have developed significantly in their roles and are working at a strategic level and monitoring and evaluating
- There is more joint planningand better subject overviews.
- ICT is used effectively.
- There is a wider range of teaching approaches.
- In the Foundation Stage, play-based learning supports well the children’s literacy and numeracy.
- SEN provision has been reviewed and more realistic targets are set.
- intervention and withdrawal
- Classroom Assistants working well with SEN children
- Standards are rising- some children have moved off the SEN register
- Leadership in the school is very good. The Principal has given structure and is providing strategic direction to the school. She has a clear agenda for school improvement
- Effective deployment of classroom assistants
- Active learning/ Assessment for Learning/ Clear Learning Intentions/ Use of Plenaries/ Connected Learning/ Development of Skills
- Whole school improvement
- Test results – Paired Reading programme was very successful.
- School has continued on the road of self-evaluation
- There was a more focused approach to monitoring Maths in the school. Some evidence of connecting Maths to real life situations, e.g. Trocaire and Credit Union. Processing – Numeracy advisor was supporting the school on this and work was progressing.
- There was more focus on monitoring and evaluating – there had been a ‘booklook’ on Addition. Suggested that this could be more focused in the future, e.g. rather than data-handling, focus on the use of pictograms throughout the school. There were also some observations of Maths lessons and this was an appropriate start for Co-ordinator
Gaelscoil Chionn tSáile – drámaíocht agus ealaín den scoth
May 9, 2012
Seachtain Na Gaeilge – Gaelscoil Mhic Easmainn 2012
May 9, 2012
Cleamhnas Gasta in Eochaill
May 9, 2012
CONNECT 3 – A new online Language Awareness and Good Relations resource for post-primary learners
May 9, 2012
A new online resource aimed at helping learners in post primary education to discover more about the languages of English, Irish and Ulster-Scots will be officially launched by Mayor Alderman Maurice Devenney on Wednesday 16th May 2012.
The project, titled CONNECT 3, was jointly designed and developed by Derry City Council and The Verbal Arts Centre to record young people’s attitudes to these languages.
Young people from a range of schools in the Derry City Council area were surveyed to establish their level of awareness of the languages of English, Irish and Ulster-Scots and to ascertain what role social influences play in young people’s different attitudes to languages. Survey data from these workshops was subsequently analysed and used to form the basis of the CONNECT 3 website.
Speaking ahead of the launch, the Mayor, Alderman Maurice Devenney said: “The Connect-3 project illustrates how a creative approach to dealing with complex subjects such as language and cultural identity can often be the best; and because this project has been designed in partnership with young people from the Council area, it accurately reflects contemporary attitudes towards the languages of English, Irish and Ulster-Scots. I would encourage as many schools as possible in the Council area to make use of this creative resource as a means promoting positive attitudes to languages and fostering good relations”.
The new website which can be accessed at www.connect-3.co.uk includes a fun, interactive language awareness quiz with a range of teaching resources designed to complement specific areas within the NI post-primary curriculum.
The CONNECT 3 project was funded by Derry City Council’s Good Relations Section and the project launch is one of a number of events taking place in the Council area as part of Community Relations Week 2012 which runs from 14th – 19th May 2012.
The project launch will take place at 1.15pm on Wednesday 16th May at the Verbal Arts Centre, Derry.
Website URL: www.connect-3.co.uk
Deireadh an Chomórtais BEO beagnach anseo!
May 9, 2012
Irish language digital resource wins eGovernment Award
May 9, 2012
ITunes U, a new innovative Irish language learning resource was top of the class at the E-Government Ireland awards held in Dublin Castle on April 25th.
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin TD presented the Irish language award at the event which rewarded the digital achievements of public sector bodies.
An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta (COGG) a body which supports Irish language medium education developed iTunes U which is an online multimedia channel hosted on iTunes which combines videos, podcasts and other multimedia material for Gaeltacht schools and Irish medium schools.
Over 300 files from the archives of RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and Acadamh na hOllscolaiochta Gaeilge are available to download on the iTunes channel. They include famous Irish language songs such as Peigín Leitir Móir, Amhrán Chámuis, Roddy McCorley, An Cailín Deas Rua as well as sketches and conversations in various dialects.
The National Library of Ireland took the social media award at the event with Fáilte Ireland wining the marketing award. The HSE won an award for the campaign Get Ireland Active and Citizens Information won an award for their mobile web application.
GAELPORT.COM
Opportunities for schools to get funding from Gleo
May 4, 2012
Foras na Gaeilge has issued a reminder that its Gleo scheme will run from now until May 31.
If schools want to enter this scheme there are application forms available on the Foras na Gaeilge website at www.gaeilge.ie/gleo
The GLEO scheme awards English-speaking schools for leading the way in promoting spoken Irish in their schools and communities throughout the year. Schools are selected on the basis of their innovation and creativity and last year 12 schools received an award of €3,000 to spend on Irish language resources and language events for their school.
In 2011 54 schools entered the competition with websites, drama, puppet shows, quizzes and debates included among the varied activities all run ‘as Gaeilge’.
Examples of the events and activities that schools have organised in past schemes are available at www.gaeilge.ie/gleo
THE MAYO ADVERTISER
http://www.advertiser.ie/mayo
Comhaltacht Shéamuis Uí Mhórdha
May 2, 2012
Coláiste Ráithín: Protest March on Wednesday, 2nd May 2012 at 14.30
May 2, 2012
Cairde Ráithín, Coláiste Ráithín’s Parents Association and its feeder schools are leading a Protest March to the gates of Dáil Éireann on Wednesday, 2nd May 2012 at 14.30, to demand a new school building for Coláiste Ráithín to open by 2014, which has been a ongoing issue for more than 17 years now. They will meet the 5 Wicklow TDs to get a progress report from them since a joint meeting in February nearly 3 months ago.
Following on from the successful parent’s Protest March to Department of Education & Skills last week, the parents of Coláiste Raithín have sent an Invitation to all Wicklow TDs to come to the steps of the Dáil and tell parents what progress has been made since a delegation of the parents committee met them in February nearly 3 months ago. At that meeting in February, parents explained in detail the plight of this north Wicklow school which needs a new building but which is stuck in a Kafkaesque nightmare of bureaucracy.
Since 1994, management, staff and parents in Coláiste Ráithín have been working towards a new building for Coláiste Ráithín. Seventeen years after the Department of Education first sanctioned a new building, Coláiste Ráithín is still in the same location – on 2 separate sites in Bray town centre with 50% accommodation in portacabins. There are little recreational and no sports facilities. Despite this, the school is one of the best schools in Wicklow and South Dublin and pupils continue to thrive academically.
While the Minister of Education opened two new schools in Wicklow yesterday (Monday, 30th April) there is still no communication of any description from his Department to the most recent correspondence from Cairde Ráithín, nor any sign of movement in this Catch 22 that this North Wicklow school has been caught up in. Coláiste Ráithín is the top non-fee paying school in Leinster outside of Dublin in the just-released 2012 school league tables and in the top ten non-fee paying schools nationwide.
In light of the Minister’s recent roll out of the DES new buildings and extensions programme for the next 5 years and beyond, which does NOT include any provision AT ALL for Coláiste Ráithín, the parents are now taking direct action to protect the valuable education resource in north Wicklow that is Coláiste Ráithín. Negotiations with the Minister and the Department of Education and Skills; Wicklow VEC (the patrons of Coláiste Raithín); Wicklow TDs and Bray Town Council, especially in the last 6 months, have all yielded no real, tangible progress.
The Parents most recent letters to the Minister have gone without any acknowledgement.
On Wednesday, 2nd May 2012 at 14.30, pupils from Coláiste Ráithín and its feeder schools, accompanied by parents from the community of the whole of north Wicklow, will protest at the Dáil Éireann. There will be an opportunity for the Co Wicklow TDs to explain to parents and pupils, why this situation has been allowed to continue for so long.
While there seems to be general agreement amongst all parties that a new school building is required, there seems to be NO URGENCY to resolve this matter. This is particularly worrying for both current and future pupils and their parents, given that a brand new state of the art school is planned for 2014 in Blacklion, Greystones, a distance of only 4 miles from Coláiste Raithín. Such a new school facility can only have a huge negative impact on Coláiste Ráithín, its feeder schools and so its future as it is right in the centre of Coláiste Ráithín’s unique catchment area. Parents are demanding that it is now time to bring this long outstanding matter to an immediate and satisfactory conclusion.
Therefore, in order that a new school building for Coláiste Ráithín be open by September 2014, the committee request the Minister and all TDs to do the following urgently:
– all outstanding issues regarding the current proposed Bray site be determined immediately;
– the Blacklion site be made a default option only to be exercised if the Old Bray Gold Club site is not available immediately;
– guarantee parity of esteem and equality of resources for the only Gaelcholáiste in North Wicklow;
– make the relocation of Coláiste Ráithín into a new school building, to open in September 2014, an absolute priority.
For further information, please contact: Paul Moore, spokesperson from Coiste Cóiríochta Coláiste Ráithín / 086 838 5049 /
pmoore@iol.ie
Members of north Wicklow community can sign the petition in hard copy at Coláiste Ráithín or online at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/colaisteraithinnewschoolbuilding2014/
