St. Finian’s National School was awarded €2,000 to collaborate with St. Oliver Plunkett’s Junior National School, Finglas to empower staff to understand trauma and undertake professional learning with Nurture International. This project aims to use the Digital Development Portrait to design bespoke assessments and create weekly wellbeing goals using this data.
School's reflection
Being able to purchase the DDP and use this platform in our school has had a profoundly positive impact on our whole school community. Not only have we been able to come together through this professional learning experience, but we have also been able to identify the children in our school most at risk.
In Saint Finian’s, a key priority of ours is working together as part of a professional team, one of the key aspects of the Féilte Bursary Scheme. This bursary scheme allowed us to buy a platform that unites as all leaders and as primary caregivers for the care of each child. We came together, we assessed every student in the school, and we taught each other how to then continue this ourselves in our own classrooms. Through this, teachers, SNAs and support teachers were able to connect, learn, and share experiences. This allowed us to accurately and correctly showcase the need in each classroom, and thus put in place the necessary measures to support them.
Each pupil was assessed in three key areas: Concentration and Focus, Emotional Resilience and Social Skills and Emotional Resilience. These are the main barriers to learning and it is our role as educators to work together through our professional learning experience to best approach these areas of need.
Class teachers can assess their classes to a more in depth model by creating a ‘Class Portrait’, which shows them unique and tailored ways to best support their class collectively, through sensory strategies and interactive games.
The bursary allowed us to enhance inclusion in our school. Through this assessment tool, each and every child is screened thoroughly through the collaboration of each stakeholder involved in their education.
Resource
Maria: We needed a programme to tackle the behaviors that we were seeing in the school and the level of dysregulation.
Sorcha: We found that children were not accessing learning. They were having difficulties maintaining relationships. They were coming into school very dysregulated, and we had to find something that was addressing that need first.
Maria: That led us then to Nurture International, which is where I applied for the funding from the bursary scheme.
So I did the application and applied and then we were delighted when we received the letter to say we were awarded the funding for our nurture work here in St Finian’s
Sorcha: The Féilte Bursary scheme has allowed us to continue our work with Nurture International. It has allowed us to continue our investment in the assessment piece, which is imperative before we start our nurture intervention every year.
Maria: It has improved our attendance, improved our retention, children coming to school, children being happy in school. It’s increased their learning. So our standardised scores have gone up, our partnerships, parents, very positive relationships. We really appreciate the opportunity to be able to use this funding to further develop our training and the training for all the teachers in our community, which will benefit every child and every parent in our community. I would definitely encourage other teachers and schools to apply for the funding. It’s a great learning opportunity. It’s great to develop any area of interest that you have for yourself.