School Policies
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Scoil an Chroà Naofa Roll No: 20042E Enrolement/Admissions Policy General Introduction This enrolment policy was set out in accordance with the provisions of the Education Act (1998) and was prepared by the Board of Management in consultation with the staff of the school. The Board of Management trusts that by so doing parents will be assisted in relation to enrolment matters. The Chairperson of the Board of Management:
Finance Scoil an Chroà Naofa depends on grants and teacher resources provided by the Department of Education and Science and it operates within the regulations laid down, from time to time, by the D.E.S. School policy has regard to the resources and funding available. The school follows the curricular programmes, prescribed by the Department of Education and Science, which may be amended from time to time, in accordance with Sections 9 and 30 of the Education Act (1998) Within the context and parameters of Department regulations and programmes, the rights of the patron as set out in the Education Act (1998), and the funding and resources available, Scoil an Chroà Naofa supports the principles of:
General Information relating to the school An information booklet outlining the school's organisation will be given to the parents of new pupils before they begin their school life with us. This booklet will inform parents on the following matters:
Enrolment Procedures Application procedures A child may not be allowed to attend or be enrolled in Scoil an Chroà Naofa before the 4th anniversary of his/her birth. Parents of incoming pupils will be invited to the school with their child towards the end of the third term to meet with the Principal and the Junior Infant teachers. This is an opportunity for both parent and child to experience a flavour of the school environment. The invitation will be issued by way of the Parish newsletter. Provision of Key information by Parents Parents wishing to enrol their children are required to complete the school registration form. In the case of a child with special needs a case conference of all parties working with the child will be held. Prescribed medication A written request to administer medicine must be made by parents to the B.O.M. This request must be renewed at the start of each school year (child's name, medication, exact dosage and time, parents/guardians signature.
Decision Making The Board of Management makes decisions in relation to applications for enrolment in accordance with school policy. The Board will notify parents of their decision within 21 days of receiving such information. As a general principle and in so far as practicable having regard to the school's enrolment policy, children will be enrolled on application, provided there is space available. The Board will have regard for relevant Department of Education and Science guidelines in relation to class size and staffing provisions and/or other relevant requirements concerning accommodation, including physical space and the health and welfare of children. The Board is bound by Department of Education and Science rules for National Schools which provides that pupils may only be enrolled from the age of 4 years and upwards, though compulsory attendance does not apply until the age of 6 years. In the event that applications for enrolment exceed/is expected to exceed the number of places available the following decision making process will apply. The Board will exercise its discretion in the application of the following criteria. Whether there are siblings of the proposed new entrant already in the school Children living within the Parish boundaries - priority to oldest Children of current staff members - priority to the oldest  Admission Day/Date New entrants are generally admitted to Scoil an Chroà Naofa on the first day of the new school year. Because of the tradition of transience in Ballinasloe there is a requirement to admit pupils throughout the school year. In relation to applications for the enrolment of children with special needs the Board of Management will request a copy of the child's medical and/or psychological report or where such a report is not available, will request that the child be assessed immediately. The purpose of the assessment report is to assist the school in establishing the educational and training needs of the child relevant to his/her disability of special needs and to profile the support services required. Following receipt of the report, the Board will assess how the school can meet the needs specified in the report. Where the Board deems that further resources are required, it will, prior to enrolment, request the Department of Education and Science to provide the resources required to meet the needs of the child as outlined in the psychological and/or medical report. These resources may include for example, access to or provision of any or a combination of the following: visiting teacher service, resource teacher for special needs, special needs assistant, specialised equipment or furniture, transport services or other. The Principal will meet with the parents of the child to discuss the child's needs and the school's suitability or capability in meeting those needs. Where necessary, a full case conference involving all parties will be held, which may include parents, principal, class teacher, learning support teacher, special class teacher, resource teacher for special needs or psychologist, as appropriate. It may be necessary for the Board of Management to defer enrolment of a particular child pending: The receipt of an assessment report; and /or The provision of appropriate resources by the Department of Education & Science to meet the needs specified in the psychological and/or medical report. Pupils Transferring Pupils may transfer to the school at any time, subject to available space and in some cases, the approval of the Department of Education and Science. It is a requirement of the Board of Management that information concerning attendance and the child's educational progress be communicated between schools. Parents are required to complete our registration form. School Policy on Bullying Definition Bullying is repeated aggression, verbal, psychological or physical conducted by an individual group against others.  A)        Indications of Bullying  1.        Visible signs of anxiety/distress.  2.        Anxiety about travelling to/from school.  3.        Unwillingness to go to school.  4.        Deterioration in educational performance.  5.        Pattern of physical illness.  6.        Unexplained changes in mood/behaviour.  7.        Unexplained bruising.  B)       Procedures for Noting and Reporting Incidents  1.        All reports of bullying will be noted, investigated and dealt with by the class teacher so that pupils              will gain confidence in telling. A special incident book will be kept in the office for this purpose.  2.        Serious cases will be referred immediately to the Principal or Deputy Principal.  3.        Parents will be informed by the Principal/Deputy Principal.  4.        Parents can make their enquiries regarding bullying to the class teacher and/ or the Principal.      5.        Pupils will be reassured that reporting is not telling tales.  6.        Individual teachers will record and take appropriate measures to deal with incidences of bullying.  7.        Non-teaching staff will be encouraged to report also.  C)       Procedures for investigating and dealing with Bullying  1.        All incidents will be investigated outside the classroom, preferably in the Principal's office.  2.        Teacher will speak to the pupils involved.  3.        A calm, unemotional problem solving approach will be adopted.  4.        Answers will be sought to questions of What, Where, When, Who and Why.  5.        Members of a gang will be met individually and as a group.  6.        Principal will meet the parents of the pupils involved.  D)       Programme for work with pupils  1.        Pupils involved in bullying others will be asked to stay inside during break and lunch until the matter is fully  2.        Pupils found guilty of bullying will be given a verbal and written guarantee that it will be not repeated.  3.        Advise and counselling will be given to the victims of bullying if necessary.  4.        Support and help will be given to pupils engaged in bullying so as to enhance their self-worth and self-esteem.  Communication 1.         In School Communication 2.         Communication with Parents 1. In School Communication The physical size and structure of the school requires an effective and efficient in-house communication model. The following system allows for differing needs.  A. Cubby-Hole Each teacher has an allocated cubby-hole in the staff room where circulars, memos from Principal, Teachers in promoted posts, INTO staff representative may be left. The service is most suitable for situations that do not require an immediate response. B. Staff Notice Board           The teacher responsible for dissemination of information may be direct staff. Attention to various materials through well managed use of the staff notice board. C. Same day notices Notices requiring attention during early morning may be circulated in the daily roll copy which is passed from room to room before 10.30am. D. Pupil Groups-Assembly From time to time a general assembly of all pupils or groups may be called by the Principal. Here, pupil achievement in sporting areas, quizzes or competitions may be communicated to peers and teachers. This assembly may also be used as a means of communicating aspects of the Code of Behaviour or other aspects of school procedures. The Principal may visit classrooms and address specific teachers or pupils. There will be a staff meeting at least once a term to discuss organisational and curricular issues. G. Notice Boards Display Boards are located in the assembly hall, where teachers, pupils, or other individuals may display relevant information.  H. Group Representatives (INTO staff rep. Deputy Principal, promoted post holders, parent representative, etc.)  1. Communication with Parents  A.    Parents Association Our school is fortunate to have an interested and actively supportive Parents' Association and details of how this organisation operates are available to all parents and prospective parents through their officers. At the beginning of each school year and from time to time during the year a newsletter will be issued from the Principal to the P.A. These wil give details of the school calendar, policy updates, changes relating to staffing facilities and equipment. It might also suggest ways in which the P.A. could be involved at any given period of time. The Principal will attend P/A. meetings on request. Each class has an elected representative. Individual parents may make contact with the association through their class rep. The Officers of the Association may liase with the parent representative on the B.O.M. It is a matter for these respective people to arrange their own links. Parents should note that the parents elected on the B.O.M. are representatives of the general parent body and not of the Parents' Association which is a seperate organisation. In recent years there has been an increase in the number of meetings sought by individual parents. The school staff welcomes this move and parents are encouraged to continue to bring important and relevant matters to the school's attention. The more information the school has about any situation, the more comprehensive and helpful our response can be.  B.       Individual Parent Good communication with the parents is an essential component of effective schools. Our school has always welcomed parental involvement and we encourage parents to visit the school principal or class teacher whenever this is desirable.  1.        Parent Teacher Meetings: Formal meetings are held once a year, on a class by class basis. Parents are seen by appointment and the child's overall progress and development will be discussed by reference to test results, teacher and parent observations, behaviour record, input from Learning Support and/or resource teachers.  2.        Other Visits When parents wish to speak with the class teacher or vice a versa an appointment should be made in advance for a specific time on a specific day. In this way teachers will not find themselves discussing children in an unprofessional manner at the classroom door or on the corridor while their class remains unsupervised. Constructive discussions are facilitated, and effective supervision can be arranged in advance. Similarly an appointment should be made to meet the school principal. Advance notice is required so that the principal may seek information from the class teacher and thus ensure a balanced exchange of ideas and information.  3.       School booklet A copy of the school booklet is given to each family member upon enrolment in the school. This contains a brief summary of information relating to school policies and procedures and the code of behaviour. This booklet will be revised and updated as required.  4.       Homework Notebooks/Journals The homework notebook is an effective method of communication between parent and class teacher. Notes should be signed and dated by the sender, and signed by the receiver that the note has actually been seen.  Policy on Early Childhood Education.  Junior Infants Children are accepted for enrolment in the September following their 4thbirthday. The D.E.S does not allow primary schools to enroll pupils prior to their 4th birthday. Scoil an Chroà Naofa recognizes that children differ greatly in their development in readiness for school, in ability and in interests. Parents also differ in expectation, in understanding and in extent to which they prepare their children for primary school. The approach taken to early childhood education in Scoil an Chroà Naofa aims to accommodate differences while providing a broad balanced experience in the reception classes. Extra teacher resources are employed in Infant classes, in so far as is practicable, to meet the differing needs of our pupil population and to enhance the foundation of their education. Young children learn through play and each infant class is very well equipped with play areas, home corners, concrete learning materials, jig-saws and puzzles. The classrooms are painted in bright cheerful colours.  Role of Parents Parents play a vital role in settling their children into a happy and successful routine at school. Advice on how this can be done is printed in booklet form and circulated to parents on enrolment.  School Policy on Special Needs For the majority of children the curriculum poses little difficulty. Such children progress from class to class year by year and master the basics of an academic curriculum. For a small but significant percentage of children the mainstream curriculum followed by their same age peers is too challenging. Rather than delight in the success of mastery, these children are faced with a cycle of failure. To prevent such failure, Scoil an Chroà Naofa operates a policy of intervention and Learning support. The Learning Support Team is composed of two Learning Support Teachers, 4 Resource Teachers for Travellers and 2 Special Class Teachers, 1 part-time Resource Teacher and a part-time Support Teacher for non-English pupils. The schools approach is two-pronged:  Prevention: The priority at infant level is to keep the numbers in the classes small. At this level a Resource Teacher works in tandem with the class teacher in the classroom providing a programme of oral language development. There is an emphasis on play and the children are given plenty of opportunity to talk, to listen to stories, to look at library books and so develop their oral language skills and to develop an interest in learning. Children who are found to be significantly behind either in terms of social skills or in academic skills will be offered a second year in junior infants. Given that many of our junior infants show a lack of readiness for school, a second year in junior infants can provide a solid foundation for future learning. Throughout the school the teachers operate an "adoptive teaching model". This means that teaching methodologies and curriculum content will be adapted to meet the needs of the child. For example, the children in 4th class will not be expected to master the 4thclass Math's programme if they have not yet mastered the content and concepts covered in second class. Similarly, a child who has a difficulty with reading will not be asked to cover a 4th class reader just because she is in 4thclass. Group work will be central in all classrooms so that the children may work at their own level and may experience success.  Intervention: The Learning Support teachers and the Resource Teachers work together as a team. They work with children in small groups to provide intensive help in reading, oral language development and Math's concepts. Each group will have approximately four to six children of similar ability. The children will have access to these small groups on a daily basis. The Learning Support Team meet regularly with the class teacher to plan work and to review progress. The work of the Learning Support Team will be explained in detail to parents. These teachers will be available at formal Parent Teacher Meetings to discuss progress and difficulties. They will also be available to meet with parents by appointment during the school term. Withdrawal from mainstream class will be timetabled so that these children do not miss out on other areas of the curriculum. During the last term the Learning Support Team and the class teachers meet to discuss what level of support will be required the following year.  Psychological Screening At present the school has access to the Department of Education Psychological Services, NEPS. We are also supported financially by Galway Rural Development in our efforts to tackle disadvantage which allows us to employ psychologists from the private sector when necessary. However, the educational psychologist is not the first port of call when carrying out an assessment of an individual child's special educational needs. Where intervention is thought necessary the class teacher in co-operation with the Learning Support Team will first carry out an informal assessment. They will consider the child's social background and the level of help available from home and the progress made to date in mastering reading and mathematical skills. To build a more complete profile of the child with special educational needs standardized tests such as the Non Reading Intelligence Tests (Young) or the B.I.A.P. will be used. Standardised scores from these tests, along with standardized scores from Sigma t and Micra T tests, where appropriate, will be used to screen children who may require psychological assessment for general learning difficulties or for more specific learning disorders.  Appropriate Placement The school follows Deno's Cascade Model of integration. Our philosophy of inclusive education means that there is a continuum of provision from full-time placement in a mainstream class to full-time placement in a special class.  Policy on Early Childhood Education.  Junior Infants Children are accepted for enrolment in the September following their 4thbirthday. The D.E.S does not allow primary schools to enroll pupils prior to their 4th birthday. Scoil an Chroà Naofa recognizes that children differ greatly in their development in readiness for school, in ability and in interests. Parents also differ in expectation, in understanding and in extent to which they prepare their children for primary school. The approach taken to early childhood education in Scoil an Chroà Naofa aims to accommodate differences while providing a broad balanced experience in the reception classes. Extra teacher resources are employed in Infant classes, in so far as is practicable, to meet the differing needs of our pupil population and to enhance the foundation of their education. Young children learn through play and each infant class is very well equipped with play areas, home corners, concrete learning materials, jig-saws and puzzles. The classrooms are painted in bright cheerful colours.  Role of Parents Parents play a vital role in settling their children into a happy and successful routine at school. Advice on how this can be done is printed in booklet form and circulated to parents on enrolment.  School Policy on Special Needs For the majority of children the curriculum poses little difficulty. Such children progress from class to class year by year and master the basics of an academic curriculum. For a small but significant percentage of children the mainstream curriculum followed by their same age peers is too challenging. Rather than delight in the success of mastery, these children are faced with a cycle of failure. To prevent such failure, Scoil an Chroà Naofa operates a policy of intervention and Learning support. The Learning Support Team is composed of two Learning Support Teachers, 4 Resource Teachers for Travellers and 2 Special Class Teachers, 1 part-time Resource Teacher and a part-time Support Teacher for non-English pupils. The schools approach is two-pronged:  Prevention: The priority at infant level is to keep the numbers in the classes small. At this level a Resource Teacher works in tandem with the class teacher in the classroom providing a programme of oral language development. There is an emphasis on play and the children are given plenty of opportunity to talk, to listen to stories, to look at library books and so develop their oral language skills and to develop an interest in learning. Children who are found to be significantly behind either in terms of social skills or in academic skills will be offered a second year in junior infants. Given that many of our junior infants show a lack of readiness for school, a second year in junior infants can provide a solid foundation for future learning. Throughout the school the teachers operate an "adoptive teaching model". This means that teaching methodologies and curriculum content will be adapted to meet the needs of the child. For example, the children in 4th class will not be expected to master the 4thclass Math's programme if they have not yet mastered the content and concepts covered in second class. Similarly, a child who has a difficulty with reading will not be asked to cover a 4th class reader just because she is in 4thclass. Group work will be central in all classrooms so that the children may work at their own level and may experience success.  Intervention: The Learning Support teachers and the Resource Teachers work together as a team. They work with children in small groups to provide intensive help in reading, oral language development and Math's concepts. Each group will have approximately four to six children of similar ability. The children will have access to these small groups on a daily basis. The Learning Support Team meet regularly with the class teacher to plan work and to review progress. The work of the Learning Support Team will be explained in detail to parents. These teachers will be available at formal Parent Teacher Meetings to discuss progress and difficulties. They will also be available to meet with parents by appointment during the school term. Withdrawal from mainstream class will be timetabled so that these children do not miss out on other areas of the curriculum.  During the last term the Learning Support Team and the class teachers meet to discuss what level of support will be required the following year.  Psychological Screening At present the school has access to the Department of Education Psychological Services, NEPS. We are also supported financially by Galway Rural Development in our efforts to tackle disadvantage which allows us to employ psychologists from the private sector when necessary. However, the educational psychologist is not the first port of call when carrying out an assessment of an individual child's special educational needs. Where intervention is thought necessary the class teacher in co-operation with the Learning Support Team will first carry out an informal assessment. They will consider the child's social background and the level of help available from home and the progress made to date in mastering reading and mathematical skills. To build a more complete profile of the child with special educational needs standardized tests such as the Non Reading Intelligence Tests (Young) or the B.I.A.P. will be used. Standardised scores from these tests, along with standardized scores from Sigma t and Micra T tests, where appropriate, will be used to screen children who may require psychological assessment for general learning difficulties or for more specific learning disorders.  Appropriate Placement The school follows Deno's Cascade Model of integration. Our philosophy of inclusive education means that there is a continuum of provision from full-time placement in a mainstream class to full-time placement in a special class. SCHOOL POLICY ON EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY Education Act 1998.9 (e)
POLICY ON PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR STAFF The Board of Management of Scoil an Chroà Naofa, Ballinasloe recognises its responsibilities towards the on-going professional development and learning of the teaching staff. Such a commitment leads to:
The course being considered corresponds with an area of need within the school, identified by the principal in consultation with the staff in the current year. The staff member undertaking the course is agreeable to make a presentation to colleagues at a staff meeting, disseminate notes, and actively share knowledge, practice and skills gained at the said course. The course taken will enhance teaching and learning in the school. This policy was adopted by the Board of Management. SCHOOL POLICY ON EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITYÂ Education Act 1998.9 (e)Â Â
POLICY ON PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR STAFF The Board of Management of Scoil an Chroà Naofa, Ballinasloe recognizes its responsibilities towards the on-going professional development and learning of the teaching staff. Such a commitment leads to:
At the beginning of each school year, in consultation with the teaching staff, the principal will identify the key areas requiring further study and development which will be of most benefit to the school as a whole. Through the course of the year, suitable courses in these areas will be identified. Depending on demand and budget available, the course fees and related expenses will be paid for by the Board of Management. The Board of Management will commit a budget annually towards the professional development of the school staff. The budget will be allocated so as to provide the maximum number of teachers based on the following criteria. The course being considered corresponds with an area of need within the school, identified by the principal in consultation with the staff in the current year. The staff member undertaking the course is agreeable to make a presentation to colleagues at a staff meeting, disseminate notes, and actively share knowledge, practice and skills gained at the said course. The course taken will enhance teaching and learning in the school. This policy was adopted by the Board of Management. Â Â Â |