programmes and courses

Special Education

Aims/Objectives

  • That all our students achieve to their highest potential – where possible students are helped towards sitting their Junior Certificate in as many subjects as possible. Number of subjects depends on the individual students.
  • That students are taught life skills through a variety of subjects.
  • That students’ self esteem and social skills are developed to help them interact with their peers and relevant adults.

At Sacred Heart Secondary School we provide for the following strands in Special Education and Learning Support Needs.

  • Resource and Special Education.
  • Learning support.
  • International students.

 

1. Resource and Special Education

The Sacred Heart Secondary School has a clear policy of inclusiveness and welcome to all students of all levels of ability. Our Special Education and Resource department embraces this policy in a very special way.

The needs of each students academic, emotional, pastoral and physical, are taken into consideration when organising timetables and staffing. The staff who work with our students who have special educational needs, are dedicated teachers who provide a warm and caring working environment and who work with their students to enable them to achieve their utmost academically, while ensuring their scholastic experience is an enjoyable one.

 

2. Learning Support

  • An entrance examination is undertaken early in the year of admission to assist the Special Needs Department in determining which students may have difficulties with Maths and/or English.
  • Learning Support is provided for students:-
    ● Who have been diagnosed with a specific learning difficulty.
    ● Who have been receiving extra help with English or Maths in
    primary school.
    ● Who find the transition from primary to secondary education
    especially difficult.
  • Students who have been granted exemption from Irish in primary school continue with this exemption in secondary school. Extra Maths/English is provided at this time.

 

3. International Students

With the increase in the number of internationals into our school, Management of the Sacred Heart Secondary School has encouraged a number of it’s teachers to train in TEFL courses in order to teach English to the growing number of our foreign students. These students are withdrawn at Irish Time and where viable at times when European languages are taught.

 An Tearmann Feasa

The Sacred Heart Secondary School has, over the last ten years, developed a unique and intensely supportive education for our students with special educational needs.

An Tearmann Feasa, our Resource Room, was formally opened in 2004 by the then Minister for Education Mary Hanafin, who was most impressed by the quality and range of the work undertaken, and by the students themselves, whose energy and enthusiasm was so apparent.

Our team of teachers and S.As (Student Assistants) in An Tearmann Feasa are chosen for their dedication and care. They provide for their students a more practical and yet creative approach to learning in both academic and life skills. Our SEN team understand the importance of teaching through the use of Multiple Intelligence Methodologies and Differentiated Learning; consequently our students are encouraged and assisted to develop their strengths and their talents to reach their full potential.

Whilst the teaching and learning of life skills is a priority, they are where possible,  incorporated into more academic courses. Both Junior Certificate and Fetac level courses are taught in An Tearmann Feasa, in smaller groups and in ways which are inspiring, inventive and memorable. Learning is both educational and enjoyable and our students look forward to coming to school.

Currently we have developed a number of Fetac courses from  levels one and two, which will enable all students, not only to achieve to their full potential but to have that potential achievement recognized.

Where possible, our students are encouraged to sit a limited number  of subjects at Junior Certificate. Depending on strengths and ability, subjects chosen include: English, Maths and Home Economics.  Other subjects which our students may also study at examination level are Art, Technology and CSPE. There are of course many other subjects which our students study in An Tearmann Feasa – Music and Singing, Religion, SPHE, Speech and Drama , IT  and PE.

Every effort is made to include students into mainstream  particularly for less academic subjects – PE, RE and Speech and Drama. Students working towards their Junior Certificate are included in small mainstream classes and conversely, students from mainstream, who are studying  lower levels at English, Maths  and/or Home Economics, are seen to improve considerably when they join the smaller classes in Tearmann Feasa.

Home Economics and Craft and Design work, while part of the Junior Certificate examination, play a vital role in the learning of life skills.  The subject is taught in an intergrated manner with strong emphasis on the practical elements of the course including: the basics of nutrition and healthy eating, food hygiene and personal hygiene and consumer education. On one day each week, they go to the shops to buy the ingredients required for a practical lesson. Over the course of the year the girls learn, in conjunction with the food pyramid, how to prepare, cook and serve a balanced main meal.  They enjoy the fruits of their labour at lunchtime in school. 

 

Over the last few years, the girls have produced some wonderful pieces of craftwork; wall hangings, paper stitching, photography, appliqué,  knitting,  felt bags etc.  They enjoyed studying how to make jewellery and  created a stage set for a puppet show.  The list is endless. 

With their RE teacher, they have come to appreciate the beauty of nature and the pleasure felt from watching seeds grow into flowers and herbs. 

 

Swimming lessons have become a popular activity.  Students, once afraid of going into the water, enjoy the fun that can be experienced in the local pool.  Our more experienced swimmers have grown in confidence to such an extent that one of our present students recently won two gold medals in a swimming competition.  Other activities include dance and aerobics and our students in An Tearmann Feasa  are invited to share in inter-school sports, games and activities.

English and communication skills, while guided by examination requirements and which include film studies, short stories, novels, poetry and functional and creative writing, are taught through various and creative methods which engage all of the Multiple Intelligences.  Over the last few years due to some inspired and differentiated   teaching, our students in An Tearmann Feasa have come to love the poems of Seamus Heaney.  With the help of their teacher, letters were written to Seamus Heaney communicating their joy in his work, and a wonderful friendship is now shared between our students and their favorite poet.

We are fortunate to be able to avail of the services of Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Speech and Language Therapists and the Visiting Teacher for the Visually Impaired, all of whom are skilled and dedicated to working to help both students and teachers, through the provision of programmes and practical methodologies that can be practiced every day. 

Parents are invited to meet with the SEN team to discuss their daughters’ needs. An IPLP, (Individual Profile and Learning Programme), is developed for each student in Learning Support, to ensure that all teachers are aware of the learning needs of their students and can develop a differentiated plan for teaching them. IPLP plans inevitably lead to, and include, Individual Transition Plans. Our students go through three major transitionary periods, all of which are closely monitored and assisted by the SEN team: primary school to secondary school, junior cycle to senior cycle, senior cycle to post secondary. Links have been forged with outside agencies to ensure that our students and their parents are aware of what is available for the girls when their second level education is complete.

Education at Sacred Heart Secondary School is student centred ensuring that the needs of the students come first.