Curriculum

Following a major review by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), a new primary school curriculum will be introduced by the Department of Education and Science on a phased basis from 1999. This major change in Irish primary education, the first since the launch of Curaclam na Bunscoile in 1971, heralds an exciting period of development in teaching, learning and assessment in our schools.

The curriculum for Irish primary schools is a child-centred one, which places an emphasis on the all-round development of the child. Its central aims are:

  • to enable children to live full lives as children
  • to equip them to avail of further education
  • to prepare them to live full and useful lives as adults in society
Principles

A number of core principles underlie the work of the primary school:

  • that the school should strive for the full and harmonious development of the child; this means that the social, emotional, creative, aesthetic and physical development of the child must go hand in hand with academic progress
  • that the due allowance must be made for individual difference so that children should learn at a rate suited to their abilities
  • that children learn best through activity and guided discovery methods and that these will be used whenever practicable
  • that the curriculum for primary school children, and especially younger children, should be integrated, i.e. that subject boundaries should not be emphasised
  • that much learning should take place in and be closely related to the immediate environment of the child; for this reason children will have considerable opportunities to explore and investigate in the environment.
The curriculum experienced by your child will include the following:

 • Religious Education

This school is a Church of Ireland school and as such believes that nurturing the child in an atmosphere of faith and ensuring the child’s religious formation is a core activity of the learning experience.

 • Language

English and Gaeilge (Irish) are the languages taught in the school. Throughout the primary years, and in particular in the younger classes, much emphasis will be placed on oral language, with reading and writing complementing the child’s developing language ability.

 • Mathematics

This area will include numeracy and considerable work n measures, shape and space, simple geometry, data handling and in the senior classes some simple exploration of probability.

 • Arts Education

This area of the curriculum includes visual arts in which the child will be involved in making and appreciating art in various media, in music where they will be listening performing and composing, and in drama.

 • Social, Environmental and Scientific Education

This area, sometimes called SESE, includes geography, history and science. In all of these, the child will explore and learn about the world around him/her. Much of this learning will take place in the immediate environment but the child’s experiences will broaden as he/she grows older and he/she will learn about people, places and cultures throughout the world. The development of scientific thinking and open, critical attitudes are important aspects of this area.

 • Social personal and health education

This area of learning is concerned with the development of the child’s self-esteem, his/her ability to relate to others and to society and his/her gradual development of a sense of citizenship. Health education is a further important aspect to this work.

 • Physical Education

The curriculum includes a broad range of physical activities, including running activities, games, gymnastics, dance and aquatics (swimming and other water based activities).

The IT Room

As part of a major building project, an ultra-modern ICT room has been installed at St. Patrick's NS. The room is equipped with 32 high spec personal computers, each loaded with educational software. In addition, every computer has the very latest version of Microsoft Office installed. All computers are connected to the internet via a 2Mbps broadband connection, so many computers can be connected to the internet simultaneously.

The computer room will be used to help children to learn about technology and to learn with technology. All computers can be monitored and controlled by the teacher using the AB tutor on her laptop. Children will learn some basic computer functions including word processing, but mainly they will use educational software to practise mathematics and spelling, and they will use information packages to find out more about topics in history, geography and science.

Perhaps the most exciting piece of teaching technology in the computer room is a state-of-the-art interactive whiteboard. Interactive whiteboards are large touch sensitive screens that connect to a digital projector and a laptop computer They enable teachers to present material in an attractive visual format which children can then manipulate by touching the whiteboard. Teachers can prepare materials for lessons beforehand on their new laptops, and they can save material created on the whiteboard for use later. Children find this new medium exciting and stimulating.

St Patrick's is now fully equipped to exploit modern technology in teaching and learning and undoubtedly the equipment available will have a major impact on children's experience of school.