The Central Model Infants’ School is an inclusive, child centred learning community. We aim to nourish and develop each child’s sense of their own self-worth as an individual and to cultivate & celebrate their unique gifts and talents. We also aim to provide our pupils with supports and structure throughout their learning journey in our school.

Here is a brief overview of just some of the approaches, methodologies & educational programmes that we incorporate into our teaching and learning here in the school.

Special Educational Needs Teaching:

Central Model Infants’ School is committed to providing for pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN), situated within an inclusive whole-school framework which emphasises effective teaching and learning for all and good collaboration and engagement between schools, teachers, parents/guardians and pupils.

In order to achieve this, some of our students may require supplementary teaching. This may take the form of in-class small group work, withdrawal for small group work, or individualised work with one other teacher.

The Special Educational Needs Team, under the direction of the Principal and the Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator, and in collaboration with class teachers, is responsible for the provision of support to pupils.

For further information on how Learning Support is organised in our school, see our Special Educational Needs Policy.

In addition to support from our school, parents may also access further support from the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) https://ncse.ie/

Here, parents may access a wide range of online resources to support their child at home. We have shared some of these resources on our school website. They can be found here.

Aistear, the Irish word for ‘journey’, is the name given to the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework in Ireland. During early childhood, children develop important foundations and skills as they begin their lifelong learning journey. The Aistear framework informs and guides how teachers structure enjoyable and challenging learning experiences for our children from birth to six years so that all children can grow and develop as competent and confident learners within loving, trusting and respectful relationships with others. The open-ended learning opportunities provided through play has been linked to psychological, personal and social development, as well as the acquisition of language, skills and knowledge.

‘Play is as natural to children as breathing’ (Schaefer and Drewes, 2014)

We base our Aistear activities around a chosen theme, such as People Who Help Us or The Farm, that assist us to incorporate all the curricular subjects and provide opportunities for discussion, exploration and play. Aistear, together with the Infant curriculum, allows us to plan fun and challenging experiences for the children in our classrooms, encouraging our children to be adventurous, creative problem solvers.

More information about the Aistear framework can be found here.

Maths Recovery

Maths Recovery is a programme which is aimed at improving the child’s understanding of number concepts. Children arrive at school with different levels of knowledge in maths and the Maths Recovery programme quickly identifies where the child is in terms of their numeracy skills. While a one to one approach is used for some children who are experiencing difficulties in maths, we have tailored our programme to help all the children in the school to learn and use key skills in maths. We have adapted this first class programme for use in junior and senior infants. Through the use of real world materials, fun maths based games and exploration of maths in their everyday environment, the children are encouraged to discover and use strategies for working out maths problems. Our Maths Recovery Programme is a hands-on enjoyable approach that enables the child to develop their knowledge and abilities in maths.

Reading Recovery

Reading Recovery © is a short-term, one-to-one literacy intervention, targeted toward pupils with the most complex problems in reading and writing, and who have completed at least one full year at school. This means that pupils who get Reading Recovery are usually in Senior Infants or First Class. The goal is for the pupil to catch up with her/his classmates in reading and writing. Reading Recovery is most effective when it is available to all pupils who need it and is used to supplement good classroom teaching.

Who receives Reading Recovery?

Pupils aged around six are screened on a series of sensitive assessments of literacy, and the lowest scoring are offered Reading Recovery, consisting of daily lessons with a Reading Recovery trained teacher. The intervention is for a period between twelve and twenty weeks.

How Reading Recovery is delivered

Reading Recovery involves a short series of one-to-one daily lessons for 30 minutes with a specially trained teacher. It is different for every pupil, starting from what the pupil knows and what he or she needs to learn next. The focus of each lesson is to comprehend messages in reading and construct messages in writing, and learning how to use letter and work detail fluently without losing focus on meaning and comprehension. The series of lessons ends as soon as pupils can meet class-level expectations and demonstrate that they can continue to work independently in the classroom. New pupils then begin individual instruction.

For further information and advice for parents on the reading Recovery programme, please click here.