Providing pupils with valuable life lessons
Working together to give children the skills they need for life - an important theme at St. Edward’s National School in Ballytivnan.
With 180 pupils, this is certainly one of the county’s busier schools. Equality, responsibility and enjoyment are among the focus in this school, which caters for children from a huge variety of backgrounds.
“We have 180 pupils, we have 13 teachers and two part- time resource teachers. We have six Speacial Needs Assistants, a secretary and a caretaker. It’s very important to us that we have everyone here working together,” said Principal Jean McGowan.
A school full of vibrancy and activity, the bright atmosphere is evident the second you walk in the school’s doors.
“We want the atmosphere of the school to be one of welcome and we want children to feel welcome. We feel we have a happy atmosphere here in the school.
“We have children with challenges but all children have challenges in their own way, maybe illnesses or other difficulties, but the recession has also added to that. We want to help children to cope with that and to teach them resilience. We want to give them these skills for life,” added Mrs. McGowan.
One method the school use to help children cope is meditation classes which help pupils to relax, ensuring a calm and relaxed atmosphere in the classroom.
Mrs. McGowan added: “What’s very important to us is that children feel a sense of belonging, each child is important and they must understand their value. “We encourage children to take on responsibility.” Among the responsibilities handed to pupils is litter picking, collecting compost, gardening and even helping out those who are younger than them.
Allowing pupils responsibility is key to their future development: “We ensure that the older children communicate with the younger children because they can learn an awful lot. The younger pupils really love the attention from the older pupils.
“From third class we ask pupils to take on responsibility. The pupils start collecting compost and that is then used by other glasses for growing plants.
“They are delighted when they get recognition for that and they certainly have by winning the tidiest school award.”
In order to make pupils feel more involved in the school’s activities, pupils from older classes are elected to voice the concerns or thoughts of their peers.
“The older classes all have two pupils elected on to the school council and they then come up with good ideas for us to consider, like where we will go on a school tour, or what equipment we might need. It’s important to us and themselves that they are heard.
“We have a lot of parent volunteers who give their free time to help us out, some will prepare and deliver soup on a Monday during the winter. It shows the involvement of parents in the school.”
Science is one of the school’s bigger interests, while the environment and health promotion, too, play huge roles in the day to day activities of St. Edward’s.
“We have a big interest in science. Each year we hold an exhibition, and we ask parents to come along and the children love showing them what they have been working on.
“We also focus heavily on the environment, we just got our fifth green flag and this was for bio- diversity.
“Another big thing for us is health promotion. That comes in the form of health promotion, healthy living, mindfulness, and we ensure there is a variety of activities,” added Mrs. McGowan.
“Participation and enjoyment are more important than competition, but competition too is important for learning. There will be life long benefits for children.”
With nine different cultural backgrounds in the school, ensuring quality across all boards is crucial.
In September, St. Edward’s opened ‘ the ark’, an area for children with autism.
“It was exciting, and busy getting things ready,” said Mrs. McGowan.
“But one of the things that struck me when we opened the ark was the concern and interest children had in others, the world can learn a lot from these kids.”
The school’s location is certainly one of its attractions. With a path leading to IT Sligo, they have easy access to the college for sport. With the Clayton Hotel mere metres away, pupils also visit every week for swimming.
St. Edward’s National School will be taking enrolment this week.
For more information contact 071- 91- 43480 and check out the school’s blog on stedwards. scoilnet. ie/ blog.