In September 2018 Our school moved premises from the old schools in Kildalkey village to the new school on the Athboy Rd. This move involved the help and co-operation of all the school community and it proved to be a shining example of how our school Motto “TRE NEART LE CHEILE” works in practice. The Board of Management, Parents Association and entire school staff generously put their shoulder to the wheel to ensure a smooth and successful transition and celebration of the most significant development in Kildalkey in many years.

Many of our school organisational policies required updating as a result of the move and many others were introduced for the first time. Health and Safety, SPHE, Supervision, GDPR, Child Protection, Changing Room, Intimate care, Special needs Assistants, Exit/Entry procedure for pupils, Line up, Accident policy, Fire drill, Waste management, Attendance Strategy policies were introduced. Other policies remain to be updated in due course over the next few years.

Curricular policies were also upgraded or introduced as necessary. The biggest change is the New Language Curriculum. The teachers have availed of training and are using the new curriculum in English and introducing Gaeilge as required by the Department of Education. We look forward to implementing the new maths curriculum over the coming years.

The school continues to be in demand for college students who are training as teachers and the school had many student placements from colleges this year. As a pilot school for the “Droichead” probation process, our school was one of the first to adopt this new method of supporting new teachers and we continue to provide this for first time teachers.

As we face into the future, curriculum policies will need to be continually revised to meet the needs of an ever-changing world particularly in relation to how we use technology in our teaching and learning. In 2020, we hope to introduce coding to some of the classes and to set up a computer room.

In June, the spare classroom will become the “Art Room” where classes will have an opportunity to engage with artists through the medium of fabric and fibre and paints.

We continue to promote music through Seachtain Na Gaeilge, School Choir, Tin Whistle and Stage Musical and special stage performances in school. Speech and drama and dance classes are also an important part of our curriculum delivery.

Sport is a very important part of what we do in Kildalkey . Pupils are given opportunities to take part in a wide variety of sports. Great successes have been achieved this year in Hurling, Camogie, Football, soccer, basketball, orienteering and athletics. “Active schools” has been hugely successful and we were awarded our active schools flag in June 2019. The active schools initiative continues until 2022.

STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) continue to be a priority in our three year plan and we have had huge successes in Mini Scientist, Primary Science and Intel Involved Science projects to date.

School Attendance

We have had a special focus on school attendance over the past year. A School attendance strategy with Incentives and procedures has been implemented.

The report below shows the data on school attendance for our school.

Further development of the policy will take place over the next few years.

STANDARDISED TEST RESULTS

Each May the children from 1^st to 6^th classes do a nationally standardised test in English and Maths. Data from these results are shared with the Department of Education.

A graphical representation of our school scores compared to National scores is presented below. The results show that our school is performing at a very high standard with less pupils in the lower range and more performing in the high range in both English and Maths.

A more in-depth analysis of the results will inform future planning and teaching in our school. This information also will help us plan for supports for pupil learning.

School Self Evaluation Priorities

An updated 3 year plan will be devised by staff and Board of Management and implemented

over the period 2019-2021 to include :

A special focus on the implementation of the new language curriculum in English, Irish and Maths over this period.

Further examination of attendance data will be carried out and a plan for improving attendance will be devised.

Health and safety procedures will be reviewed and updated.

The per-cent for art scheme will continue next year for all classes.

Some curriculum plans will be revised.