DDLETB Ballydowd Special School Mural

Creativity Shines in Ballydowd Special Care School

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DDLETB Ballydowd Special School Mural

DDLETB Ballydowd Special School Mural

‘I am Whatever I Choose to Become’ was a Hip Hop, Rap and Street Art collaborative project by the talented students of Ballydowd Special Care School.

The project synergised the skills of NOISE Music and street artist Shane Ha with the students ‘creativity and unique perspectives. This exciting project culminated in an exhibition beside the school building within the Special Care campus.

The exhibition was centred around the unveiling of a graffiti wall mural which was revealed against the backdrop of a number of songs produced as part of the collaborative project (and a vibrant playlist carefully chosen by the students!).

 

“Thank you for inviting me to the BBQ on the 12th June in the run up to Cruinniú na nÓg

2024, it was great to see the artwork, to hear their music and the pride that the young

people had in having an audience to appreciate their hard work. Well done to all

involved, it was truly inspiring”.

– Eithne Swaine (Creative Communities Engagement Officer – South Dublin County Council)

 

“One of our main aims at NOISE Music is to provide hard-to-reach young people with

opportunities to participate in our song-writing, music production, and performance

programmes. Our project in Ballydowd School enabled us to introduce ourselves to 6

young people in the school, and to complete a song with a promising young rapper.

We are planning a second project with that young person over the summer, also

supported by the staff in Ballydowd, and will continue to offer opportunities to any

young person that comes into the school who has an interest in song writing and

music production.”
– Gerry Horan (Director of NOISE Music)

 

 

A message from Paul Sloan – School Principal Ballydowd Special School

It was truly rewarding to see the students enjoying their time working with a professional street artist. They learned to create their designs using spray paint on a large scale, which was an exciting experience for them. This kind of exposure can boost their confidence and potentially inspire them to pursue a career in the arts in the future.

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all our guests for contributing to the day’s success. A special thank you goes to our superb BBQ chef, Jojo, for cooking for everyone. We are also very grateful to Creative Ireland for providing the funding for this project and to artist Shane Ha and our own Art Teacher Olive Hanratty, who facilitated the weeklong project in typical Irish weather and were both fantastic.

Thank you!

DDLETB Ballydowd Special School Guests from ACTS

DDLETB Ballydowd Special School Guests from ACTS Clinical Team

 

DDLETB Special School Ballydowd Staff

DDLETB sports officers Darren Bruton and James Bowes with Paul Sloan

Teacher Leadership Program Review 2024

Teacher Leadership Programme Review Of 2024 – Looking Forward To 2025

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We were delighted to see the return of the Teacher Leadership Programme (TLP) in 2024, following its ‘Reflect and Review’ phase.

The programme continues to empower educators to drive positive change and innovation in their schools. Have a look below at the exciting titles for this year’s TLP projects, showcasing the creativity and dedication of participating teams.

Congratulations to all teams who have successfully completed two general learning sessions and are now diving into their project work. Best of luck as you continue to put in the hard work, passion, and ingenuity to make a meaningful impact in your school communities in 2025!

 

Eriu CC: Mastering Maths symbols and Action verbs

CP Setanta: Empower and Energise: Impact of Brain Breaks on Student Learning

Ardgillan CC: Attendance Boost: Every Student, Everyday

St.Kevins CC: Chatty Corner

Fingal CC: Nourish to Flourish: Supporting 6th Year Student Well-being with Healthy Food Choices

Castleknock CC: Smart Schools: Shaping the Future with AI

Coláiste Cois Life: “Ag Spreagadh Feabhais: Aitheantas Iarrachta ar VSware a Fheabhsú” “Inspiring Excellence: Enhancing Student Effort Recognition on VSware”

Skerries CC: Using Restorative Practice to shape positive relationships in our school community

Griffeen CC: Outdoor Classroom

Grange CC: Leaving Certificate Mentoring Programme

Luttrelstown CC: Morning Moments: Structuring Tutorial Time for Positive Impact

Donabate CC: Supporting our NQTs and PMEs

Lusk CC: Exam excellence: Designing a Rubric for Success

Adamstown CC: Fuel for Focus: Breakfast Club

Firhouse CC: The Effective use of teacher feedback by students

Swords CC: UDL (cross school project with CP Fóla)

CP Fóla: UDL (cross school project) with Swords CC)

Lucan CC: Optimising Student Revision: A Structured Approach to the Use of Revision Templates

Collinstown Park CC: Scaffolding for Student Success

Kingswood CC: Good News Story’s

Greenhills CC: Mastering OneNote

St Finians CC: An investigation into the effectiveness of Restorative Practice

Every Child A Reader DDLETB

Deansrath CC and St. Kevin’s CC – Everyone A Reader Project

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Every Child A Reader DDLETB

Every Child A Reader DDLETB

Congratulations to Deansrath CC and St.Kevin’s CC who have launched the ‘Everyone A Reader’ project sponsored by a local engineering company and supported by Children’s Books Ireland.

The project aims to build a love of reading among students, staff and the wider community. Each school will receive 400 new books for each year of the project. Of these, two hundred will be chosen by the expert Children’s Books Ireland team, selected to capture the students’ interest and attention and reflect Irish society’s richness and diversity. A further one hundred titles will be chosen by the students and teachers in each school, further building a sense of ownership over their new library.

Every year for the three years, the schools will also receive class sets of books, which make up the final one hundred books and which will facilitate the set-up of book clubs for TY students. A Champion of Reading – a well-known Irish author or illustrator – will work with the school over three years to encourage creativity and engagement with the library.

Staff will be trained in maximising the use of their new library, while school-wide surveys will measure the project’s long-term impact.

Yvonne Crowley, a teacher at Deansrath Community School, said: ‘The Everyone a Reader project is a massive opportunity for our school to develop and foster a love of reading and encourage reading for enjoyment in our students. ‘The excitement in the faces of the students as they browsed all the books is one that I have never seen before and gave them a new way to experience modern titles and books that they could relate to. We are so grateful to have this programme running in our school to enhance our students’ love of reading.’

 

DDLETB Mark Daley Dyspraxia

Adult Education Student Mark On His Experience Of Returning To Education

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Today we have a post by Mark Daly, who is a student with the adult literacy service in Loughlinstown. Thank you to Caro Neville the Adult Literacy Organiser with the DDLETB Adult Education Service – South East.

DDLETB Mark Daley Dyspraxia

My name is Mark Daly and I’m from Wicklow 

I had always struggled with maths and numeracy. In Ireland, during the 1980’s there was little of no information or advice on what this could mean for me or what I could do to address this. 

While on holiday in the USA I found out I had Dyscalculia, a Maths learning disability. 

Later, I then found out I also have Dyspraxia or Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) which affects fine and gross motor skills. 

After 20 years, I returned to Adult Education. I got a booklet through my front door from Dublin & Dun Laoghaire Education Training Board (DDLETB). Now that I have my diagnosis and having read my assessment on dyscalculia I thought ‘You know what, now is the time to do something about this’. 

I still find areas of numeracy difficult like for example, the language of numbers. I was very nervous returning to education. I recall saying to the maths teacher that the last time I had to do a sum on the board was in primary school and I still remember the steam coming out from my teacher’s ears due to the length of time it took for me to come up with the answer. I did a course in DDLETB Adult Education Service based in Loughlinstown Training Centre and this was the first time I told someone I had dyscalculia. 

I love the discussion aspect of our classes like Intercultural Awareness where I’ve learned about the world, culture and what makes us who we are. Our Personal Decision-Making module has helped me support others in giving up smoking and to drink less sugary drinks. 

Our group also made a podcast and uploaded it on SoundCoud. It is a huge achievement having your work displayed and seeing people like the podcast on Facebook. My biggest achievement was having a newsletter I made on Dyscalculia posted our centre’s bulletin board. 

If I had not returned to Adult Education this is no way that I would have been able to share my story with others, including both AONTAS,  NALA, and other adult students in our centre. 

“Three years ago I took the step of going back down the road of Adult Education and I haven’t looked back since”.