Special Education Needs

Special Education Needs

Preamble

The principles of inclusivity and respect are enshrined in St. Brendan’s College School Statement of Ethos, and are lived out as much as possible in the day-to-day life of the School. St. Brendan’s College is committed to providing the highest educational standards and facilities for our students.

Inherent to this is an understanding that individual needs or learning differences should not prevent a student from flourishing in St. Brendan’s College. It is our aspiration that if a child is diagnosed as needing support, they will receive whatever assistance they require to enable them to thrive like any other student. This will involve a whole-school approach to supporting the child with individual needs.

In our Special Education Department, we cater for the needs of children who for one reason or another are finding difficulty in coping with some area of the curriculum.

Students who need more individual help than can be given in the normal mainstream class are tutored in small groups in the basic subjects or subjects with which they are having special difficulty

However, there are students whose educational problems extend over the full curriculum and who in their previous school were being given extra tuition in a special class due to a specific learning difficulty in literacy and/or numeracy.

Similar provision is made in St. Brendan’s College for students in this category.

Here, under the guidance of Ms. Donohoe (PGSEN) who is specially qualified in this area pupils can be assessed and receive the individual attention that they need and make use of the special books, special equipment and computer facilities available to them.

Whether a student’s difficulty is a specific one or more general, the special needs tutor and staff work together to ensure that any pupil experiencing difficulties will reach his/her full potential.

Procedure for incoming students

  • Application for entry to St. Brendan’s College is made on a standard application form. This form is designed to elicit relevant information about special needs of pupils and parents are required to make known the Childs needs on the form. Where students have been assessed by a psychologist or have availed of any special tuition or resource at National School, parents are required to make this known.
  • In February of each year incoming students are invited to St. Brendan’s to complete aptitude tests. The results will ascertain reading, mathematical and spelling ages of incoming first years.
  • Pupils with scores relatively lower than their chronological ages will be retested in September of that year. The diagnostic tests will reflect pupil’s difficulties in reading, writing, spelling and mathematical areas.
  • A profile of the particular pupil is prepared by liaising with parents, former Principal resource teachers and outside agencies.
  • Parents are contacted to discuss their child’s needs and learning targets.
  • The curriculum is adapted to suit the pupil’s needs, timetables are drawn up and pupils are withdrawn from mainstream to receive support.

Our SEN policy aims to outline our commitment to creating an inclusive and supportive learning environment for all our students. This commitment is underpinned by the ethos, aims, vision and culture of St. Brendan’s College and our patrons and guided by relevant legislation.

  • The Education Act 2018
  • The Data Protection Act 2018
  • The Equality Act 2015
  • The Equal Status Act 2015
  • The Freedom of Information Acts 2014
  • The Disability Act 2005
  • The Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004

The Education (Welfare) Act 2000

For further information, contact the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator Anna Donohoe +353 97 814 37

St. Brendan's College, Belmullet, Co. Mayo.
097 81437 Fax: 097 81469
[email protected]

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