DES Literacy and Numeracy Initiatives 2011-2020
The DES now requires all schools to examine pupils’ standards, school practices and the teaching & learning in the school in a whole school self-evaluation process.
Each pupil is our focus and therefore, it is through teamwork, respect, caring concern and inclusion of each person, that we at the Boys’ School learn, discover and grow. There is respect for all pupils regardless of background, ability and aptitude and pupils are listened to in the school.
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School Self Evaluation, Feb. 2019
Report issue date: 12.02.2019
During the school year ’18-’19, we re-engaged with our school self-evaluation process. We have drafted our fourth plan, which will focus on Oral Language for 2018-2020. We have prioritised ‘teaching and extending vocabulary’ and ‘to improve the pupils’ receptive and expressive language skills’ as areas to be developed within this improvement plan. Suggestions for parents on how to support their child in improving his language are also included. The following is a link to our community report on this process.
School Self Evaluation, June 2015
Report issue date: 16.06.2015
During the school year ’14-’15, we extended our school self-evaluation process. We have drafted our third 3-year plan, which will focus on SPHE for 2015-2018. We have prioritised ‘respect for diversity; inclusion and anti-bullying’ as areas to be developed within this improvement plan. The following is a link to our community report on this process.
School Self Evaluation, June 2014
Report issue date: 09.10.2014
During this school year, ’13-’14, we further developed our Plean Scoile and extended our school self-evaluation process. We have drafted a 3 year plan on Numeracy for 2014-2017 and have prioritised problem solving within Maths for this period. Some boys, in their self-evaluation questionnaire, reflected and commented that they do not like problem solving and were not good at it. Therefore, we will develop and teach them strategies to manage problem solving. We will introduce the boys to ‘RUMOUR’, which is one problem solving strategy [Read, Underline, Make (or draw), Operations (+,-,x,/), Use concrete materials, Recheck]. We will also develop other strategies for problem solving in each class.
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School Self Evaluation, June 2013
Report issue date: 11.06.2013
As a means to school improvement, a school self-evaluation of teaching and learning in Newmarket Boys’ School was undertaken during the period May 2012 to April 2013.
During the evaluation, the following areas were evaluated to determine our priority for 2013-2014:
1. The attainment of curriculum objectives in:
- Literacy:- Reading, Writing and Language.
- Numeracy:- Understanding and using Mathematics.
2. The quality of pupils’ learning experiences and
3. The quality of teachers’ practice
At our school, standardised test results in English and in Maths show that, on average, pupils in our school are performing well above national norms.
This past year (’12-’13), our focus was the area of literacy, specifically reading and to improve general standards therein. This involved the reading and writing initiatives which took place throughout the year and in which each class participated. This year (’13-’14), our focus will be on language, especially children’s confidence of speaking in public. In our pupils’ questionnaire survey last May on language (2013) , 57% of pupils did not feel comfortable speaking at assembly or in front of people they did not know well, whilst 61% of the boys liked to speak in front of their class. We will focus on improving children’s confidence first in classroom situations (using Show and Tell in junior classes and PowerPoint presentations in senior classes). Next year, we hope to develop situations at assembly level.
We encourage all parents to develop your child’s language and reading at home, and provide him opportunities to develop his confidence in speaking. We have included, on our school website, some suggestions to develop your child’s comprehension and language (under Parents / Supporting your child).