Learning Support in Drimnagh Castle
Supports for pupils with special needs have greatly increased in recent years. The Department of Education & Science offers a wide range of supports and these supports are availed of for the pupils in the school.
Special needs refers to a broad spectrum of areas, for example, physical, social, emotional, hearing, visual, speech, language or general/specific learning difficulties.
In collaboration with parents, the school endeavours to address these areas of need with the supports available through a variety of agencies.
Support in Drimnagh Castle Secondary School is offered at two levels, i.e. learning support level and resource support level.
Learning Support Level
The school has a full-time learning support teacher who identifies pupils who require extra help according to Department of Education & Science guidelines. The pupils are supported mainly with numeracy and literacy until they reach a recommended level on standardised objective tests.
Resource Support Level
Resource support is granted by the National Council for Special Education (N.C.S.E), and is based on individual pupil assessments. The assessments must be carried out by the relevant qualified professionals. They are submitted by the school to a Special Education Needs Organised (SENO) in the National Council for Special Education. The SENO grants the relevant resources according to specific departmental guidelines. Typical resources include extra teaching hours, laptops with suitable software, special desks, visual or hearing aids and support from special needs assistants.
In addition to drawing down supports from the NCSE, the school liaises with a variety of other agencies e.g.
- The State Examination Commission
- The National Educational Psychological Service
- The Assistive Technology Section of the Department of Education
- The Visiting Teacher Services for the Hard of Hearing and the Visually Impaired.
- The School Competition Programme
- The Primary Schools of In-coming Pupils
- The Educational Welfare Commission
The school aims to support the personal, social and educational development of all our pupils in a caring and practical manner, having particular regard for pupil with special educational needs.