The process of the school plan has taken shape from the school year beginning 2000 up to now (June 2008). The process has been a four-staged approach.

Stage 1:

This has been the recognising of the then current practices in the school.

Stage 2:

This involved the formulating of administrative and organisational policies for the day-to-day running of the school

Stage 3:

This involves the phased implementation of the revised curriculum and identifying core curricula for most subject areas.

Stage 4:

This involves setting up planning structure to allow teachers to plan as individuals and in their own class groupings on an on-going basis.

Stage 5:

Evaluation – a development plan is created at the beginning of each school year, the objectives of this plan are implemented and then reviewed at the end of the academic year. The effectiveness of the school plan in measured by review process which includes: discussions, reviews and feedbacks from staff at staff meetings, in staff room and school-development planning days, feedback from parents and board of management and children. It is also measured by how efficient and effective the day-to-day running of the school is and any concerns here would inform changes in the school plan.

Mission Statement for St. Paul’s N.S.

· We aim to provide each child with an education in a caring and happy environment.

· We aim to work in partnerships with parents and the outside community to develop a sense of worth in each child.

· We aim to teach each child the values of faith, hope, charity and love.

· We aim to maintain a Catholic ethos in our school but also teaching each child to tolerate and respect other faiths and religions.

· We will prepare each child for further education and endeavour to develop his/her talents.

Introduction to St. Paul’s N.S.

St. Paul’s N.S. is located at Dooradoyle on the suburbs of Limerick City. It is a middle-class area, which has been growing and growing for the last twenty-five years. The school draws its pupils from Dooradoyle, Gouldavoher, Ballykeefe, Raheen and Ballycummin. There are also pupils from South Circular Road, Ballinacurra and the surrounding areas of Clarina, Crecora and Patrickswell.

Enrolment has been growing since 1999-2000 in St. Paul’s, rising from 429 to the current 636 pupils. We are a 31-teacher school including 5 resource/learning support teachers and 4 temporary positions for teaching English to international children.

St. Paul’s is located beside the Regional Hospital and many of the doctors who work at the hospital are of foreign extraction. Therefore we have children from all over the world attending our school. These countries include Pakistan, India, Palestine, Nigeria, Togo, Sri Lanka, Lituania, Russia, America, Brasil, China, Poland, Latvia, Denmark and the Philippines etc. This international flavour adds culturally to our school and enhances our children’s education. St. Paul’s also has four teachers for these non-English speaking pupils. This are temporary posts (a pilot scheme). It has greatly helped to help foreign children to improve their communication and language skills. It has helped children to settle in to our community here in St. Paul’s and develop friendships quickly in a caring manner.

The overall objectives of our school are to provide our pupils with the best possible Infant Education in their formative years, to inculcate in them a spirit of co-operation, a respect of each other and for their teachers and a willing attitude to their work, and as they grow through our school, teach them spiritual and moral values which will remain with them to maturity. We hope to achieve this in a happy atmosphere of school life here at St. Paul’s N.S.

The emphasis of our teaching is based upon the three R’s. Our curriculum is rooted in this but we also recognise the varied curriculum and the many changes, which are taking place in the Education field.

The teachers of St. Paul’s strive to provide a sound grounding in the three R’s but also wish to provide every other educational experiences for each child. St. Paul’s places great emphasis on I.T. as a learning tool in the Primary school. Children have the opportunity to develop skills in this area from Infants up to 6^th class. We are currently participating in a European Computer project with schools from Spain, Germany, Poland and England. Laptop Computers have also been introduced as a learning aid in our school. The children have used them with ease and developed some expertise in this area of IT over the last three years.

Children have a wide range of curricular and extra-curricular activities to participate in. They receive instruction and learn to swim from First Class through to 6^th class. They experience various theatrical groups throughout their education in St. Paul’s. Many groups from Ireland and England visit St. Paul’s to put on performances each year and explore different themes with the children. Many of the themes focus on social and historical events in Ireland and throughout the world. St. Paul’s has experienced the Artist in residence scheme in 3^rd and 4^th classes where children explored Ancient Greece and Rome through artistic experiences. Many of the children sing in the school choir and the higher classes has the opportunity to participate in the National Children’s choir every two years.

The co-operation of the staff, parents and outside community help to provide ‘liberal education’ to the pupils of St. Paul’s and as you reflect through our ‘Plean Scoile’ we hope you can visualise our future…

Accommodation within the School

St. Paul’s is due for a large 12-classroom extension in the near future. The building will be totally upgraded and updated to a school fitting the 21^st century.

At the moment there are eleven temporary port-cabins which accommodate three resource classrooms, two English language teachers classrooms and six mainstream classrooms. The Hall will be knocked during this building programme and a new one erected at a different point on our school site. (Please refer to proposed development in feasibility study).

The present building has not been refurbished since 1973, the year in which the school was built. The building is in need of complete refurbishment – heating, electrical, insulation, sanitary etc. It is most important that children who attend St. Paul’s enter into a clean, bright and child friendly school. This will hopefully be addressed in the new building project.

Since January 2000 a new kitchen has been put in and the kitchen area has been tiled and painted. New electrical appliances such as dishwasher, washer dryer and staff burco have been added. Many of the classrooms and corridors of Phase 2 have been painted and new furniture has been bought for many classes.

In 2002 new flooring was put down in all corridors and classrooms. In 2003 new windows were put in at the front and sides of the building.

We have applied to the Dept. under the SWS for 2004-2005 to finish the rest of the windows and doors.

Aims and Objectives of St. Paul’s N.S.

· Our school aims to provide each child with a balanced education to enable each child to develop his/her skills to live a full life as a child.

· This is provided in a caring and kind environment where each child learns to treat each other with charity, justice, truth, patience and love.

· The school provides a Catholic and Christian education for each child while it recognises and respects other faiths and religions.

· Our school recognises the children of our Irish Culture and incorporates music, language, sport, dancing and customs into each Childs education.

The overall objectives of our school are:

· To provide each child with the best possible education in their formative years.

· To inculcate in them a spirit of co-operation.

· A respect for each other and their teachers

· A willing attitude to their work.

· And as they grow through our school teach them spiritual and moral values, which will remain with them to maturity.

· The school values the contribution of parents, guardians and the outside community in the development of the school and values the input of outside agencies such as psychologists, social workers, gardai, doctors and nurses etc. in caring for all children.

· The school values the knowledge of history, geography (local, national and international),music, singing, art, design and craft making.

· The school places emphasis on the development of skills in our national games of Hurling and football as well as a wide range of other sports including, Basketball, Swimming, Athletics and Soccer.

Board of Management

- The Board of Management meets at least once a term and usually twice a term. There is a standard quarterly meeting and the Board has also met in recent times to discuss the building project etc.

- The Chairman consults with the Principal who informs the Secretary. The Secretary then sends a notification in writing to the members giving at least a week notice.

- The current B.O.M. consists of:

- Chairman Fr. John Leonard.

- Secretary Mr.Pat Kennedy (Teacher)

- Treasurer Mr. John Tuohy (Principal)

- Patron Nomination Mr. Gerry Griffin

- Parents Representatives Mrs. Eileen Lavery

Mr. Tom Harrington

- Community Representative Mrs. Marion Cahill

Mrs Lil O’Rourke

Meetings:

The Chairperson and Principal draw up the agenda for meetings and all members have the opportunity to discuss issues arising from the minutes and the agenda. Members also have the opportunity to bring up any other issues under A.O.B.

- The Teacher member of the B.O.M. is elected from the body of teachers on the staff. Proposals are taken at a staff meeting and a vote takes place to elect a successful member.

- The teacher and Principal inform the staff about the outcomes of Board meetings. This usually happens the day after meetings have taken place. If the teachers have any issue, which they feel needs to be discussed, they can ask the teacher representative to bring it up.

- The two parent’s representatives also bring various issues to the attention of the Board. There are elected from the parents association.

Home/School Liaison

There are very good links established between St. Paul’s N.S. and parents. Parents are encouraged to meet teachers at the parent/teacher meetings, which take place early in the second term. Parents are also encouraged to meet teachers if they so wish to discuss any concern they might have about their child’s education. An appointment is made with the secretary and the teacher will meet the parent.

Formal parent teacher meetings take place class each year. Infant teachers also meet parents on an ongoing basis throughout the year and so don’t have formal meetings but they can meet with the class teacher through an appointment if they so wish.

Parents are encouraged by the Principal & Staff to be involved in their child’s education. They do this in many ways in St. Paul’s. Parents are encouraged to get involved in shared-reading with their children and also to supervise and check homework assignments. Parents are very active in this area and also in the area of sports where many mums and dads provide transport and support for their children at matches and competitions. Parents also provide help during swimming classes particularly with First and Second classes where they help to prepare children for school after the swim.

- The Principal meets parents on an on-going basis also and promotes the school and its pupils when and where possible.

- Parents also provide valuable help in the area of fund-raising they contribute €50 per family biannually to the school fund which traditionally buys little extra’s for the school e.g. Basketball Nets, and other associated P.E. equipment; and is also part of the building fund

- A School Newsletter is sent out to all houses at the end of each month where parents can read all about the different events happening in St. Paul’s. It refers to school holidays, achievements of classes or children, extra-curricular activities taking place and fund raising for the school or worthwhile causes like the Afghanistan Relief Fund or Bóthar etc.

Parents Association:

The Parents Association in St. Paul’s has an A.G.M. in September or October where a committee is elected. The committee provides support to the school in the following area:

- Book Rental Scheme for 3^rd to 6^th classes.

- Preparation & serving of refreshments at Confirmation and Holy Communion.

- Christmas Party

- Bookfairs

- Some fund raising events for school

- The school formally liase with the Parents Association through two teacher representatives on an on-going basis throughout the year. School policy and issues relating to school are discussed and listened to.

The parents association shall:

& Represent the parents of our school

& Plan activities for parents

& Support the principal and staff in the pursuance of school aims and objectives

& Encourage parents to be active partners in the education of their children

& Help communication between parents and school.

Funding:

The parents association shall organise their own fundraising events in consultation with the principal and board of management. They will also keep an account of finances to be overseen by the treasurer.

Composition:

& Chairperson – vice chairperson

& Secretary

& Treasurer

& P.R.O.

& Other elected members who form committee including two members to represent the parent body on the Board of Management.

Meetings:

& AGM – held at the beginning of school year

To include minutes and statement of account.

& Monthly Meetings

& Meet with teacher representatives on an ongoing basis

St. Paul’s N.S. - School Staff:

Name	Position	Responsibility	Class	Class Size
John Tuohy	Principal
Liam Walsh	Deputy Principal	Supervision & Science	^5th
Elizabeth Lawlor	Assistant Principal	Resources & Registrar	Resource
Eileen Fitzgerald	Assistant Principal	Music & Choir	6^th
Patrick Kennedy	Assistant Principal	ICT & Monitoring of Yard – 2.40pm	5^th
Miriam O’Mahony	Post	English Reading	6^th
Margaret Bernard	Post	SPHE	Resource
Mary Dalton	Post	NEPS & Assessment	Resource
Paul Carroll	Post	Sport/PE Curriculum	5^th
Geraldine Stackpoole	Post	Health & Safety/1^st Aid	2^nd
Carmel Hayes	Post	Collaborative Planning	S. Infants
Siobhán Doherty	(Secondment)
Muirne Bennis	Post	Curriculum Development Planning	J. Infants
Aisling Geary	Post	Staff Development	3^rd
Pádraig O’Brien	Post	Data Base	TEFL
Mary Ryan	Post	Rolla	J. Infants
David Tobin	Post (temporary)	IT phase 1 and website update	TEFL
Ruairí Walsh	Class Teacher		4^th
Deirdre Kenneally	Class Teacher		S. Infants
Niamh O’Dea	Class Teacher		S. Infants
Sarah Keane	Class Teacher		2^nd
Kieran Madden	Class Teacher		2^nd
Susie Reale	Resource Teacher		Resource
Caroline Lawlor	Class Teacher		1^st
Marie Allis	Learning-Support		L. Support
Aonghus O’Brien	Foreign-pupil teacher		TEFL
Sinéad Enright	Class Teacher		J. Infants
Maureen Toomey	Class Teacher – Temp		1^st
Niamh Barron	Class Teacher – Temp		1^st
Annmarie Kelly	Class Teacher – Temp		4^th
Aoife Geoghegan	Class Teacher – Temp		4^th
Siobhán Harney	Foreign-pupil teacher - Temp
Sandra O’Shaughnessy	SNA (on career break)
Joan Woods	SNA
Eileen Cumiskey	SNA
Evelyn Fogarty	SNA
Rita Lavelle	SNA
Sandy McNamara	Sna -temp

Ancillary Staff

School Secretary:

List of Duties:

Dealing with visitors, parents, correspondence.

A secretary may take responsibility for:

· Maintaining the school filing system, both manual and/or computerised.

· Assisting with records, roll books and registers.

· Keeping school accounts and inventory of stock.

· Ordering school requisites.

· Co-ordinating and organising paperwork pertaining to FAS/C.E. projects.

School Caretaker:

List of Duties

1. General overseeing and maintenance of school buildings, plant fittings and furniture.

2. Cleaning of school buildings and general maintenance of school grounds, entrance and keeping free of litter.

3. Selecting and buying materials required.

4. Turning off/on heating before/after holidays and checking oil level in tank every four weeks at least.

5. Keeping inventory of tools and equipment.

6. Opening and Closing school outside school hours.

The Principal

The role of the Principal is defined by many sectors of the Educational Act.

Ø Board of Management – he/she devolves power from the Board

Ø Department of Education Circulars