After Easter...

Moving in to April, which was a very busy month for us, our project with Newpark Care Home really began to move in to high gear! After our first visit doing pair interviews in January, a second visit creating Spring art in February and an exchange of handwritten letters between us, we had two visits in April! The first was on April 11th in our first week back after the Easter holidays: a number of the residents of Newpark, along with their care assistants, paid a visit to the school. After a quick tour of the school with Mr. Caulfield, the residents led us in a discussion about holidays and the positive travel experiences they had in their lives. It was wonderful to see the residents and the students engaging with each other and sharing interests in such a natural way and some very interesting discussions were had!

Following this, we had our fifth Newpark visit on April 26th. Once again, our students made the journey down the road to present projects to the Newpark residents. These projects were based around people we considered to be our heroes, and we also got the opportunity to discuss the idea of heroes and heroism with the residents also. This was a truly lovely visit and the residents and staff at Newpark made us feel so welcome as always!

A final mention should be made for a visit that four of our students paid to Coláiste Mhuire, Marino on April 19th. Amelia, Roisín, Lily and William accompanied myself, Mr. Caulfield and SNA Rosemary to a showcase for the National Council of Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA).

The reason for our attendance at this showcase was that Kilcoskan NS was one of just 8 schools nationwide which took part in an NCCA project entitled Sharing Inclusive Practice. This project aimed to promote student involvement in inclusion in school and the wider community.

Our class began this with World Religion projects which the 6th class pupils would have done last year with Teacher Aoife. We have extended this year into a community project with Newpark Care Home this year.
Our four students were chosen in a random class lottery to come along to explain our projects to principals and teachers from other schools, pupils from other schools and professors and other professionals who work in this field. Our project was unique among the 8 schools and garnered a large amount of interest from those in attendance. Most of them commented on how exceptionally well the four pupils presented the project. They were a true credit to themselves and the school at large. During the day, before presenting the project, the pupils did workshops with the other visiting pupils. For their participation, they received medals, and the school received a framed certificate of participation.
A huge congrats to these pupils who represented us so well, but all of our class pupils deserve credit for how well they have participated in this project from the beginning.