In St. Patrick’s we are committed to giving each child the support they need to reach their potential in all areas of the curriculum. However at certain times of the year we place special emphasis on the key areas of numeracy and literacy.
In order to provide support for children at their level we undertake a number of initiatives and programmes which allow us to work with smaller groups or individual pupils for a number of weeks. During these sessions the children will often work with a number of teachers, moving from one room to another, to engage in different activities at different stations, while during other sessions the pupil will remain with one teacher and receive tuition on their own.
Current initiatives under taken by us include
Reading Recovery:
Reading Recovery © is a licensed, school-based, short-term, early literacy intervention. It is designed for children aged around six, who are the lowest literacy achievers after their first year of school. Reading Recovery © involves intensive one-to-one lessons for 30 minutes a day with a specially trained Reading Recovery teacher.
Guided Reading:
Guided Reading is a small group intervention , from third to sixth class, where children are help to develop their comprehension skills, explore texts and engage with reading in meaningful way for six to eight weeks .
Literacy Lift Off :
Our Literacy Lift Off programme is for pupils from Senior Infants to second class. This early intervention programme supports children by improving their phonemic awareness and phonics, expanding their vocabulary, writing and spelling skills. For six to eight weeks, children move to different stations every 12 to 15 minutes for four days each week . You can support your child at home by listening to them read and asking them some questions about the story and the characters
Building Bridges of Understanding
Building Bridges of Understanding is a whole school approach to the teaching of comprehension. The key comprehension strategies are Prediction, Making Connections, Questioning, Visualising, Declunking, Clarifying, Inferring, Determining Importance and Synthesis. If our young readers can do all of the above they will be truly engaging with the text and will be able to answer any related questions.
