St.
Molaga’s S.N.S. promotes an inclusive school environment which reflects and
affirms linguistic, ethnic and cultural diversity.
This
policy has been formulated to facilitate and promote the inclusion of all
children in our school. It also
outlines the practises and procedures in place to meet the needs of children for
whom English is a second language.
Rational
St.
Molaga’s S.N.S. has a role to play in the development of an intercultural
society in Balbriggan. While
education cannot bear the sole responsibility for challenging racism and
promoting intercultural competence, it has an important contribution to make in
the development of the child’s intercultural skills, attitudes, values and
knowledge. An intercultural
education is valuable to all children equipping them to participate in an
increasingly diverse society.
Aims
·
To
promote justice, equality of opportunity and fair treatment for all and thereby
allow all pupils, irrespective of their ethnic origin, to achieve the level of
success and self respect which they deserve, whilst retaining their cultural
identity.
·
To
prepare children for living in a complex multicultural society
·
To
provide a safe and welcoming place for all of its members.
·
To
provide a curriculum, which emphasises the positive aspects of all cultures, and
to give children the confidence that racism can and must be eradicated.
·
To
provide an effective language support programme for all pupils who need it.
·
To
integrate pupils as quickly as possible into all mainstream learning and
activities of the school.
·
To
adopt the view that cultural diversity is a positive advantage.
Pupils are often the most valuable multicultural resource in the
classroom. Pupils own experiences of
festivals, food, dress etc. should be valued and shared.
·
The
teacher will by careful use of language and choice of resources, avoid
reinforcing stereotypical views of society.
Curriculum
Support
Curriculum support is essential
if pupils are to develop competent skills in English language as well as having
equal opportunity to improve language skills in their own mother tongue.
This means that the staff is committed to providing a fully integrated
language support system in the School Curriculum.
This system should ensure that new pupils to the School for whom English
is not the main language at home, receive immediate and full language support.
Successful implementation of this plan will help promote greater
awareness of interculturalism, help all children achieve their potential and
support an inclusive learning environment which will foster the development of
self esteem in all children in the school.
Our
Language Support Programme Includes:
·
Developing
English language skills- listening, oral, reading and writing.
·
Working
in collaboration with mainstream class teachers to set relevant and achievable
learning targets for pupils.
·
Preparing
the pupil, on an on-going basis, to access mainstream learning and activities of
the school.
·
Developing
English Language Proficiency, allowing for differentiation (even in small
groups) through sensitive timetabling.
·
Provision
of age appropriate placement.
Inclusive
School Environment
In St. Molaga’s SNS we aim to
create an inclusive school environment that values diversity and respects
lifestyles different from our own so that we can understand and appreciate each
other. We hope to achieve this in
the following ways:
·
Ensuring
that all children and their parents are made feel welcome when they come to our
school.
·
Pupils
are encouraged and facilitated in maintaining a connection with their own
culture and language through curricular activities and displays.
Maps,
flags and welcome posters are displayed throughout the school.
·
An
intercultural learning display board in our hall.
·
Greetings
in other languages displayed in Language Support rooms.
·
Books,
storybooks and games depicting different cultural festivals and celebrations are
available for all classes.
Visual
Arts
In Visual Arts we work towards
instilling in the pupils an appreciation and understanding of art, craft and
design from other cultures as well as those from Western-European culture.
Through Drama, children are encouraged to understand the feelings of
minority groups. A range of
integrated drama and music is used to enhance pupils intercultural learning.
It is hoped that pupils will appreciate and enjoy music from different
cultures.
Physical
Education
The camaraderie and equality of
sport at all levels is used to further enhance the sense of equality of
different races, ethnic groups and cultures.
S.P.H.E.
The curriculum for S.P.H.E.
provides opportunities to foster the personal development of the child, to help
him/her create and maintain positive relationships and also to help the child to
value and take pride in their National, European and Global identities.
The understanding, knowledge, attitudes, values, skills and capacities of
intercultural education are integrated across a range of strand units within
S.P.H.E., including self-identity, my friends and other people, developing
citizenship and relating to others.
In order to gain sufficient
information to support the child’s learning and to tailor education
experiences to the child’s needs, our school deems it appropriate to assess
children who have recently arrived from another country and children for whom
English is not a first language. The
full range of the child’s capacities and behaviours are built up through a
range of different forms of data gathering e.g.
·
Teacher
observation
·
Consultation
between Mainstream teacher and E.A.L. teacher
·
Teacher
designed tasks and tests
·
Work
samples, portfolios
·
Consultation
with parents/guardians
·
IILT
initial interview assessment for new pupil
·
Primary
school assessment kit
·
NFER
Nelson Non Verbal Reasoning test
We hope that the information
gathered in these assessments, will
enable us to build a positive relationship between the child and the school,
enhance the child’s self esteem and enable him/her to engage in a constructive
way with the life of the school. The assessment will enable the EAL teacher and
the class teacher to provide appropriate learning opportunities for the child
and to set individual targets for the child.
Parental
Involvement
Parental involvement is crucial
to a child’s success in school and the involvement of parents is promoted and
encouraged at all levels in our school. We
provide information in a way which takes account of the existence of a diversity
of literacy levels as well as cultural and linguistic
diversity. Parents are provided with
school guidelines on enrolment of their child, encouraged to attend
parent-teacher meetings and are invited to the school for special events
throughout the school year (e.g.- Christmas plays, displays etc.).
Conclusion
We in St. Molagas SNS aim to
provide an intercultural education that respects, celebrates and recognizes the
normality of diversity in all areas of human life.
We hope to promote the belief that we all become personally enriched by
coming in contact with and experiencing other cultures and that all children in
our school can engage with each other and learn from each other.
Review
It will be necessary to review
this policy on a yearly basis to ensure optimum implementation of intercultural
education. In St. Molaga’s SNS the
Language Support teacher has responsibility for co-ordinating this review, which
involves teachers, post holders and Board of Management.
Ratified by Board of Management,
Signed: Mrs Caitriona O’Reilly Date: 18th October 2010