1. HEADSTART

Every year we do a series of three afternoons for incoming Junior Infants: an opportunity for them to meet the new teacher, become familiar with their new classroom and meet their new friends. It is also an opportunity for parents to meet other parents, the staff and the principal of the school.

A programme to develop language, co-operation and social skills through the use of play. We use this programme in our infant classrooms and it is proven to be highly effective and enjoyable for all involved.

3. DISCOVER PRIMARY SCIENCE AND MATHS AWARD

 The school staff is committed to developing the STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, maths). We are going for our 10th award in a row. The school has a wealth of resources for all the science strands, a suite of laptops and 10 new top of the range tablets.

Each classroom has interactive whiteboards, surround sound systems (for those hard of hearing) and visualizers. Children are involved in projects like computer coding, website design and Scratch.

4. NUMERACY

Recently we have had major investment in maths resources to give maximum hands on experience to all children. Each class has at least one maths lesson per week that is based on practical maths activities and games. The area of problem solving is being developed to increase thinking skills in children.

Recent purchases include APEX maths: maths problems for the interactive whiteboard and IZAK 9: a set of problem solving cubes that need children to work in an analytical and co-operative way.

5. LITERACY

 Buddy reading is a long established programme in the school where older children read with younger children giving everybody an opportunity to grow in confidence and fluency of reading. This year with the help of the Parents’ Council and BOM we have made another major investment in literacy.

The new graded reading scheme introduced in the junior end of the school has now been upgraded to include children in the senior end of the school. Many thanks to the parents who helped to cover all the new books this year! Children start at their own level and progress through the scheme. Literacy Lift Off will soon be running on a whole school level.

Comprehension resources were also purchased with an emphasis on resourcing the upper end of our school.

We celebrate World Book Day every year.

6. ACTIVE SCHOOLS

 Screen NS. is one of only 26 schools in Wexford that have the Active Schools Flag. Activities include: weekly GAA coaching, swimming, aerobics, nature walks, orienteering, dancing…the list is endless!!! We have a fully stocked PE store with every piece of equipment needed for children to access the full PE curriculum. We are lucky to have a fabulous walking track and climbing wall built last year to promote health and fitness.

Our latest initiative: Run Around Europe is a big success with kids in 6th class recording laps each day.

1 lap = 1 km

AFTER SCHOOL CLUB

In term 1 we have 2 After School Clubs running; ‘Basketball’ with Ms McGonagle and ‘Baking’ with Ms Denton. A variety of clubs will be on offer throughout the school year.

8. GREEN SCHOOLS

Here in Screen NS we are committed to looking after the environment. We are currently working on our 5th Green Schools Flag for Bio-diversity, having won the award for litter and waste, energy and water and travel. This year we have completed initiatives the Great Plant Hunt Survey, sowing wildflowers and creating a natural habitat for local flora and fauna.

We have a gardening club that works daily on the wild garden in school. They also look after our shrubs that we planted in conjunction with the Parents’ Council (one plant per family). As we walk around the track, we are watching the growth progress!

9. Choir

Every week a specialist music teacher, Ms. Siobhán Tynan, comes in to school to work with the children who have selected to make up the school choir. The school has a brand new collection of percussion instruments that the children love to use for their performances. The choir enter competitions and were joint runners up receiving a check for €150 in Whites Hotel in Wexford last year. Their next outing will be to Sing Out Loud in Wexford Opera House on Sunday the 19th of November.

Every year the school performs a Christmas and end of year show. Last year we had our best show ever…Hosanna Rock followed by Resurrection Rock at Easter!!!!

10. Digital School of Distinction

Screen is a digital school of distinction and is proud to offer pupils a wide variety of technology to use. In every room in the school there are interactive whiteboards and teaching iPads which can be used to control the Children’s set of iPads with a ratio minimum of 1:2 available to all classes. We also have a class set of laptops used on a daily basis in Screen with coding and word processing being a vital skill. Screen is also lucky to own another set of Android tablets that enhance their technology. Visualisers are available in each classroom too.

11. Sensory Room

Screen NS has now opened a Sensory Room using a small room previously used for storage, This room has been transformed using the vision of pupils both past and present, parents, teachers and health care professionals. Themed as an underwater cave it boasts a variety of resources to heighten all senses.

There’s something in this room for everyone! Pupils are on high alert to make sure the teachers and SNAs are not hiding in the sensory room at any time!

12. Media Team

Pupils in 6th class have formed a media team to communicate school news to the public via our school blog this year!!!!