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An Overview of St.Ita's & St.Joseph's
St. Ita's & St. Joseph's School was founded by the Department of Education in 1971 to cater specifically for slow learning children functioning in the mild range of learning disability. These children (approximately 1% of the school going population) need additional specialist help to enable them to achieve their potential. When tested on intelligence tests such as the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) they will usually score between 50 and 70 points. Approximately half of one percent of the child population function at a lower level of ability and their needs are catered for elsewhere. What our school has to offer its cohort of students, by way of teaching expertise and facilities, is unique. The school can cater for about 130 students. It has separate primary and post-primary sections - with about two thirds of the students attending the post-primary section.
A clear advantage for pupils who attend St. Ita's & St. Joseph's School is that they have access to the ordinary curriculum that is readily available in generic primary and post-primary schools and addition they receive a very specialised form of education and experience to overcome or compensate for their learning difficulties.
The
school is fortunate in having the necessary concentration of specialist
staff and resources to provide this much needed service for its students.
A combination of highly qualified and experienced teachers, psychologist
and ancillary staff, small class sizes and the availability of generous
government grants for the purchase of text books and teaching resources
(including up to date computers and software packages) have enabled the
school to offer its students an unique, quality education and training.
The school has proved itself as an invaluable asset to the hundreds of students
who have attended over the years and to their families. It has permitted
the rehabilitation of many students who might have foundered elsewhere had
they not been given the chance of attending the school.
From September 2001, there will be a full-time psychologist based in the school. An advisory and counselling service will be initiated by the psychologist to complement existing services for the students. We can assure parents of prospective students that should their son/daughter attend our school, he/she will receive an education on par with the best in the country. In the primary section of our school all the teachers are fully qualified primary teachers with the majority holding additional specialist qualifications in such areas as psychology, remedial and special education. At secondary level we have specialist post-primary teachers to deliver the Junior and Leaving Certificate curricula.
There are 20 members of staff - including a full time psychologist based in the school, specialist teachers of Art/Design and Technology, Home Economics, Information Technology, Business Studies, Typewriting, Music, Mathematics, English, Religion etc.
We run the Junior Certificate programme in the following subjects:
· Art, Design and Technology
· Civics Social and Political Education
· English
· Home Economics
· Mathematics
· Music
· Typewriting
It is not unusual for our students to achieve success in 5 or 6 subjects in the Junior Certificate examination. A number of students have over the past six years achieved 'A' grades at Higher Level, particularly in Art/Design and Technology.
Subjects on offer for the Leaving Certificate are:
· Art
· English
· History
· Home Economics
· Mathematics
· Music
· Business Studies
Our staff shares a philosophy with Jerome Bruner (American psychologist and educator) that any subject can be taught to any child at any stage of development if it is presented in the proper manner. Encouraged by the work of Bruner, Vygotsky et al., we have introduced curriculum initiatives which have borne fruit. Who would have thought, twenty years ago, that students with learning difficulties would be able to sit and pass state post-primary examinations? The frontiers of education are being pushed back and new limits are continually being set. Both students and teachers are responding admirably to new challenges. Opportunities for further development are being seized upon with enthusiasm.
Students who gain the greatest benefit from attending St. Ita's & St. Joseph's School are those who commence attendance here as soon as their learning problems become manifest - usually before they are eight years olds. Students who transfer to this school at twelve or thirteen years of age, on completion of their primary schooling, do not achieve nearly as well. So time is of the essence in getting to grips with learning difficulties. We would exhort parents who have a child who might benefit from attendance at St. Ita's & St. Joseph's to consider his/her referral as early as possible.
Ultimately, the decision to send a child to this school is a matter for the parents. Ideally, the decision should be an informed one, taken following a visit here in order to see for themselves what the school has to offer their child, having taken into account, inter alia: the psychologist's report on their child; reports from the child's school and their own (parents') first hand knowledge, experience and intuition regarding their child.
If parents are not satisfied with their child's education in St. Ita's & St. Joseph's it is their prerogative to transfer him/her to another school.
The school lays great stress on improving each child's adaptive functioning. Adaptive functioning refers to how effectively individuals cope with common life demands and how well they meet the standards of personal independence expected of someone in their particular age group, socio-cultural background and community setting.
Much
emphasis is placed on student participation in sporting and cultural activities
including inter-school football, basketball, swimming, athletics and quiz
teams. Learning to play musical instruments and participation in choral
activities are encouraged. Where do the students go when they leave? Nowadays, students on leaving our school go on to a work situation, to apprenticeships or to further education. Our ex students have qualified as: carpenters, chefs, cooks, child care workers, crane drivers, factory operatives, farmers, hairdressers, hospital porters, J.C.B. drivers, lorry drivers, motor mechanics, painters, plasterers, plumbers, pub landlords, shop assistants, waiters, waitresses, welders, bakers, confectioners, block and brick layers, butchers, bicycle sales and repair workers, market gardeners, petrol pump attendants, taxi drivers, hotel porters, supermarket employees, tilers, nurses' aides, equestrian attendants etc.
A free school bus service operates from the following locations to our school: Abbeydorney, Annascaul, Ardfert, Ballybunion, Ballyheigue, Brandon, Castlegregory, Castleisland and district, Castlemaine, Duagh, Glenbeigh, Keel, Killarney and district, Knocknagoshel, Listowel and district, Milltown, Killorglin, Moyvane, The Spa, Tralee and district.
Children who are referred to St. Ita's & St. Joseph's School are, by and large, those who have the potential to lead independent lives if given a specialised form of education over a number of years. Time is of the essence in getting to grips with such children's learning difficulties and it is important, therefore, that they are referred for a psychological assessment and receive the necessary educational intervention, without delay if they are ultimately to achieve at their potential. We believe that special education is a great asset permitting the rehabilitation of many children who might otherwise founder.
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