The School Today

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St. Vincent's Girls' School has 270 pupils between the ages of 4 and 13 years. As part of Breaking the Cycle there is a maximum of 15 children per class for infants to 2nd class and a maximum of 28 pupils in senior classes. There are 14 mainstream class teachers, 2 learning support teachers, 1 special class teacher, 1 support teacher shared with the Boys Infant School, 1 home-school liason shared with Gardiner Street School, 1 teacher of non-nationals shared with O'Connells Boys School and 1 principal.

The Ancillary Staffs of caretaker, secretary, cleaning ladies and Fas assistant are an integral part of the School Team. Indeed the school could not function at all without their service.

Through ten years involvement in Home School Liason we enjoy a good level of support from the parent body. Practically this involves parents helping at the Breakfast Club, in the classroom at paired reading, paired maths, in the computer room and on school tours. The Breakfast Club started in March 2000. All children are offered a breakfast if they wish to take it. There is alot of work involved in this project and it is co-ordinated by the Home-School Teacher.

The school is involved in a Drama Project in conjunction with The Abbey Theather Outreach Programme. The Abbey Team has been working with the 6th class pupils for the past 4 years. This has been a great benefit to the pupils as it has helped them to explore their feelings and ideas. They have developed in self-confidence, self-discipline and discovered hidden talents.

Paired reading, paired maths and Circle Time are important aspects of school life. Circle Time allows us to build self-esteem and confidence. Parents, senior pupils and past pupils are involved in the paired reading work with senior infants and first class.

The school piloted the Walk Tall Drugs Programme and is now actively working with the programme.

The pupils in the school have worked with Cynthia Millen, an American Poet. Some of their poems are published with others from Belfast and Toledo in the book "Between The Rhymes". They also illustrated the poem "On the Street Where I Live." Excerpts from both these can be seen in the Achievements Section of the site.

The school is very fortunate in the Parish Team, which operates in the parish. Fr. Liam and Sr. Eileen work as Chaplain and Pastoral worker and help with preparation for the Sacraments. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Sr. Louise (Parish Sister) who has been of great assistance to many families in difficult circumstances over the years.

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