As a school community, St. Farnan’s Post-Primary School has been engaged in the process of School Self-Evaluation (SSE) for some years, under the guidance of school management and the Department of Education and Skills’ Inspectorate. A dedicated SSE committee is in place, comprised of the Principal, staff from a number of departments, as well as the HSCL Coordinator and the School Completion Coordinator.

In line with DES SSE recommendations, the SSE committee has identified a whole school approach to a number of pedagogical issues as key in the context of improving the overall quality of Teaching and Learning in our school. To date, the staff have focused on targets and agreed strategic plans to increase student attainment in the areas of Literacy and Numeracy.

Strategies to improve literacy levels across the student body have been enhanced by a number of initiatives which have been introduced at both junior and senior cycles including Keyword Notebooks, a revamped school Library and dedicated reading area, Drop Everything and Read in class time, Visual Displays of important vocabulary, Spelling Bees and a Celebration Station of students’ written work.

Strategies to integrate Literacy and Numeracy now feature in all Subject Department Planning Documents and efforts are made to support these critical areas of learning with cross-curricular cooperation and a whole school approach.

Literacy and Numeracy courses are offered to our Parents and Guardians and substantial progress has been made in the area of parental involvement in this way and also through improved promotion and communication efforts with the Parents’ Association and the wider school community.

Ongoing review and assessment of our students’ progress in these areas has been very positive to date with many strengths and positive outcomes noted including:

• Students are encouraged to read at home
• Students have access to a variety of reading material both at home and in school
• Students see the importance of learning homework as well as written homework
• Students feel they have a good range of vocabulary
• Students feel they have good conversational skills
• Practising oral and aural skills incorporated into Gaeilge, French and Spanish, as are presentation skills in variety of subjects and programmes e.g LCA and TY
• Increased awareness among staff of the importance in improving standards and their role in developing literacy skills in students
• Positive parental involvement
• Efficient Learning Support Department

As a staff, we have also committed to increased effective use of Assessment for Learning (AfL) strategies in our practice and considerable progress has been made across departments in this regard. Training and resources have been provided and further work on this and other related areas is an ongoing priority for the SSE committee and teaching staff for the coming academic year.