Holy Child, Sallynoggin, Dublin, provides more support for special needs students than any other school in the city, topping the recent Irish Timeslist. Principal Eileen Morris is determined that inclusion permeates the ethos of the school, writes LOUISE HOLDEN
HOLY CHILD Sallynoggin transfers students to UCD, NCAD, DIT, DCU and Mater Dei. The school has a science block, art studios, soccer pitches, tennis courts, a sports hall and a dance studio. Famous for its arts and music division, the school offers dance tutorship for all students with RTÉ choreographer Pat Howe. Every student gets a chance to play the instrument of their choice in the school band.
You’d pay a lot to send your child to a school like that, wouldn’t you?
Curiously, however, you won’t see Holy Child Sallynoggin at the top of any school league table. Unlike many of the (mostly fee-paying) schools that top the university feeder lists, this Dublin community school has a truly inclusive enrolment policy, and each year makes more room and greater provision for every and any child that applies.
Under the stewardship of Cork-woman Eileen Morris, Holy Child Sallynoggin is a model school for the post-primary sector. Through creative use of resources and a real commitment to inclusion, the school has created an environment where everybody can learn, regardless of ability. Nonetheless, few have yet followed its example.
Last December Holy Child came to public attention when a report in The Irish Timeson special needs provision in Dublin schools ranked it as the top performer.
The same report found that many of the schools that topped The Irish Timesfeeder school list were close to the bottom of the table when it came to inclusive enrolment policies.
In other words, the schools that top the league tables tend not to deal with genuinely mixed-ability groupings. The report found that many fee-paying schools in particular had less than one special needs teacher for the whole student body. Holy Child has created a very different model. Eileen Morris and her team decided in 2004 to reshape their school to suit the demands of the pupils who sought a place there, rather than choosing pupils on the basis of the services they could provide.
“In 2004 we got six applications from parents of students with special needs,” says a staff member at Holy Child. “They had made blanket applications to schools across the southside and nobody would give them a place. They had nowhere to go.”
Eileen and her team decided to remodel their school based on community needs. She applied for funding to convert two classrooms into a unit for students with moderate and general learning disabilities and was successful.
“We only had one class at first, but quickly created a second. Now we are full up until 2014,” says a resource teacher. In the meantime, Eileen Morris has managed to secure more funding; for a sensory garden, a bank of computers and the largest per capita special needs education team of any school in the country. She passionately believes that the Holy Child model can be applied in any school, say her colleagues.
“Eileen has a very positive relationship with the system,” says an observer. “She never complains about what she can’t get. She is positive and grateful about every support she can harness. Eileen builds personal relationships with individuals in the departments of education and science, justice, health and children – anyone who can help. She appreciates the hard work that individual civil servants put into their jobs. She never stops lobbying for the school, but always in a very positive and humble way.”
After the recent budget cuts that saw so many schools lose resource teachers, Morris kept the lines of communication with the department wide open. “She just kept talking, kept explaining the unique needs of the school with patience and sweetness until she got her way.” Holy Child has retained its resource provision as a result, says her colleague.
Those who work with her claim that Morris takes delight in her day-to-day dealings with the Allocations Department, the Special Needs Unit, the National Educational Psychology Service and the National Education Welfare Board. She doesn’t regard the work as a bureaucratic distraction from her job, but as central to her role in supporting the life of the school.
Morris, a neat, energetic mother-of-two from Mallow, has worked at Holy Child since she graduated from UCC 30 years ago. She started out teaching Irish and French, but added religious education and German to her skill set while on maternity leave. She knows her school inside out and recognises her place in a large and complex community that feeds into the student experience.
“Eileen believes in the concept of the community school,” says a source. “She has opened up the school to all sorts of people, not just those with special needs.” In a bright computer lab on the top floor of the building, adult learners prepare for PLC courses next door to a Junior Certificate chemistry class. There’s a fully-equipped crèche downstairs for local parents who wish to return to education; their children are cared for free of charge while they study upstairs.
“Everyone’s a winner here,” says a member of staff. “The teachers recognise the students’ needs and there is a huge commitment which is visible in exam results and attendance. There’s great warmth and cooperation here. This is a school that’s working.”
According to those who attend Holy Child, the ethos of inclusion permeates through the school. The children from the special needs unit mix with the other students for lunch, for musical productions and extra-curricular activities. Two of the school’s prefects come from the special needs unit.
“The important thing to recognise is that Holy Child is enhanced by, but not defined by its special needs provision,” says a school insider. “That is one aspect of a school that serves everyone in Sallynoggin and the surrounding community. We have very high academic achievers here. We have adults and small children, people with disabilities, people with serious talents in arts and sport, students from all over the world. We have local primary school students coming in to use our facilities and teachers from Spain and France coming here to learn and teach. Local football teams and Special Olympics teams use our sports hall. Being ‘inclusive’ has a very broad application at Holy Child.”
A model school
Holy Child Sallynoggin has created a centre of excellence in schooling – a truly inclusive organisation that caters for all abilities in a caring environment that challenges each student at his or her level.
Its principal, Eileen Morris, has achieved this by looking for solutions rather than problems and recognising her school as part of a wider community.
Name: Holy Child Community School, Sallynoggin.
School motto: Meeting the needs of the age
Students: 274
Staff: 31
Special needs staff: 10
Number of special needs students(moderate to general learning disabilities): 15
Percentage of students requiring some special needs support: 15 per cent
Percentage of non-national students: 10 per cent
Programmes on offer: Leaving Certificate, Leaving Certificate Applied, Transition Year programme
Destinations: UCD, DCU, DIT, NCAD, Mater Dei, Dún Laoghaire College of Further Education
Waiting lists: Despite great demand Holy Child has no waiting list. The school keeps adding classes and resources as demand rises and currently has three first year classes and a special needs unit with two classes of six.
Extra curricular activities: Sports such as basketball, soccer and athletics, school band, choreography, foreign travel and art are strong at the school. Students raise money themselves to buy in extra courses such as jewellery, first aid and driver education
Facilities: New all weather playing pitches for soccer, basketball and athletics. Dance studio, two art studios, a science block, computer labs, crèche, adult education, two specially designed special needs classrooms, wood workshop, home economics kitchen
