We had 4 main objectives when undertaking this project 1. Build knowledge base, confidence and skills of teachers in teaching art 2. Ensure that children learn about a diverse and representative array of artists and tailor art lessons to our school context and local institutions and works of art. 3.Improve the experience of SEN learners by building the skills and knowledge of SNAs for art lessons and using art as a sensory tool 4.Introduce more interactive methodologies for the teaching of art as well as the sharing of the childen's art work through digital tools and digital cooperation with new partners
We are a a co-educational primary school based in Inchicore, Dublin. We are a DEIS Band 2 school and this means that we run a number of initiatives designed to support children who are at risk of educational disadvantage. These initiatives include Homework Club, Hot School Lunches, Breakfast Club, School Completion programme which supports children who are identified as at risk of early school leaving. We also have a Home School Community Liaison who supports families. One of the subjects that forms part of the national curriculum is Visual and it is an area where we lacked a whole school plan and at the time of starting the project it was not part of any of our senior management's (AP1 or AP2) roles or responsibilities. We picked this project as we felt, as a staff, that Art was one of the areas that teachers lacked confidence in and on a whole school level we lack a cohesive approach to teaching art. We are a Write to Read school, aprogram which encourages children to see themselves as readers, writers and thinkers. By engaging in this project we aimed to learn about approaches to build staff capacity to support children to see themselves as artists and become more confident speaking about their own art and the world of art.