School Self Evaluation Report

26th Jun 2023

Scoil Mhuire Caisleán Nua

School Self Evaluation Review 2022/2023

Introduction

As part of the review process due to be undertaken by schools in the 2022/2023 school year and informed by guidelines from the Department of Education and Skills, Scoil Mhuire has decided to conduct a review of the impact of COVID-19 on pupils’ educational experiences and outcomes, their wellbeing, their motivation to learn, and their engagement in learning. This review process and the findings presented will then form the basis for the school’s engagement with the third cycle of SSE 2023-2026.

Gathering of Evidence

In conducting our review, we decided to gather evidence in the following ways:

Teachers completed a survey (Google Form) on what we feel have been the key impacts on children’s educational outcomes and engagement with learning as a result of COVID-19.
A survey was sent to all parents (Google Form) so as to garner their feedback in relation to the impact of COVID-19 on their children’s engagement with learning.
Pupils from 3^rd-6^th Class completed a survey (Google Form) to determine the impact they feel that COVID-19 has had on their own experiences of school and learning.

Findings

The following are our findings and key areas to note following our gathering of evidence:

1% of pupils surveyed found staying at home difficult.
7% of pupils preferred school to online learning.
The pupils were asked about what aspects of Covid were most difficult and their responses were as follows:
8 % found not meeting their friends challenging
8% found not being able to play sports or doing their hobbies challenging
1% found doing all their school work at home challenging
14% found worrying about their family challenging
5% found staying at home challenging
8% found worrying about getting sick challenging

9% said that there were aspects of Covid that they liked. These included:
Spending more time with family
Not having to wear a uniform or go to school every day.
Seeing my friends on Zoom
Spending more time outside

2% said that they find school the same as before Covid, 22.8 % felt that school was much harder and 14% claimed that school was easier.

With regard to which subjects the pupils felt were much more difficult post Covid, the following were the responses:

-45.9% felt that Irish was more difficult

-21.6% felt that maths was more difficult

-8.1% felt that English was more difficult

-5.4% felt that SPHE was more difficult

-5.4% felt that History was more difficult

-2.7% felt that Art, Geography, Science and PE were more difficult

Parent Findings:

3% felt that Covid affected their relationships and friendships
4% felt that Covid mainly affected their child’s level of reading and writing
4% felt that Covid had little effect on their child(ren)
9% felt that Covid mostly affected their level of Gaeilge

Areas of Focus

Based on our findings, we will be focusing on the following areas going forward:

Wellbeing Promotion and Review as part of the SSE Process
Physical Activity
Social Development
Reading for Pleasure
Maths with particular focus on the development of Maths Language

Actions to address Areas of Focus

In order to address these areas, we will:

Through engagement with the SSE process, the school will conduct a Wellbeing Review and this will form the basis of our SSE over the coming years.
Explore and create opportunities for physical engagement for all children in a range of fun and inclusive ways.
Create opportunities for children to engage socially across the entire school and to foster meaningful relationships through the exploration of collaborative and enjoyable initiatives.
Promote the value in reading for enjoyment and have a range of opportunities where children read to others and be read to themselves.
Develop children’s use of mathematical language and adopt a whole school approach to same with this being reflected in the schools Maths Plan.

Monitoring and Evaluation

This SSE review and its associated targets will be monitored termly as part of staff meetings and will feed into the overall Wellbeing Review.

It will be evaluated in the context of our whole school Wellbeing Review and play an important role in the identification of appropriate targets and actions going forward.

Ratification:

This report was ratified by the Board of Management on 22^nd June 2023.