Tipperary Town school engages in new school curriculum process

St Joseph’s Primary School Tipperary Town has given a thumbs up for the new draft curriculum for primary schools.
Since 2018, pupils, parents and staff at St Joseph’s in Tipperary Town have been very involved with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) in contributing to the development of the new curriculum framework for primary schools.
The current curriculum in use in schools across the country was published in 1999 so to be part of the first curricular changes in over 30 years has been an exciting and rewarding process for this school community.
Principal Louise Tobin explains how the school became involved:
“We view ourselves as a very progressive school so when the opportunity arose in 2018 for our school to be part of a national forum created by the NCCA to explore curriculum redevelopment we jumped at the chance to take part as we believed our school had something valuable to contribute to the process,” she said.
Miss O’Grady, class teacher, explains the involvement of the school.
“To be connected to this process of shaping education for future generations our school was asked to pilot new ideas from the draft curriculum, and we attended seminars to share our feedback. Parent focus groups took place in St Joseph’s school and were chaired by members of the NCCA. Parents provided very insightful views across a range of topics including the purpose of primary education and what a curriculum should do for their children and their learning in primary school years. This rich tapestry of views was very representative of our diverse and inclusive school community and we were very appreciative of the fact our parent body took such time to consider these issues and offer valuable insights,” she said.
Recently the pupils of 4th, 5th and 6th Class at St Joseph’s were also consulted about their opinions on the proposed new primary curriculum. By taking part in the “Child Voice” project pupils had their say on how they learn and what they like to learn and indeed what they would like to see included in future learning.
Miss O’Grady hugely welcomes this development.
“Primary education is a unique and important stage in a child’s learning journey and if we are to shape a curriculum that will best serve the lives of all pupils for the years to come then consulting with pupils about what matters to them is a vital part of this process. It also actively engages them and connects them with their own learning ensuring better outcomes in schools. Also, the skills of exploring, thinking, being creative and being an active citizen would be very much encouraged at St Joseph’s Primary School so it was lovely to hear the fantastic suggestions and conversations pupils had about what a new primary curriculum might look like.
Interestingly they still valued our current curriculum and content but wanted increased time for the arts, PE and wellbeing. Also, perhaps influenced by school closures during the pandemic pupils wanted greater use of technology going forward,” she said.
Principal Louise Tobin welcomes the new proposed framework.
RICHLY DIVERSE
“Our school community has become richly diverse and this would be the experience of many primary schools across the country today. In our own context, recent years have seen the development of 2 ASD Early Intervention classes on-site and Totally Kids pre-school. We have an ever increasing number of pupils for whom English is not their first language. A new curriculum framework for primary schools which recognises these changes and allows schools greater flexibility to respond to local context while also seeking to provide the best educational outcomes for all is to be welcomed,” she said.
Consultations on the redevelopment of the primary curriculum are ongoing.
You can share your thoughts-see details on www.ncca.ie/primary.

New primary school curriculum on the way in Tipperary for first time in 22 years

Killenaule primary school community playing its part

New primary school curriculum for first time in 22 years