Kildare Education Centre - Ionad Oideachas Cill Dara

This workshop provides NQTs with an opportunity to reflect on the concept of an effective teaching and learning environment. The following topics are explored in this context: positive relationships, the social and learning environment, effective classroom organisation, a systematic approach to responding to behaviour, and teacher attitudes and behaviours. Opportunities to discuss strategies and share ideas will be a central element of this workshop.

Date:    Mon 2nd Oct 2017

Time:   7pm-9pm

Venue: KILDARE EDUCATION CENTRE

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This workshop builds on the learning at ITE in exploring the additional needs that can be experienced by some students in the area of behaviour management. It will aim to give NQTs an understanding of a range of behaviour management strategies suitable for managing individual and group behaviour. The Guidelines on Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties: A Continuum of Support (NEPS: 2010) is used as a key reference for this workshop. Support materials and resources from DES support services are explored, such as NBSS. There are additional online extension materials if the NQT would like to investigate elements of classroom management.

Date:      Mon 2nd Oct 2017

Time:     7pm-9pm

Venue:   KILDARE EDUCATION CENTRE

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This workshop focuses on the importance of developing positive working relationships with parents. NQTs are encouraged to work closely with parents to achieve optimum learning outcomes for their pupils/students. Effective communication  skills and strategies for building positive relationships are explored through discussion and role play. Parent- teacher meetings, both formal and informal, are a key focus of this workshop.

Date:     Mon 16th Oct 2017

Time:    7pm-9pm

Venue:  KILDARE EDUCATION CENTRE

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This workshop focuses on the importance of developing positive working relationships with parents. NQTs are encouraged to work closely with parents to achieve optimum learning outcomes for their pupils/students. Effective communication skills and strategies for building positive relationships are explored through discussion and role play. Parent-teacher meetings, both formal and informal, are a key focus of this workshop.

Date:     Mon 16th Oct 2017

Time:    7pm-9pm

Venue:  KILDARE EDUCATION CENTRE

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The aim of this workshop is to build on prior knowledge in relation to assessment methodologies. Resources from www.ncca.ie including Assessment in the Primary School Curriculum: Guidelines for Schools, The Aistear Toolkit and ACTION website are key references for the workshop.

Date:  Mon 13th Nov 2017

Time:  7pm-9pm

Venue:  KILDARE EDUCATION CENTRE

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The aim of this workshop is to build on prior knowledge in relation to assessment methodologies. Resources from www.ncca.ie including Assessment in the Primary School Curriculum: Guidelines for Schools, The Aistear Toolkit and ACTION website are key references for the workshop.

Date:    Tues 14th Nov 2017

Time:   7pm-9pm

Venue: SALESIAN COLLEGE, CELBRIDGE, CO. KILDARE

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The aim of this workshop is to build on prior knowledge in relation to assessment methodologies. Resources from www.ncca.ie including Assessment in the Primary School Curriculum: Guidelines for Schools, The Aistear Toolkit and ACTION website are key references for the workshop.

Date:    Wed 15th Nov 2017

Time:   5pm-7pm

Venue: KILDARE EDUACATION CENTRE

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The workshop aims to equip NQTs with a range of assessment methodologies which can be  effectively applied   across   the curriculum.  NCCA materials are central to the workshop  and an NIPT A-Z of Assessment across different subjects will be explored in order to look at how different assessment methodologies apply across different subjects. Participants share examples of work to date and examine ways of building and developing assessment to assist with effective planning, teaching and learning in the classroom.

Date:  Mon 13th Nov 2017

Time:  7pm-9pm

Venue:  KILDARE EDUCATION CENTRE

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This interactive workshop focuses on four main areas from a multi-grade perspective: differentiation, teaching methodologies, classroom management and planning. Opportunities are afforded to NQTs to engage with a variety of methodologies throughout the workshop.   Useful strategies and resources for NQTs subbing in a multi-grade setting are also explored.

 Date:  Mon 27th Nov 2017

Time:  7pm-9pm

Venue:  KILDARE EDUCATION CENTRE

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This interactive workshop focuses on four main areas from a multi-grade perspective: differentiation, teaching methodologies, classroom management and planning. Opportunities are afforded to NQTs to engage with a variety of methodologies throughout the workshop.   Useful strategies and resources for NQTs subbing in a multi-grade setting are also explored.

Date:  Tues 28th Nov 2017

Time:  7pm-9pm

Venue:  SALESIAN COLLEGE, CELBRIDGE

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This interactive workshop focuses on four main areas from a multi-grade perspective: differentiation, teaching methodologies, classroom management and planning. Opportunities are afforded to NQTs to engage with a variety of methodologies throughout the workshop.   Useful strategies and resources for NQTs subbing in a multi-grade setting are also explored.

 Date:  Wed 29th Nov 2017

Time:  5pm-7pm

Venue:  KILDARE EDUCATION CENTRE

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This workshop will focus on the practical skills and strategies that can be of support to students as they move from a primary classroom to a post-primary classroom. A primary and post-primary facilitator will be present and will give valuable insights into the many transitions that  occur  in  the  context  of  supporting and making the best connections with curricula, teaching, learning and social and emotional needs.

Date:      Mon 27th Nov 2017

Time:     7pm-9pm

Venue:  KILDARE EDUCATION CENTRE 

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 An Active School Flag (ASF) presentation will take place in Kildare Education Centre on Thursday 5th October 2017 from 4pm-6pm.

All schools (new applicants and renewal schools) working towards the flag are advised to attend.

 The ASF presentation will:

 -  Advise schools about the ASF application process

-      -  Guide schools through the online application form and ASF Success Criteria

-    - Give schools a range of practical ideas about ways that they can strengthen their PE programme and energise the school day

-  Direct schools to the many supports and resources which are available to them locally and nationally

A teacher from a local school that recently achieved the ASF will be invited to attend to share their ASF experience with attendees.

For further information about the Active School Flag initiative visitwww.activeschoolflag.ie  or contact the ASF office by e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone (094) 9020704. 

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RE. PRIMARY SCHOOL DEBATING FESTIVAL

This year Kildare Education Centre will once again run a Primary School Debating Festival.  This Debating festival is aimed at senior classes (4^th to 6^th) or for children aged approx. 10-12yrs.

 For more detailed information, why not come along to our Information Evening:-

Date:      Tuesday 3rd October 2017

Time:      4pm-6pm

Venue:   Kildare Education Centre

Dates:  Tues 14th, 21^st & 28th November 2017 (7pm-9pm)

Facilitator:  Harry Freeman

 Target Group:  Teachers who currently hold or aspire to positions of leadership in their schools

 The course which will be run over three evening sessions will address the following themes:

·        Establishing  and creating a vision for the role

·        Managing Workload

·        Leading task groups

o   Running  effective meetings

o   Turning vision into action

o   Communicating

·        Managing conflict

·        Applying the School Self Evaluation model to in-school initiatives

·        Preparing for Interviews

 The project will have a practical focus and will provide opportunities for participants to engage in discussion and share good practice.

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Date:  Saturday 14th October 2017 (9.30am - 4.30pm)

Facilitator:  Tony Hayes

A one day course aimed at Junior Certificate Mathematics Teachers who wish to engage with the solving of problems in familiar and unfamiliar contexts.

The Junior Certificate Mathematics Syllabus for examination from 2016 contains a section in each of the five strands entitled “Synthesis and Problem Solving Skills.”

One of the learning outcomes in this section states that students should be able to

“Apply their Knowledge and Skills to Solve Problems in Familiar and Unfamiliar Contexts.”

This one day course aims at providing teachers of Junior Certificate Mathematics with a bank of questions which will aid them in achieving this goal.

The questions provided :

• Range across the five strands of the Junior Certificate Syllabus.
• Range across the three years of the Junior Certificate Cycle.
• Allow students engage in tasks for which the solutions are not immediately obvious.
• Are suitable for a wide range of abilities.
• Can be scaffolded to cater for differentiated learning.
• Can be solved by a variety of approaches and methods.
• Link material from a number of strands.
• Can be used to introduce and develop other concepts.

There will be ample opportunity for participants to engage with the material by working through examples and discussing the solutions and there will be full worked solutions to many of the examples.

 A PDF version of the presentation will be made available to all participants via email on completion of the course.

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Date:  Thurs 12th October 2017 (5pm-7pm)

The programme will consist of a combination of:

• Teacher training
• Lesson plans
• Learning materials
• Equipment packs
• Online resources

 Schools will be provided with their own manikins from the Irish Heart Foundation to afford students hands on practice and teachers will undertake a short facilitation programme through local Education Centres so they are equipped with the knowledge and skills to train students.  Participating schools must send 2 teachers to the workshop.

 Objectives:

• To empower all post primary students to be competent in recognising cardiac emergencies and performing CPR.
• To train a generation of life savers who will respond in the event of any cardiac emergency and not be afraid to do so. 

Expected benefits:

• Young people will have the knowledge to recognise cardiac medical emergencies and will have the skills and confidence to perform CPR.
• An increase in survival from sudden cardiac arrest in our communities. 

CPR training programme delivery:  

• Students will follow along with a DVD. The programme is very hands on and follows the practice while watching format. Teachers will ensure that students follow the DVD and perform skills as demonstrated in the videos.
• The course to be delivered to students fits perfectly into a normal class period. 

We are no longer accepting bookings for this course

Aistear highlights play as an important teaching and learning methodology.  But how can play possibly work in infant classrooms and with only one adult in the room?  Come to this workshop for practical suggestions on how to organise space and resources and plan for an hour of play per day in your classroom.

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Did you know that the infant curriculum is being revised? The revised curriculum will reflect key ideas in Aistear including the use of one of hour of play per day. This workshop will show how play can contribute to children’s language and literacy development and provide you with practical ideas for how you can do this. There will also be suggestions for how you can assess children’s language and literacy during play.

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Looking for new ideas for teaching maths in a fun way? Come to this workshop which continues to explore Aistear and find out how play can provide a wealth of mathematical learning opportunities and experiences for children.  This workshop will look at resourcing and setting up play areas with maths learning in mind, assessing children’s maths learning during play and helping parents support maths learning at home.

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Facilitator:  Seán Hourihane BL

Participants will be provided opportunities to discuss recent case law and statutory changes in some of the following key areas: 

• Employment Law
• Family Law
• Health & Safety Law
• Education Law
• Protective Disclosures Act
• Child Protection
• Corporate Governance & Finance

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During these twin workshops, explore how 'sowing the seeds' for successful problem solving in Maths, begins with establishing a productive classroom climate. Learn how to encourage all your pupils to openly share their strategies, value how they can learn from mistakes and see how productive struggle can help to develop a 'growth mindset' to maths and problem solving. Choosing the correct tasks will ensure maths language is embedded in a context and give all your pupils a chance to shine at problem solving in Maths.

Suitable for all primary teachers.

Register online now at www.pdst.ie/onlinebooking 

This course introduces teachers to the concepts of computational thinking and coding to develop student’s problem solving skills. Participants will explore a combination of “offline” and “online” activities that will focus on the development of student’s problem solving abilities. Teachers will learn how the methodologies of computational thinking are fundamental to developing the problem-solving skills of reasoning, integrating and connecting and communicating and expressing.

Teachers will use and develop a variety of offline lessons that can be used without any need for computers. The course will also use STEM-focused manipulatives such as Lego and Bee-Bots that can be incorporated into teaching and learning from the infant classroom up to sixth class. While primarily focusing on problem solving skills for Mathematics the course will look at ways that computational thinking methodologies can be used across curricular areas.

Participants are required to bring their own laptop to the course.

Tutor:  Ciaran Costello

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A revamped and revised course for 2017 from PDST TiE based on the purposeful use of tablet technologies, namely the iPad in this instance, and how it can be used to support teaching and learning in the Irish primary classroom.

Firstly, teachers will examine the key educational and whole-school considerations in the deployment of tablet technologies through a range of participant oriented tasks and activities. Participants will explore areas such as developing literacy and numeracy lessons with tablet devices, investigating accessibility and SEN practices in Irish classrooms before planning for the possible integration of tablet devices across the wider curriculum.

The course will also explore how tablet devices can be used to develop whole school assessment practices by developing a portfolio of sample teaching and learning resources for all class levels over the week. Finally, the development of safer internet practices and whole school planning for e-learning will be also be prioritised throughout the course.

Participants will be required to bring their own activated iPad.

Tutor:  William Carroll

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Seminar Date:  Friday 13th October 2017 (9.15am-3.15pm)

Venue:              RACE Centre, Dublin Road, Kildare Town

The Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) provides a range of continuing professional development supports in the area of Health and Wellbeing. A central component of this relates to the teaching and learning of the PE curriculum.

Last year, the PDST were delighted to offer one full day’s training in Physical literacy through Fundamental Movement Skills.  Physical literacy gives pupils the tools they need to take part in physical activity and sport, both for healthy life-long enjoyment and for sporting success. Research shows that being physically active later in life depends on feeling confident in an activity setting; and that confidence, as an adult, most often comes from having learned Fundamental Movement Skills.

Fundamental Movement Skills are the basic building blocks of movement and are an essential part of everyday life and recreational activity.   It is only when these skills are mastered that a child can go on to develop specialised movement skills, which will allow them to reach their potential in sports-specific endeavours. 

The PDST are delighted to offer this seminar again to those schools that were unavailable to attend last year.     Please note: the next phase Physical Literacy Seminar 2 will take place in early 2018.

A copy of the PDST’s new Physical Literacy resource pack which brings Fundamental Movement Skills to life for teachers, will be provided to all schools attending this training.

The purpose of the seminar is to:

·     -  demonstrate the PDST Physical Literacy resource pack through active participation

·     -  upskill participants in using Fundamental Movement Skills as a lens for developing Physical Literacy through the PE curriculum

·     -  enable participants to support other teachers in their school using the PDST Physical Literacy resource pack

Schools are invited to nominate TWO teachers to attend.

Attendees will need to be suitably dressed to participate in activities.

The Department of Education and Skills will provide substitute cover where required.

We are no longer accepting bookings for this course

Seminar Date:  23rd October 2017 (9.30am-3.30pm)

Venue:              Áras Bhríde Parish Centre, Kildare Town

The Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) provides a range of continuing professional development supports in the area of Health and Wellbeing. A central component of this relates to the teaching and learning of the SPHE curriculum and related programmes Stay Safe and Walk Tall. 

Both programmes have been recently revised and the PDST are therefore offering a full day training seminar on the revised programmes to TWO members of staff per school.  

The Department of Education and Skills will provide substitute cover where required.

 The purpose of the seminar is to:

• familiarise the participants with the revised Stay Safe programme; the rationale, key messages, content, resources and methodologies,  with a view to enabling participants to support the whole school implementation of the revised programme

• raise awareness of the revised Walk Tall Programme and other DES approved SPHE resources

Date:  Thurs 19th October 2017 (7pm-9pm)

Facilitator:  Ann-Marie Ireland

This 2 hour session is being offered to all primary teachers who are looking for a follow-up to a well-being and mindfulness course that they may have attended, or are simply looking to link in with other teachers in this area.  Within this session, there will be mindfulness, self-care and well-being practices offered, along with opportunities for teachers to connect with each other in terms of offering and receiving support/advice in the area of teacher well-being and emotional health.  Filling your ‘well’ of energy day to day is crucial in keeping your work/life balance and we will be looking at practical ways that we can do this, along with reflecting on your approach and response to every day teaching stressors. 

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Dates:  Wed 8th Nov, 15th Nov & 22nd November 2017 (7pm-9pm)

Facilitator:  Ann-Marie Ireland

Within this ‘Teacher Breathing Space’ course, you are offered that all important space to:

• address stress in the life of the teacher/school leader and offer practices to alleviate this stress and improve your well-being
• address the term ‘self-care’ and look at your life in terms of renewal both personally and professionally through mindfulness and well-being practices as well as reflecting upon patterns of thinking and habitual behaviour
• pause, notice and breathe through engaging in simple, short practices in mindful awareness and learning how to bring these practices into your daily life in simple, practical ways
• engage in short CBT exercises that can help to identify your stressors and ‘declutter’ your mind
• learn how to appreciate the present moment in order to cultivate a more enriched and fuller life each day

 This course is focused upon the teacher’s needs in terms of your emotional and mental well-being, with a passionate belief that in any school community, the very essence and foundation of all teaching and learning begins with the educator and so this course strives to bring care and attention to the teacher/school leader in order to create an improved and enjoyable work/life balance for you.  Whilst the life of the teacher will be looked at in terms of their well-being, this course will not be covering classroom lesson plans or practices. 

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Date:  Thurs 30th November 2017 (4pm-6pm)

Facilitator:  Ann-Marie Ireland

 This 2 hour session is being offered to all Special Needs Assistants who are looking for a follow-up from a well-being and mindfulness course that they may have attended in order to offer ongoing support in this area.  Within this session, there will be mindfulness, self-care and well-being practices offered, along with opportunities for SNAs to connect with each other in terms of offering and receiving support/advice in the area of well-being and emotional health.  We will continue to look at how to use mindfulness and well-being practices in solving daily issues that arise, along with reflecting on your approach and response to every day school-life stressors.

 Please note:  This session is being offered at two different time slots on the same day (4pm-6pm & 7pm-9pm).  Please ensure that you are registering for your preferred choice. 

We are no longer accepting bookings for this course

Date:  Thurs 30th November 2017 (7pm-9pm)

Facilitator:  Ann-Marie Ireland

 This 2 hour session is being offered to all Special Needs Assistants who are looking for a follow-up from a well-being and mindfulness course that they may have attended in order to offer ongoing support in this area.  Within this session, there will be mindfulness, self-care and well-being practices offered, along with opportunities for SNAs to connect with each other in terms of offering and receiving support/advice in the area of well-being and emotional health.  We will continue to look at how to use mindfulness and well-being practices in solving daily issues that arise, along with reflecting on your approach and response to every day school-life stressors.

 Please note:  This session is being offered at two different time slots on the same day (4pm-6pm & 7pm-9pm).  Please ensure that you are registering for your preferred choice. 

We are no longer accepting bookings for this course