Castleknock Community College School Report 2019-20

In serving the needs of our
community we, the pupils,

parents and staff, in all our
endeavours aspire towards
excellence in a caring and
supportive environment. By
growing and developing
through co-operation this
will enable all to realise their
full potential.
School Report 2019-20

Castleknock Community College
School Report 2019-20 (SDP)
Foreword to Annual Report by Principal Page 2
Section 1: Mission & Educational Aims Page 4

- Mission Statement & Educational Aims
Section 2: Context Factor: Internal & External Pages 5 -17

- Whole School Inspection (MLL – October 2013)
- Follow Through Inspection (March 2017)
- Music Inspection (November 2019)_
- Curriculum Development Team 2019-20
- School Self Evaluation Strand 3 Formative Assessment
- School Leadership Project
- Literacy & Numeracy
- New Junior Cycle Programme (Progress Report)
- I.T. Developments at the College
- Community Partnership
Section 3: Curriculum Provision Pages 18 - 31
- Review of Curriculum 2018-19
- Professional Development Opportunities at the College 2018-19
- Learning Support & ESL Department Report
- The Transition Year Programme
- The Leaving Certificate Applied Programme.
- The Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme
Section 4: Care & Management of Students Pages 32 - 39
- Guidance Plan
- Social & Personal Health Education
- The Student Leadership Programme
- Chaplaincy Report
- Guidance & Counselling Department
- Extracurricular Report
Section 5: School Management Pages 40 - 43

- Board of Management Report
- Management Team Report
Section 6: Parents Association Page 44 - 46
- Social
- Communications
- Review of College Policies
- Other PA Activities
Section 8: Adult Education Pages 47 - 38
- Review of academic year 2019/20
- Planning & Recommendations for 2020-21
Notes Page Page 49

_______________________________________________________
Overview of Policy Development Pages 50 - 51
Appendix Pages 52 - 53
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Principal’s Foreword to the 14th Annual Report

July 2020
A Chara,
The 14th Annual Report reflects the College’s on-going commitment to Learning & Teaching and to
the Well Being of all those who work together in our College. Moreover, the Report acknowledges
that much of the planned work over the last academic years was suspended due to Covid 19 and the
subsequent closure to the College.
The College is deeply committed to developing a professional community of teachers and over the
last six years has engaged with the educationalist Professor Barrie Bennett through the
Instructional Leadership Programme in promoting best practice in relation to Assessment for
Learning Strategies and thereby advancing the College’s Learning & Teaching Policy. These
teachers have supported the Learning & Teaching Team which has been central in embedding AfL
strategies in the classroom. Based on the feedback received from the inspectorate as a result of the
Follow Through Inspection (March 2017) and the Spanish (October 2018) & Music (November2019)
subject inspections the team continues to provide guidance on best practice in Formative
Assessment and Feedback. Moreover the team is committed to developing best practice for teachers
and students engaged in online learning.
In honouring its commitment to the National Literacy & Numeracy Strategy the College
established two teams that have designed strategies to enhance the standards of literacy and
numeracy. Both teams have included the staff in their planning and the clear expectation is that the
agreed strategies is included in all subject planning. The College participated in the 2018 PISA
Testing and the scores were received in June 2020. The findings will be considered by the College in
the new academic year. However, one significant finding was that in all three areas of study Maths,
English & Science Castleknock achieved a higher mean score then the National and European
average.
The College continues to invest significantly in its IT Infrastructure and feedback from staff
indicates that developments over the last number of years have enhanced the quality of teaching and
learning. Over the last three years the College has developed its Learning Platform and subject
departments have begun to use this facility to promote and share their learning materials. The roll
out of the National Digital Strategy has brought much needed funding to the College’s IT
Programme. As part of this initiative the IT Team was required to create a Digital Plan for the
College. Following an audit of the staff the IT Team identified formative assessment as the area that
it will support over the course of the next academic year. From March 2020 the Digital Plan was
accelerated due to Covid 19 and the introduction of online learning. During this period the College
migrated over to the Microsoft Teams Platform. The College is committed to developing this
platform in addition to “Microsoft Classroom” to ensure that teachers and students can continue
their online classes in the event of further closures.
The College Guidance Plan was completed by a team of teachers in 2016. This plan captured the
work and purpose of the various care networks that exist in the College and how they contribute to
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providing the appropriate supports for our students. In June 2019 the plan received its first
evaluation and three areas were identified. (i) The College’s commitment to embedding the new
Well Being Programme into the new Junior Cycle for First Years. (ii) The Guidance Department
use of other interest/aptitude tests for Transition Year Students. (iii) A Review of the senior cycle
RSE Programme to meet the demands and challenges facing our senior students. While some
progress was made in these areas much of the work was deferred due to Covid 19.
Over the course of the last academic year The Board of Management conducted its annual review of
a number of policies & guidelines. The Board concluded its review of the Common Enrolment
Procedures and approved the Admissions Policy for First Year 2021. The Board also reviewed and
updated the College’s Critical Incident Policy alongside its annual review of the College’s Child
Protection Procedures and Counter Bullying Policy. The Board also received presentations on
learning & teaching from the Maths & Music Departments. The Board has also identified a number
of policies to review in the next academic year including the College’s Code of Behaviour,
Attendance & Punctuality Policy & the Colleges Substance Abuse Policy. There is also a need to
complete reviews on a number of additional policies that were not completed in the 2019/20
academic year as a result of Covid 19. They include: The Learning Support Policy, the Guidance
Plan, the Data Protection & Acceptable Usage Policies.
This report also captures the enormous commitment made by Parents to the life of the College. The
College is deeply indebted to their on-going support. The parents have continued to work on
developing and reviewing College Polices while supporting the Learning Support and Guidance
Departments in very practical ways. Moreover the Association continues to offer other services
including its work with the senior cycle mock interviews, the second hand uniform sale and
workshops and talks. In February the PA invited Wayne Denner to make a presentation on “The
impact of Social Media on Teenagers”. Due to Covid 19 a lot of the planned events were cancelled or
deferred.
Section 7 of this report highlights the very vibrant Adult Education Programme that exists in the
College. The Director of Adult Education has continued to expand and enhance the range of classes
currently on offer as part of the College’s Adult & Community Education programme. This is
reflected in the strong enrolment numbers that now exist for the programme.
The Appendix at the end of this report provides an update on the review work carried out on school
policies. Also included is a summary of Learning Support Survey conducted in January 2020
I wish to express my sincere gratitude to all staff members who have contributed in so many ways to
the College’s success over the last academic year.
John Cronin
Principal
9th September 2020
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~ Section 1: Mission & Educational Aims ~

________________________________________________________
~ Mission Statement ~
In serving the needs of our community we, the pupils, parents and staff, in all our endeavours aspire
towards excellence in a caring and supportive environment. By growing and developing through co-
operation this will enable all to realise their full potential.
________________________________________________________
~ Educational Aims ~
• To enable and encourage the full growth and development of each student intellectually,
creatively, physically, morally and socially.
• To create a caring, safe and supportive environment in which each student will have the
opportunity to fully develop his/her aptitudes and talents.
• To promote gender equity, self-awareness and responsible attitudes on personal
relationships, while encouraging dignity and respect in all our endeavours.
• To foster consultation and the involvement of parents in the development of school policies,
and its social and recreational activities.
• To engender feelings of self-esteem and the creation of sensitive, caring and politically aware
members of society.
• To create opportunities for parents and other adults to further their academic or social
education by the provision of a community education programme.
• To aspire towards excellence in all areas of work and involvement, thus promoting an image
and a reputation for our college, which will command the respect and the pride of the
community.
• To be true to our motto “Mol an Óige and Tiocfaidh Si” and thus instil a feeling of self-esteem
within all students.
• To provide a pastoral care programme that is central to the life of the college.
• To provide for the cultural and aesthetic needs of the community through the arts.
________________________________________________________
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Section 2: Leading Learning & Teaching

________________________________________________________
WSE Management, Leadership & Learning (MLL) October 2013.

The College received a Whole School Evaluation (MLL) in October 2013 and the key findings and
recommendations for further development were identified as follows:
• The school’s draft policy on teaching and learning should be finalised and become the basis
for whole-staff reflection on their professional practice
• A systematic and carefully-monitored embedding of the principles and practice of assessment
for learning is recommended.
________________________________________________________
Follow Through Inspection (MLL) March 2017.

A review of WSE Inspection was carried out by the Inspectorate in March 2017. The subsequent
report presented an update on the 2013 recommendations.
Recommendation 1: The school’s draft policy on teaching and learning should be finalised and
become the basis for whole-staff reflection on their professional practice.
Progress Achieved: Very good progress has been made on the school’s policy on teaching and
learning. It has now been finalised and ratified by the Board of Management, in consultation with
staff, parents and students. The document forms the basis for a whole-school approach to teaching
and learning and is consistently reviewed and updated.
Recommendation 2: A systematic and carefully-monitored embedding of the principles and practice

of assessment for learning is recommended.
Progress Achieved: Good progress has been made on the embedding of the principles and practice
of assessment for learning (AfL). Some good strategies were noted in the lessons observed such as
meaningful pair and group work, however this strategy would benefit from some additional
structure, such as timing, and the assignment of roles for students. Questioning of students was very
good and good formative feedback was provided orally in lessons. Some high quality written
feedback is provided in some copybooks but there is scope to develop this further.
Summary of Findings
1. Very good or good progress has been made on the two recommendations from the WSE-
MLL.
2. There is scope to further develop formative feedback in students’ copybooks.
Recommendations:
1. Teachers should continue to develop AfL strategies in lessons with a clear understanding of
the rationale for their selection and implementation, including the provision of written
formative feedback.
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2. While the College will continue to honour its commitment to the New Junior Cycle
Programme it will also remain focussed on promoting and developing further workshops and
initiatives in relation to formative feedback. The Digital Strategy Policy will also support this
commitment with an increased emphasis on how IT can support formative feedback in the
classroom.
College’s Response to Recommendations

The Curriculum Development Team has annually updated the College’s Learning & Teaching
Policy which is designed to be a blueprint to support all current and future practices of assessment
for learning.
The College’s Learning & Teaching Policy acts as the main driver for change and development. In
recent years this policy has enabled the implementation of a variety of learning strategies into the
classroom: Sharing Learning Outcomes, Success Criteria, Concept Attainment, Instructional
Intelligence, and Graphic Organisers & Practical Applications.
Over the last academic year the team has worked on Strand Three of the Learning & Teaching
Policy with an emphasis on the student voice in relation to learning and in particular how to assess if
students have a clear understanding on their own learning strategies and methods. Due to the
disruptions caused by Covid 19 this element of the Policy will remain the focus of the team in the
coming academic year.
________________________________________________________
Music Inspection - November 2019
Findings
• The quality of teaching and learning observed was very good with some good practices in
place; on occasion students were not afforded adequate opportunities to engage with tasks
independently of the teacher.
• Students were able to demonstrate a range of knowledge and skills in a variety of activities.
• Lessons were generally well planned and prepared but the level of teacher demonstration
was excessive in one instance.
• Assessment practices and achievement in certificate examinations are generally very good.
• Planning is progressing well in the music department and effective use is being made of the
shared online digital platform.
• Subject provision and support for Music is very good and senior management is actively
promoting high quality outcomes for students.
Recommendations
• It is important that students are afforded adequate opportunities to engage with tasks
independently of the teacher.
• Teacher demonstrations should be paced more appropriately so that students can recall and
complete the requirements of the assigned tasks more readily.
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Response to Recommendations
• The Board of Management of Castleknock Community College welcomes the Music
Inspection Report and the acknowledgement of the very good quality of learning and
teaching observed by the Inspectorate.
• The Board is pleased with the reference to the very good quality of planning, preparation and
collaborative practice as observed, in particular, during the team-teaching lesson. They
welcome the observations that a very good teacher – student rapport was evident, that
students were afforded the opportunity to assume leadership roles in lessons and that
students were challenged to develop their oral responses and display the ability to think
critically.
• The Board of Management supports the staff in the Music Department in addressing the
recommendations made by the Inspectorate. The Music Department will continue to build
on the very good practice already in place to ensure that the learner experience is of the
highest standard.
• Finally, the Board of Management will communicate the findings and recommendations to
the subject departments in the College which will inform their planning and practice.
________________________________________________________
Curriculum Development Team 2019-20

The Curriculum Development Team provides advice and support to the teaching staff and
management on effective methodologies and strategies that promote active teaching and learning,
group work, critical thinking, and collaboration within the learning community of the College.
Including:
• Current and innovative themes in teaching, learning, and curriculum development

• Formative assessment strategies
• Reporting assessment feedback .
The team is comprised of a dozen colleagues who provide front line support, guidance and expertise.
Our current projects include:
• Learning and Teaching Strategies

• Staff Presentations on best practice to develop staff capacity
• Formative Assessment Strategies: Think- Pair- Share, Strategic Questioning, Five Sentences
and Five Keywords, and Learning Wall
• Communicating Student Learning: Formative Feedback: Producing a guide for teachers to be
used in this years First Year House Exams
• Producing a Newsletter and providing material on SharePoint.
________________________________________________________
School Self Evaluation Strand Three - Formative Assessment
The third strand of our School Self Evaluation Process with a focus on formative assessment
concluded this year and all staff were surveyed in relation to the process.
Summary of Survey Results:
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• 55.9% of teachers are now very confident in using formative assessment, 41.2% Confident.
• Oral Feedback, Think Pair Share and the use of Success Criteria are the three most popular
Formative Assessment strategies used by teachers.
• Teachers surveyed frequently used Formative Assessment Strategies with all year groups.
(see comments in responses to Q.13).
• Teachers are quite confident in the use of Formative Assessment Strategies, and areas that
arise for further training are: Exit Pass, Peer Evaluation and formative assessment strategies
that support online teaching and learning.
• 25% of teachers now use the learning platform.
• 23% would welcome further training on using the learning platform.
Question: In relation to School Self Evaluation: How confident are you in using Formative
Assessment as a Learning & Teaching Strategy?
55.9% Very Confident
41.2% Confident
Question: What are the three most common Formative Assessment Strategies used by you as a
classroom teacher? (Please tick three boxes)
Question: With which Year groups are your most likely to use Formative Assessment
Strategies?
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Question: The Learning Platform was created two years ago to enable teachers to share
resources and provide an easy way to collaborate in their subject area. Do you use the College's
Learning Platform to assist you in your learning & teaching?
Would you welcome further training on the use of the Learning Platform?
Due to Covid 19 the survey results were advanced and the Curriculum Development Team will
consider the findings of the survey in the new academic year.
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Curriculum Development Team - Planning for 2020-2021
The team recognises the many challenges facing the College as a result of Covid 19. To that end the
team will work on:
• Supporting the Digitial Strategy Team in the development of online learinng & teaching
strategies.
• Developing AfL stratgies for teachers in the delivery of online classes.
• Continue to develop a collaborative culture that enables teachers to share effective practice
with their peers.
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Leadership Projects in Castleknock Community College - Department

of Education & Skills (D.E.S.) and Centre for School Leadership
(C.S.L.)
Centre for School Leadership- Project Overview in Castleknock Community

College
‘’Excellence through Collaborative Leadership and Management’’
In 2018, the Centre for School Leadership together with the Department of Education and Skills
launched an initiative aimed at promoting innovative approaches to school leadership and
management. In keeping with the Department’s vision of encouraging innovation and promoting
excellence in leadership, the Department invited applications from schools to participate in a pilot
scheme designed to support projects that involve innovative approaches to school leadership and
management. CCC was successful in securing a place on this pilot scheme. The pilot scheme was
designed to facilitate schools in harnessing and optimising internal leadership, management capacity
and collaboration at all levels, in order to:
• Improve learning experiences and outcomes for students and pupils
• Strengthen school planning
• Strengthen the impact of effective leadership on teaching and assessment practices
• Build leadership capacity of teams in schools
• Enable schools to engage with the school community through exchanging ideas, sharing
experiences and innovative practice, and fostering external partnerships
The scheme comprised a national programme of projects operating at a local level. Each project
explored approaches to school leadership and management which involved and empowered all
school leadership teams in participating schools. Schools were invited to engage in innovative
clusters with a shared vision for school improvement.
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The chief focus of our project was the nurturing of Distributed Leadership in our schools. We set
out to empower staff to take on and carry out leadership roles using a model of distributed
leadership in areas all aimed to move to highly effective practice in the area of embedding Junior
Cycle. This would include learning to engage with research, critically analyse same and gather data
within their own context. We were operating within the Cluster of Pobail Scoil Setanta and
Hansfield Educate Together Secondary School. Over the course of 2019-2020, CPD opportunities
with a focus on Leadership were provided for all members of the Cluster. The following workshops
took place:
o Team Building and Communications, Foroige

o Leading Learning, Claire Matthews
o Microsoft: Project Planning and Management Steven Duggan, , International Terawe
o Building Teams for Change, Tom Parsons
o Business in the Community, Johnny Meehan
o Time Management, Managing Myself & Wellbeing, Ray Langan.
The focus of the project at Castleknock Community College has been on facilitating a model of
distributed leadership via establishing a community of practice to work towards the development of
Oral Language: speaking and listening across the three subject areas of English, Business and
Science. Over the last two academic years, the team have been involved in creating a shared vision,
establishing protocols for working as a team, engaged in research into Oral Language Development,
have trialled a range of methodologies with students, sought student reflection and feedback and
have engaged in peer observation of classes.
The Team decided upon the domain of Learner Experience as a framework for their work in this
project. Using a combination of student feedback from their initial experience with CBA’s and
teacher observation on student engagement in activities associated with oral language, we used the
standards within this domain as a benchmark to move from Effective to Highly Effective Practice.
We set out to move to highly effective practice in terms of assessing and identifying the area of need
for students in developing their oral language and implementing teaching methodologies that would
support and expand their oral language development.This would include supporting students in
articulation of thoughts and ideas, framing questions and seeking clarification and the use and
recognition of tone and verbal, non-verbal cues etc. We recognise the intrinsic links between oral
language development and critical thinking and would aspire to utilise these connections to further
enable students to reflect on their learning and thus engage in peer and self-assessment in a more
cohesive and meaningful manner.
By operating as a community of practice, the group engaged in professional discourse to agree on and
articulate a shared vision and plan for their project. They engaged with research and discussed
methodologies that explicitly support oral language development. Via a process of distributive
leadership, they were enabled and empowered to take charge and lead a process of trialling
methodologies and reflecting on how they worked in their classes. They engaged in regular reflection
of both the implementation of methodologies but also of the process of working together as a
community of practice.
________________________________________________________
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Literacy & Numeracy

The College participated in the 2018 PISA Testing and the scores were received in June 2020. The
findings will be considered by the College in the new academic year. However, one significant
finding was that in all three areas of study Maths, English & Science Castleknock achieved a higher
mean score then the National and European average.
Literacy Report 2019-20

This year the Literacy Team continued to work on the promotion of reading for pleasure amongst the
College community. A student centred approach remained core to this approach, and the Lit Club
has continued to grow to over 25 students from all year groups. This was a busy year for the Literacy
Team and the Lit Club and the following activities took place over the course of the year:
• Utilised the results of Drumcondra Testing in the area of Literacy to monitor students and to
provide support in the discrete areas of Literacy as highlighted in the standardised test
reports
• Members of the Literacy Team and the Lit Club attended a prize giving ceremony in Athlone
to receive the Wellread National Reading Award
• Links were made with the Curriculum Development Team on the promotion of
methodologies that support inference and critical thinking
• Reading classes & Class Sets: English teachers involved were consulted and this resulted in
the purchase of agreed class sets of novels thus ensuring that the class had read a novel from
beginning to end.
• A range of activities took place during Literacy Week in March, including DEAR (Drop
Everything and Read), short story writing, the display of diorama’s depicting scenes from
novels and a Spelling Bee
• New books ordered for the Library and book displays regularly updated by the Lit Club
• Increased access for students during lunchtime- four days a week
• Second-hand books were carefully gift wrapped and distributed to staff in time for
Christmas.
• Members of the Lit Club wrote an updated version of The Night Before Christmas and performed
it for a class of First Year Students.
• Friday has become ‘Games Day’ in the Library, with students engaging in a range of board
games including Chess and Draughts.
• The staff Book Club continued to meet over the course of the year
• Short Story writing – displayed in Insomnia Coffee.
• Students entered the Young Travel Writers' Competition hosted by the Irish Independent
and LC1 student Ellen Li was the overall winner!
• ‘Take one Leave one’ bookshelves established throughout the College
• We successfully applied for funding from Post Primary Languages Ireland to secure reading
resources for MFL. Books and dictionaries in Romanian, French, German and Spanish were
purchased as a result.
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Literacy Planning for 2020-2021
• Display Literacy Methodologies on a notice board in the staff room.

• Utilise the results of Drumcondra Testing in the area of Literacy to monitor students and to
provide support in the discrete areas of Literacy as highlighted in the standardised test
reports.
• Ensure students are informed from the start of the academic year re the process for
borrowing books from the library.
• Promote and implement ‘Book in a Bag’ initiative amongst students so that reading becomes a
default activity and to increase engagement with DEAR.
• Implement ‘Word Millionaire’ reading initiative to further encourage reading for pleasure
amongst the study body.
• Establish student book clubs
• Host Book Clubs for parents
• Continue to develop the Library
• Implement overflow for board games and facilitate Chess Club in the Library at lunchtime
• Continue to develop the MFL section in the Library and purchase more resources for this
project.
________________________________________________________
Numeracy Report 2019-20
A significant body of work has been undertaken by a team of staff in relation to Numeracy and areas
have been identified that require specific attention.
Achieved to date:
• The continued promotion of Numeracy via Numeracy Week, hosting the week in October to
coincide with International Maths Day and ensuring a greater awareness amongst parents
and staff. The following activities took place this year as part of Numeracy Week 2019:
• Maths Quiz
• The Da Vinci Code Treasure Hunt (1st years)
• Countdown- 2nd Years
• Guesstimates
• Door Numbers- Interesting Facts
• cross curricular resources shared via SharePoint
• Drop Everything and Sudoku
• The team distributed a Numeracy Audit for Stem subjects, with a view to aiding the
development and implementation of strategies that strengthen student’s understanding of
Shapes (Geometry & Measure) via an integrated approach, with Maths linking in with
Home Economics, Geography, Business, and the Technology subjects
• A separate audit for all other subjects has also been distributed and returned to the
Numeracy Team
• posters were purchased and displayed in classrooms strategically over the course of the year
as the relevant topics were being taught.
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Numeracy Planning 2020-2021

• Utilise the results of Drumcondra Testing in the area of Numeracy to monitor students and
to provide support in the discrete areas of Numeracy as highlighted in the standardised test
reports
• The creation and regular updating of a Numeracy notice board for students
• The development of a student group to input to the Numeracy Team
• The implementation of an integrated approach to teaching Numeracy skills, with Maths
linking in with Home Economics, Geography, Business, and the Technology subjects
• To continue to promote Numeracy across the College.
________________________________________________________
The New Junior Cycle Programme (Progress Report)

Subject Departments continue to develop their assessment techniques to ensure Learning Outcomes
are being assessed. Formative Feedback was further developed this year, and comments pertaining
to the Wellbeing aspects of the curriculum are now a feature of Student School Reports for all junior
year groups. Comments that focus on providing formative feedback have now been embedded across
the curriculum on student reports together with the new Junior Cycle grade.
This year the College entered Phase 5 of the Revised Junior Cycle, which saw our First Year students
engaging with the new specifications for Technology subjects and Religious Education.
A calendar for the implementation of CBA’s and SLAR’s was devised by Subject Departments in an
attempt to alleviate pinch points on the academic calendar. A working group has been established
which will focus on ascertaining the challenges inherent in implementing the full cohort of CBA’s
and how these might be mitigated going forward.
On the basis of consultation with staff, plans have been put in place to incorporate the 400 hours of
timetabled Wellbeing for First Years 2020-21.
The College engaged in a full day of CPD hosted by the JCT Team in the area of Planning for
Student Centred Learning – Curriculum in Context.
________________________________________________________
I.T. Developments at the College
Information Technology 2019-20

Computer Programming: Computer Programming was developed as a subject at Transition Year. It
will be introduced as subject at Leaving Certificate in September 2020
Digital Leaders: A target of our Digital Learning Plan (2018 –21) is to embed wider use of digital
technologies in the completion of CBAs within targeted classes. With this end four teachers, who
volunteered to be digital leaders, attended the Enhancing CBAs Programme facilitated by DDLETB
in September. This core group of digital leaders felt this programme was not a good fit for
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Castleknock Community College at this time and decided to instead focus on upskilling members of
staff in the continued focus on using O365 email, OneNote, OneDrive and SharePoint.
Video Cameras: We invested in video cameras with the purpose of enhancing the recording of
Classroom Based Assessments. The Digital Leaders provided training to members of staff interested
in utilising this resource during Croke Park Hours.
Audit: The Digital Team lead an audit of classroom devices, data projectors and interactive
whiteboards with a view to improving efficiency. Repairs and updates of devices were carried out
during the midterm break in October.
Staff Survey: The Digital Leaders Team surveyed the teaching staff during January 2020 to gather
information in relation communicating with students through MS 365. The purpose of this survey
was to monitor and evaluate the College Digital Plan.
Developing an Information Technology Team: The Digital Leaders Team invited volunteers to
form an Information Technology Team. The team would look at the College’s IT strategy and
implementing new technology initiatives. We want to form a team to bring a clear vision of IT
within CCC that reflects the changing curriculum. It will be a team where sharing of knowledge will
be at the centre. Experience using IT in your classroom is not needed - only an interest in forming a
practical, workable IT strategy. Meetings would count towards your Croke Park Hours shortfall and
would be held during lunchtimes.
Wi-Fi: The College Wi-Fi service is being updated during the month of June.
Remote Teaching and Learning
From Thursday 12th March 2020 classrooms throughout the country became virtual. In response to
this challenge:
• Student emails were updated in advance of the closure in preparation for any eventual
school closures
• Members of the teaching staff and all Special Needs Assistants completed at least two
sessions of training on Microsoft Teams, facilitated by the I.T Department at DDLETB
• Online learning was facilitated through a blend of Office 365, Microsoft Teams, and
Edmodo.
• To enhance online teaching, we invested in Visualizers for teachers
• Subject Departments created interactive PowerPoints and video clips
• Virtual Classrooms were created by some teachers through Teams.
• Special Needs Assistants connected with their students using MS Teams
• Collaboration between teachers in upskilling in I.T
• Subject Departments used teams to facilitate meetings
• Virtual Assemblies were held for Sixth Year, Third Year and Transition Year Students
• First Year Induction: An online meeting, using MS Teams, was held for incoming first
year students and their parents
• Virtual School Tour: A short film, introducing first year students to the College was
uploaded to the College Website
• All staff have been surveyed in relation to I.T training requirements.
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Challenges
• Some teachers living in rural areas experienced difficulties with broadband connectivity.
• Digital poverty: Access to devices in some families was limited.
• Online teaching and learning being delivered through various platforms (Edmodo,
MSTeams)
Digital Learning Plan

Two Targets identified in our Digital Learning Plan 2019 –21 are:
• Increased use of the O365 system, particularly the email function

• Enhanced awareness of the various technologies that can be used to support Teaching and
Learning by all staff through various in-house training sessions.
The Success Criteria for meeting these targets were identified as being:
• Generation of teaching group mailing lists to allow increased communication via email
system
• Teachers to be able to see the benefits of the benefits of using O365 in the creation and
storage of student work.
Progress
• All teachers now have online contact with their classes through O365 and some have
extended this through creation of teaching channels in MS Teams.
• Microsoft/0365 is increasingly being used as the platform for digital learning.
Focus for Next Term
• Teachers will be given the opportunity to buy devices at a reduced price, subsidised by the
College Digital Grant.
• Microsoft will be the Digital Platform for all online teaching and learning
• The Digital Leaders will plan for training requirements for the next term based on needs
identified in the staff survey.
• Training will be provided to all staff extend their expertise of Microsoft Teams early in the
next term.
• Investment in class sets of devices
________________________________________________________
Community Partnership 2019-20 - West Pharma

Our relationship with West Pharma continued to grow and develop this year with an increased
focus on Transition Year. West Pharma also continued to support out students in the November
awards and sponsored the award in the areas of Science and Technology.
Two meetings took place this year between Judith Ryan, Christina Clarke and Sean Gildea. The
main purpose of these meetings was to confirm plans for West Pharma’s continued links with the
College over the course of this Academic year.
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It was agreed to focus on Transition year with a view to broadening their knowledge of Technology
based career paths and to promote uptake of Technology subjects at Leaving Certificate Level. To
that end, West Pharma have committed to facilitating students with Work Experience placements
and also to delivering presentations to the entire TY group.
Maria Makarevich and Michael Kinsella from West Pharma came in to deliver a presentation to the
Technology classes over the course of 4 days. The presentation covered the following topics:
• Overview of West
• Injector moulding and Microbiology
• Engineering/automation and validation
• The variety of positions/jobs available within the pharmaceutical/medical device sectors
The presentations were very well received and we also used a survey to gather feedback from the
students and received the following results:
What did you like about the presentation?
It was informative and it enlightened us on the different occupations we could potentially pursue at West Pharma.
It was quite informative.
It was very informative and interesting to learn about as I didn't know anything about it before hand.
I liked the videos they showed, they were very visual and it was nice to physically see what they were talking about.
The things I liked about the west pharma presentation was that they showed us every aspect of work available in West
Pharma. They showed us that you do not have to be into science to get a job there and there are jobs like finance and
design. She also had physical products to show to us which was very cool.
I liked the part where Maria told us about the different jobs West has to offer.
I liked the presentation because the lady talked about her job as a microbiologist and spoke about other jobs in West
Pharma. She explained how she got into west Pharma and also talked about the different access routes that weren't just
from getting high points and going to university. She also handed out 3D printed items that we could feel and see.
It gave me a good idea of what it would be like to work in a technology based company.
________________________________________________________
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Section 3 Curriculum & Programme Review

________________________________________________________
Review of Curriculum 2019/20

Following a review of subject coordinators and their respective departments in May 2017 a number
of areas were identified for further development.
Priorities
• Further develop and embed peer teaching and AfL strategies.
• Ensure that the culture of common assessment continues to be developed.
• Re-evaluate the completion process for tasks, journals and projects required for the state
examinations. A summary document needs to be drafted that ensures that there is clarity for
all in relation to the process.
• Develop a common learning platform through the use of the staff intranet. This will enable
subject departments to further develop collaborative practices.
________________________________________________________
Professional Development Opportunities at the College 2019-2020

Staff had opportunities to engage in Continuous Professional Development the following areas
during the school year.
On Thursday 30th August all members of staff attended a workshop facilitated by Alan Harris of As I
Am.
As part of the on-going implementation of Junior Cycle, all staff participated in two days of Junior
Cycle Training. The first day was a workshop on Reflection on Junior Cycle and Subject Planning,
the second was a cluster day which involved teachers working collaboratively with colleagues.
Teaching and Learning

Five teachers, all members of the Curriculum Development Team, attended three full days training
on the Magenta Principles, facilitated by Mike Hughes. The Curriculum Development Team meet each
half term to plan Teaching and Learning Strategies. This year the team collaborated on a review of
the Teaching and Learning Policy.
Four teachers and the Deputy Principal concluded their participation in the Step-Up project. The
Step-Up Project, which is part of the School Excellence Fund (SEF), an initiative of the Department
of Education and Skills. The aim of the SEF Step-Up Project is to support schools already at an
effective level of practice to move to a highly effective level of implementation of the new Framework
for Junior Cycle.
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Leadership Development
Teachers and members of the Senior Leadership Team continued to collaborate with colleagues from
Colaiste Pobail Setanta and Hansfield ETSS as part of the CSL Project. Participants attended
workshops which were held after school on:
• Project Planning and Management

• Leaders and Building Teams for Change
• Business in the Community
The workshop planned for March on Time Management, Managing Myself & Wellbeing as well as
the Project Celebration Day did not go ahead as planned due to COVID.
Four teachers took the opportunity to participate in the Teacher Leader Project at DDLETB. As part
of this initiative they attended workshops and developed and managed their own school-based
project. Their initiative, Couch to 5k, involved with getting staff and students active after school on
Wednesdays with the aim of developing physical and mental health & wellbeing.
Digital Technology: The College Digital Leaders attended I.T workshops facilitated by DDLETB
and Microsoft. The Digital Leaders provided inhouse training workshops in I.T to teaching staff,
which could be accessed after school.
Special Education Needs: All Members of the Learning Support Team attended worships on Level
Two Learning Programmes, facilitated by JCT.
All Special Needs Assistants completed a course of online training with Ur Ability to upskill in
digital technology with a view to enhancing use of assistive technology with the students in their
care.
Whole School Guidance
The Guidance Department were awarded a certificate of completion by the National Centre for
Guidance in Education for their completion of the pilot programme on Whole School Guidance
Planning at Junior Cycle.
Inservice Training
Teachers attended in-service and training in the following areas over the course of the academic year.
• DMT
• Politics & Society
• Art
• Business Studies
• Leaving Cert P.E
• I.T
• Maths
• Development Education
• SPHE
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• Dignity in the Workplace

• Guidance
Members of the Senior Management Team attended:
• CPD Conference
• ETBI Conferences
• LCA Workshop
• Global Development Goals Workshop
• DDLETB Principals Network
• DDLETB Deputy Principals Network
• Junior Cycle Training for School Leadership
CPD during School Closure
Staff continued to take opportunities to engage in CPD online during school closures with online
training available to all staff in Microsoft Teams.
________________________________________________________
Learning and Language Support Department Report

Review of recommendations 2019-2020
• Target setting- The LS Department were in the process of this piece when school closed.
This will be continued next year.
• MFL and CBA-Students were encouraged to remain in the MFL class and complete the
CBAs. This should address the challenge at LC for those wanting to do LCVP.
• L2LP training- A training session was facilitated by two JCT L2LP practitioners for a cohort
of teachers
• As I am, an organisation that supports people with ASD- founder Adam Harris gave a talk to
all staff at beginning of school year
• L2LPs- Having consulted with parents two students are engaging with L2LPs.
• LS and EAL classes-Where practicable LS and EAL students were in separate groups.
• Literacy and numeracy needs were provided for students in LS.
• Sensory space- was completed
• PE- SEN students who can’t or won’t participate in the main PE activity with the PE
teacher’s permission walked with SNA during PE class.
Survey of Parents whose children access the LS Department

The LS Department surveyed all parents whose children access the LS Department in January 2020.
The findings are included in the appendix. The two areas the survey focussed on related to
communication with the Learning Support Department and how students’ needs are managed. Due
to school closure the survey results were not advanced. The Learning Support Department have
identified the following areas that require priority attention:
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- The need to enhance the opportunities for discussion for parents of students accessing
the Learning Support department. This communication needs to include evidence of how
the work the student is doing with the Learning Support is matched to his/her needs
including:
▪ Information on student’s progress
▪ The student’s individual learning plan
▪ Consultation on the student’s learning plan
▪ Providing regular updates on the student’s progress in attaining the
targets contained in the learning plan.
Recommendations for 2020-2021 (evidence base)
• Steps challenge in PE- this challenge will be put in place for students who can’t/won’t engage
with some/all PE activities
• Couch to 5K- a number of LS students engaged in this challenge and completed their 1 st 5K
on March 6th. It is hoped that LS support further students with this initiative moving
forward.
• Target setting- teachers will set targets for all students who are accessing support in
mainstream and LS classes.
• Target setting- Cooperative teachers will complete paperwork outlining SEN and targets of
identified students.
• Targets- recommendations from student’s professional reports will be available on share
point
• Work records- starting with first years 2020 work records will be live documents on Share
point on share point
• Differentiation-The Department hope to access CPD for a cohort of teachers on
differentiation from the SESS. An email has been sent in this regard
• L2LPs- one teacher will take responsibility for coordinating the L2LPS
• Cpen- 1st and 2nd years will receive training in the use of the Cpens.
• LS will identify weak students from CAT and Sten scores for cooperative teachers to monitor
in mainstream class
• IWA- will provide CPD on a suitable P program for wheelchair users
• Targeting reading programme-We plan a 6/ 8 week targeted reading programme for students
identified with low literacy scores.
________________________________________________________
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The Transition Year Programme in Castleknock Community College

The Transition Year Programme aims to provide students with a broad range of academic, cultural,
practical and community based educational experiences in order to create opportunities which
allow students to develop their interpersonal/intrapersonal skills. It also focuses on developing their
independent learning and decision making skills. The College encourages students to participate
fully in learning strategies which are active and experiential, leading to students developing
transferable skills such as critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills.
Each year the Transition Year Programme is reviewed to identify areas which would further enhance
the learning experiences of students participating in the programme.
Transition Year Programme – Review of Academic Year 2019/20

• The number of places offered to students who wished to participate in the Transition Year
Programme stood at 146. There were 5 tutor groups in total this year.
• The majority of the TY tutors are Gaisce PALs. Students were encouraged to continue the
College tradition of participation in the Gaisce Bronze Award Programme. About half of this
year’s TYs registered for the Bronze Award Programme. TY students were encouraged to
engage with a wide variety of community organisations/initiatives throughout the year as
part of the Community Involvement component of the Gaisce Bronze Award. In the light of
Covid-19, the majority of the students were unable to finish out their chosen component for
the extra 13 week period. Students have been encouraged to finish out these components
once Public Health guidelines permit them to do so and they have been assured that all
completed forms will be submitted to Gaisce on their behalf as soon as it is feasible to do so
in the next academic year.
• Having piloted a very successful Community Outreach Week last year, this initiative ran as
part of the Transition Year layer of the timetable this year and was once again met with a lot
of positivity from parents and students alike. Students were successful in securing
placements in a variety of organisations in the local and wider community.
• In the case where a student was unsuccessful in securing a Community Outreach placement
due to age (and consequently vetting restrictions) he/she was permitted to participate in a
more traditional work experience placement.
• TY students also engaged in many fundraising events throughout the year.
• TY students attended talks/workshops facilitated by speakers from Dell (Digital Futures)
and West Pharma.
• Film Studies became an elective (it was formerly a 10 week module) and a Film Production
workshop was included as part of the Film Studies elective.
• The Outdoor Education Programme ran concurrently with the P.E. programme for the year
and tutor groups were off site on a rotational basis. Students participated for two sessions
per tutor group in canoeing, hillwalking, climbing in Awesome Walls and skiing in Kilternan
over the course of the year. This was for many students one of the highlights of the year, as it
afforded them the opportunity to have some time out with their friends in their tutor groups
and was good for bonding and morale.
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• Judo team building workshops in early September were a resounding success once again this
year. Students each received a certificate and medal of participation.
• Yoga and self-defence were part of the PE curriculum this year.
• The Lifeskills Programme worked well this year, with teachers commenting on very good
levels of engagement among students in each tutor group. Students had two classes of
Lifeskills per week The five modules which make up this programme are as follows:
▪ Mindfulness
▪ Peer Mediation
▪ Resilience Education
▪ Philosophy
▪ RSE.
• All TY students took First Aid, Work Application and Public Speaking as core subjects for
the year, as well as Irish, English, Maths, MFL, P.E. and Religion.
• I.T. also ran on a weekly basis for the year. Students had a double period of I.T. each week
and covered modules on Coding, Robotics and Microsoft Office Suite (MOS) as part of this
programme.
• Graphics and Construction also ran for the full academic year. Teachers worked with
students on a modular basis, which meant that students were able to sample all of the
practical subjects concerned over the course of the year, ahead of making subject choices for
LC1.
• The Community Assignment Programme in conjunction with St. Vincent’s on the Navan
Road also ran this year, with high levels of engagement and enjoyment reported by the
facilitating teachers.
• Development Education was introduced onto the TY subject layer and ran for the full year.
Many TY students engaged with Concern and UNICEF and attended external workshops
throughout the year on foot of this new addition to the TY Programme.
• Music ran as a half-yearly subject this year and a variety of topics such as Film Music, Music
Technology and Irish Traditional Music were explored by students as part of the programme.
Some students learned to play the ukulele.
• Maths classes were mixed ability in TY this year, as students took Maths within their tutor
group cohort. The Maths programme in TY aims to help students to improve on the skills
acquired in Junior Cycle. Along with the introduction of some new topics from the Leaving
Certificate course, the intention is that TY students remain focused on developing and
improving their mathematical ability for the duration of the year and also, that a new
confidence in their mathematical ability is instilled in them in advance of their progression to
the Leaving Certificate programme in LC1.
• Students visited Croke Park as part of the History module.
• French classes spearheaded a literacy project in the new building.
• Spanish and Japanese classes participated in restaurant trips.
• A number of MFL students attended the Languages Connect event in December.
• A number of students taking Geography attended a Climate Conference in the Castleknock
Hotel.
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• The Development Education class visited the Irish Aid Building.

• Students this year were continually encouraged to participate in the many courses run by 3 rd
level institutions, hospitals and other organisations.
There was a large uptake by TYs in the following courses:
o The Mater Introduction to Hospital Life Programme

o The TY Programmes in Beaumont and The Rotunda
o St Patrick’s Mental Health Services ‘Walk in My Shoes’ programme
o An Garda Síochána TY Programme
o Dublin Airport Authority TY Programme
o RCSI courses in Medicine (MiniMed), Midwifery and Physiotherapy
o AIB TY Programme
o Defences TY Programmes (Army and Air Corps)
o The Courts TY Programme
o The Concern Academy TY Programme
o Various Chemistry/Pharmaceutical/Zoology courses in TCD
o The SCSS TY workshop in TCD
o The Fota Wildlife Park TY Programme
o The Fighting Words Programme
o Many students also secured placements in PWC, Grant Thornton, A&L Goodbody
and Fingal Co. Council.
This year (although interest was registered and students were nominated), we were not successful
in obtaining placements on the following programmes:
 *Look into Law (Law Library)

 *Solicitors of the Future (Law Library)
 *TYPE Programme in TCD - although the two students who applied were facilitated on a
day-long programme later in the year.
*Places for these programmes are awarded on a lottery basis at national level as they generally only run for a period of
one week in the academic year.
• All TYs attended Zeminar again this year, as well as the annual UCD tour and talk.
• A number of students participated in a trip to Kings Inns for a tour and talk.
• A number of students participated in a Japanese Quiz in DCU.
• All students attended a Road Safety event which was organised by An Garda Síochána on the
Blanchardstown Campus of TU Dublin.
• The Fingal Road Safety Initiative in conjunction with AXA was also launched in the College
and a representative group of TY students attended the event.
• TYs in the YSI and Mini-Company electives enjoyed many successes this year at regional and
national level.
• Two TY students were commended for their entry in their category at the Young Scientist
Exhibition in January and were invited to attend a BTYS Boot Camp a few weeks later.
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• Unfortunately, the planned trip to Andalucía during the Easter holidays did not go ahead due
to Covid-19.
Student Feedback from TY End of Year Assessment Tasks:

This year, TY students had to submit either a vlog or interactive power point which was assessed by
members of staff not necessarily linked to the TY Programme in the College. This presentation took
the place of the portfolio interviews which are traditionally held in May.
Students were invited to reflect on and evaluate their individual experiences of their year on the
TYP. They had to respond to four key areas in their vlog/interactive presentation which initially
focused on a number of questions concerning highlights of the year, how they upheld the core values,
the skills they acquired/developed and any missed opportunities they feel they would revisit, had
they their time over again. They were also asked to discuss their portfolios, work experience and
Community Outreach Week and their broader TY experience.
Highlights of TY:
• All trips, especially the overnight trips to Carlingford and Bundoran.
• Work Experience – as previously stated, many students availed of the year to participate in
work experience programmes in addition to the two designated work experience weeks on the
calendar.
• Fundraising events - The Giving Tree Initiative and Trick or Treat for Temple Street in
particular.
• Japanese, Mindfulness and yoga/self-defence in PE were mentioned on a number of occasions
as subjects/modules which students thought were both practical and enjoyable.
• The Outdoor Education Programme was highly rated by all students.
• The YSI Speak Out event and subsequent success.
• Success in the Mini-company competition.
• Global Cookery
• The Film Production workshop within the Film Studies elective.
Colleagues who assessed the vlogs/presentations commented that the students were incredibly
positive about their experience in TY and felt that they were more confident in themselves and in
their subject/career choices going forward. Many students said that they had matured on a number
of levels and felt that the year in TY gave them the time to take up some new hobbies, to give back to
the College and to their local community and also, it gave them the space to work on their strengths
and weaknesses. Many said that they would engage in the Gaisce Bronze Award if they had a chance
to do TY over again.
Things the students felt should be considered for the TY Programme going
forward:
▪ A ski trip/foreign trip for the whole year group.
▪ More guest speakers - subject-related talks.
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▪ *More visits to universities.

▪ More trips.
▪ TY Hoodies
(*UCD is currently the only 3rd level institution offering half-day talks and tours for TY students.)
TY Curriculum Review:
• Due to the increase in numbers on the TYP in the College in recent years, the current
programme was reviewed in conjunction with the SMT, with changes to be made going
forward based on what has been working well or not so well in terms of meeting the
demands of our students.
• Schemes of work for all core subjects, taster subjects and TY specific electives and modules
were reviewed and updated by members of the TY teaching team and were then uploaded to
Sharepoint by the Programme Co-ordinator and TY Year Head. A review of teaching and
assessment methodologies was also carried out.
• Schemes of work for new modules or indeed modules which were lengthened were also
updated and uploaded to Sharepoint.
• College policies and other relevant documentation pertaining to TY were also uploaded to
Sharepoint. This will continue to be a work in progress.
Transition Year Planning and Recommendations for 2020/21

• A maximum of 140 places will be offered for the 2020/21 programme. There will be five tutor
groups of 28 students.
• Due to Covid-19, we know that certain programmes on the 2020/21 TYP cannot run until
restrictions ease significantly. With that in mind, Fencing, the Community Assignment
programme and Outdoor Education will be replaced for the foreseeable future with modules
on Photography, Philosophy and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). A half-yearly
Creative Writing workshop will also run concurrently with Japanese and Music.
• All events and trips (including Carlingford and Bundoran) are deferred until restrictions are
eased significantly.
• Based on such positive feedback from students, parents and various organisations in the
community again this year, the Community Outreach Initiative will run in early February,
following the second week of work experience. But there is flexibility around these dates as
we have such a large number of students.
• Work experience dates for the 2020/21 academic year will run as normal in November and
February. It may not be possible for all students to secure placements for the November week
in particular in the light of the current situation. Where students are successful and secure
placements, they will be released from the College for the week and we will look at the
possibility of running something like a careers-based event during that week for TY students
who are in school.
• Philosophy, which was previously part of the Lifeskills Programme, will run as a ten week
module.
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• The existing RSE module will be expanded within the Lifeskills programme and will consist
of two strands.
• Graphics and Construction will continue as a year-long programme in order to
optimise/maximise the amount of time students spend in taster subjects in particular.
• I.T. will also continue to be included in the core subject cohort on the TY timetable. Aspects
of this programme such as Coding lend themselves well to the taster subject layer for
students who may be considering Computer Science as a Leaving Certificate option subject.
• Any new schemes of work will be submitted to the programme Co-ordinator and TY Year
Head by mid-September. New schemes of work (if/where appropriate) will be submitted by
the end of September and uploaded to Sharepoint.
• All schemes of work will have an emphasis on AfL, formative assessment, literacy and
numeracy.
• Students will still be encouraged to engage in TY programmes run by universities and
hospitals next year. There is a possibility that some of these will move online, as on-site
programmes are highly unlikely – particularly when it comes to accessing hospitals.
• Students will be encouraged to participate in the Gaisce Bronze Award Programme, in
keeping with College tradition. The demands and challenges of the Gaisce programme will
no doubt be revised so that students will be in a position to engage in the Bronze Award
Programme next year. It is expected that guidelines pertaining to the 2020/21 Awards
Programme will be released over the coming weeks. Students will be advised accordingly.
________________________________________________________
Leaving Certificate Applied Report

L.C.A. Recommendations for 2019/2020
• Continue to support the promotion of L.C.A. students as Mentors

• Continue with the provision of ‘Professional Development’ for ‘new’ members of staff to the
programme.
• Continue with staff training to become ‘Task Examiners’
• Continue to maintain high standards in both Key Assignments and Tasks
• Ensure that the ‘revised’ syllabus ( if available for September 2019) is being followed for:
Mathematical Applications, English and Communications and I.C.T.
• Promote the ‘active’ use of the student journal – ask staff to ensure that work covered in class
is recorded daily in the journals
• Start on a review of the programme by looking at and updating the questions asked of: staff,
students and teachers
Review of Recommendations (2019/2020)

Continue to support the promotion of LCA students as ‘ Mentors’
• This is a positive aspect of the programme that will continue to be a recommendation each
year
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because the L.C.A students who take on the role of ‘Mentor’ are successful in this assigned
role. The role is beneficial both in terms of their personal development and it being a positive
addition to their C.V’s. Some L.C.A. students this year joined ‘The Diversity Team’ which
was involved in the school’s work towards gaining the ‘Yellow Flag’ which was awarded to
the school and this team was also awarded at a localised level as a volunteer group.
Continue with the provision of ‘Professional Development’ for ‘new’ members of staff to the
programme.
• Staff ‘new’ to the programme got the opportunity to attend ‘In service’ in their subject area, it
proved invaluable in terms of the subject knowledge acquired and the process to follow
regarding both the ‘Task’ and State exam elements of the programme.
Continue with staff training to become ‘Task Examiners
• Unfortunately this did not happen yet again because the staff member allocated to this area
could not attend training as it clashed with other professional requirements. We will apply
again this academic year as the training and feedback provided is invaluable for both staff
and students alike.
Continue to maintain high standards in both Key Assignments and Tasks
• As both Key Assignments and Tasks are vital elements of the ‘continuous assessment’
component of this programme, maintaining high standards in both areas continues to be of
importance. This year the ‘student record sheet ‘ which was given to both staff and
Students proved invaluable in promoting students’ sense of responsibility for their learning.
Continued informal meetings held with staff in terms of the ‘Tasks’ ensured that high
expectations were set which will enable students to work towards a good level of
achievement in both the Task Booklets and the Interviews. In this academic year, our
students completed the required Key Assignments and The General Education Task for
Session 1 and completed the interview process. However, as of 15th May no results for
Session 1 have been issued to schools. Students worked on their due Key Assignments
and 2 Tasks for Session 2 but due to Covid19 the interview process did not take place
and we are awaiting direction from the D.E.S regarding the allocation of Credits for
these 2 components of the Programme.
Ensure that the ‘revised’ syllabus is being followed for: Mathematical Applications, English and
Communications and I.C.T.
• The staff involved in these subject areas are aware that the new Module Descriptors are to be
introduced in September 2020. Our Deputy Principal, M.O’ Halloran and staff member,
Ms P. Dunne attended the in-service that was provided on Thursday 12th March,
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however, due to Covid 19 this in-service was cut short. The staff involved were given the
website that allowed them to access the new Module Descriptors.
Promote the ‘active’ use of the student journal – ask staff to ensure that work covered in class is
recorded daily in the journals
• This was asked of staff at the meeting at the start of the year as students need to take on more
responsibility for their own learning. An informal review of this towards the end of December
showed that it was working quite well but that consistency in its application would
improve the success of it.
Start on a review of the programme by looking at and updating the questions asked of: staff,
• This was due to take place in the last half term of this Academic year, however, due to
Covid 19 this did not go ahead.
Our Achievements for 2019/2020

The L.C.A. results in August 2019 provided a positive start to the programme. The National results
showed 22% achieving the top grade of a Distinction, here at C.C.C., 33% achieved the top grade of a
Distinction. The students are now attending their chosen courses in the P.L.C. Colleges.
The year got off to a very positive start with the delivery of the student ‘Induction’ mornings’ on the
4th and 11th of September, with presentations given by: The Chaplain, the Guidance Department and
the Co-ordinator. This was followed by a trip to ‘Go Quest’ that gave the students in both year
groups the opportunity to get to know one another. The set activities delivered all the situations that
required teamwork, leadership and progression which are fundamental traits of the L.C.A.
programme.
The Annual Academic Awards Ceremony took place on the 20th of November. Two students from
the Graduating class of 2019 received their Academic Excellence Award for achieving the top Grade
of a Distinction in August 2019. Congratulations went to; Erika Forde and Stephen McDonagh.
The completion of the Task Booklets and preparation for the Task Interviews went very well for
both the Year 1 and Year 2 students this year. The year 1 students completed a group activity which
saw them staging the ‘The first Year Soccer Tournament’ for their General Education Task in Session
1. They completed the interview process of this component but Due to Covid 19, results for this
Session are not available to the school. They then begun individual ‘Career Investigations’ for their
Vocational Preparation Task and an ‘Investigation into Setting up an Office at Home for the required
Vocational Education Task in Session 2. However, due to Covid 19, the interview process for
these Tasks were cancelled and we are currently awaiting direction from the D.E.S. regarding
the allocation of Credits for these components of the programme.
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The Year 2 students worked very well in Session 3 and produced a variety of investigative work
required for The Contemporary Issues Task which saw them research such topics as: Homelessness,
Bullying, Mental Health, Alcohol abuse, Drug Abuse, Drugs in Sports, Racism, Global Warming.
Then followed their attendance at Night classes to learn a new practical skill - required for their
Practical Achievement Task. The students attended classes in: Global Cookery, Digital Photography,
Jewellery Making, Computers, Animation, Table Tennis . They also successfully complete individual
Tasks for their required Vocational Education task ( Specialism is I.C.T.) While both year groups
completed the Interview process of this component of the programme, they have received no
results to date due to Covid 19.
March 13th marked a different process of learning as ‘Lockdown’ saw them engage in the
process of Digital learning. Their active engagement in this process is to be highly commended.
LCA Recommendations 2020/2021
• Complete Programme review (to include students, parents and staff)

• Implementation of new Module Desriptors in; English and Communications, Mathematical
Applications, Introduction to I.C.T. and I.C.T.)
• Continue to support the promotion of LCA students as ‘ Mentors’ and their involvement in
other school groups , ie, Diversity, Graduation
• Continue with the provision of ‘Professional Development’ for ‘new’ members of staff to the
programme.
• Continue with staff training to become ‘Task Examiners’
________________________________________________________
Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme Report

L.C.V.P. Recommendations for 2019/2020
• Continue to have both formal and informal meetings with the L.C.V.P. staff to chart progress
throughout the academic year.
• Continue with the provision of Professional Development ( if and when required )
• Start on a review of the programme by looking at and updating the questions asked of: staff,
Review of Recommendations 2019/2020
• Continue to have both formal and informal meetings with the L.C.V.P. staff to chart progress
throughout the academic year.
These meetings continue to be invaluable. They led to the implementation of the processes
whereby:
1) Students who do not have a Modern Foreign Language can still access the programme
2) Students were assigned to Guidance Department appointments when they decided to
‘leave’ the programme to ensure that their choice was a ‘correct ‘ one and would not have
a negative impact on their L.C.
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• Having an additional class period in 5th Year supports the completion of work
required for the portfolios
• Having an Office and a designated area in classrooms to store student’s work and
programme materials has helped with the smooth implementation of the
programme.
• Continue with the provision of Professional Development ( if and when required)
While there are resources held on file and available on Staff Portal, the provision of In service
for a staff member joining the programme will always be required, to enhance their
knowledge of the programme and assist with their implementation of the various
components of the course.
• Start on a review of the programme by looking at and updating the questions asked of:
staff, students and teachers
This was due to take place in the last half term of this academic year, however, Covid 19 has
delayed this process.
Programme achievements 2019/2020
• Results achieved and their comparison to National Results combined with the Delivery of
Programme to parents has led to an increase in numbers taking up this programme.
• Continuity in staff enhances the programme
• The running of the Mock Interviews continues to be a positive experience for the students
• The schedule pertaining to work required for the Portfolios and the deadlines associated this
element, delivered by the Co-ordinator ensures that deadlines are met.
Recommendations for 2020/2021
• Continue with allocation of 3 periods in 5th Year- to ensure completion of work

required for Portfolios
• Continue with system of not having Exam for 5th year students in November
( the students will work on assignments due for their Portfolios)
• Ensure continuity of staff ( Business/ Maths teachers) to ensure success in results
• Continue with In-service for staff ‘new’ to the programme
• Begin the process of using Microsoft Teams to assign work and to give formative
feedback on work submitted.
• Start the process of Programme review
________________________________________________________
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~ Section 4 Care & Management of Students ~

________________________________________________________
Guidance Plan
The College’s Guidance Plan was reviewed and evaluated in 2015-16 to reflect the many changes and
challenges that now exist in our College in providing for and managing the emotional, mental,
spiritual and physical needs of our students. At the heart of the Guidance Plan is a deep
commitment to each student’s well-being. The revised plan is now represented in seven distinct
strands which combined capture the range of supports that are offered to students at Castleknock
Community College.
• Strand 1 – The Guidance Department

• Strand 2 – The Learning Support Department
• Strand 3 – The SPHE & RSE Programmes
• Strand 4 – Physical Health
• Strand 5 – Inclusion & Diversity
• Strand 6 – Student Leadership
• Strand 7 – Chaplaincy
In May of this year the Guidance Team conducted its second review of the Plan and identified three
areas that require further development over the course of the next academic year.
• The College is committed to embedding the new Well Being Programme into the new Junior
Cycle for First Years.
• The Guidance Department is looking at other interest/aptitude tests for Transition Year
Students.
• A Review of the senior cycle RSE Programme will be undertaken to meet the demands and
challenges facing our senior students.
• ________________________________________________________
Social, Personal & Health Education (SPHE)
The Department has been managed by a steering committee made up of Deputy Principal (Acting
Co-ordinator) and a core team of SPHE & Lifeskills teachers. There is a representative from each
group on the team with a responsibility to feedback to the teaching team. This model has continued
again this year. Staff has been facilitated to attend in-service training and relevant courses to assist
them in the presentation of programmes and in their support of young adults.
The work of this Department in the College strives to develop and deliver programmes that address
topics and areas of challenge that our young people are experiencing as they prepare to take up their
place as active and healthy citizens in the modern world.
Review of Targets set for 2019 – 2020
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• Complete the process of policy review and presentation to the Board.
The review of the SPHE Policy and the RSE Policy was finalised early in the new term and
presented to the Board of Management. These policies were ratified by the Board in Autumn
2019.
• Continue to update the Schemes of Work.
The team continued to review and update the schemes of work for all year groups. This work
was extended to plan for 400 hours of Wellbeing subjects for First Year 2020. The team
researched modules to extend the opportunities for Fist Year students to explore and manage
their own Wellbeing and components that help manage positive mental health.
• To include Year Team meetings to address planning for topics at Junior Cycle.
All year team meetings are now including a short synopsis of current topics being presented
in SPHE/Lifeskills. At Junior Cycle, the programme is mostly delivered by the Class Tutor
and there is an awareness of this among the Care Team and feeds appropriately into the Year
Team Agenda.
• To encourage more staff to undertake SPHE & RSE Training.
Some staff attended in-service on topics related to SPHE and RSE.
• To continue to include Student Voice and Feedback is reflected in Department

planning, Reporting and Feedback.
This target was scheduled for the third term of the school year but due to school closure, this
work was not completed and will continue into 2020/2021.
• To develop close links with the Guidance Department and the Wellbeing Team.
A review process of the Guidance Plan began during this academic year with the Guidance
Department, Chaplain, Learning Support Department and Deputy Principals. This process
was not fully completed due to school closure and will continue in the Autumn with staff,
students and parents/guardians and the Board of Management. A Wellbeing module will be
presented by Guidance staff to all First-Year students in teams of fifteen from November
2020 to March 2021.
Team Targets for 2020 – 2021:
• Continue to update the Schemes of Work.
• To monitor the increase to 400 hours of Wellbeing.
• To encourage staff to undertake SPHE & RSE Training.
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• To continue to include Student Voice and Feedback is reflected in Department planning,

Reporting and Feedback.
• To continue closer links with the Guidance Department and the Wellbeing Team.
• To evaluate and review the new module delivered by the Guidance Department. (Wired for
Wellbeing)
________________________________________________________
Student Leadership Planning

Review of Academic Year 2019 – 2020
Student applications to leadership roles in Castleknock Community College is reflective of how
students have embraced the College motto “Mol an Óige agus Tiocfaidh Sí”, employed the core
values of Courtesy, Respect and Responsibility and is an acknowledgement of the leadership
potential they have displayed.
Student leadership is a very active programme where senior students are encouraged to take on
positive leadership roles to support the wider body. There are numerous roles students can engage
with and they are as follows:
• Class Captains & Deputy-Captains

• Class Representatives on the Student Council
• Mentors (Leaving Certificate 1)
• Prefects (Leaving Certificate 2)
Prefects and Mentors play a key role in the everyday life of the College. Within the Prefect group, a
cohort of students act as Sports Prefects and make a significant contribution to the sporting life of
the College.
Prefects are responsible for running the Student Council and feeding back student issues and
suggestions to College management. Student mentors make a significant contribution in assisting
First Year students make a smooth transition from primary to post-primary education. They also
support different events and activities that First Year students are involved with.
The Student Council attended a Training Workshop with Ray Langan in November 2019. The aims
of the workshop was to help the group to function well as a team so that their work would be
efficient and effective. Prefects were assigned to each year group and acted as a facilitator. Students
also received their Student Council badge at this event.
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Targets for 2019 – 2020
• To explore ways to promote the work of the Student Council further.
This was discussed at the planning sessions and it was agreed that the most effective way of
promoting the work of the Student Council was through regular feedback to the class. This
was an effective way for gathering student responses and opinions also.
• To amend the Student Council Constitution to reflect the new approach to selection of
representatives.
This work began in February but due to school closure had not reached completion. This
will continue into the next academic year.
• To further the Council’s work on recycling etc.

The Student Council elected a student to act as representative for the Council on the Green
Schools Committee. This representative gave regular feedback to the Council and
communicated ideas back to the committee.
• To explore student ideas and understanding of Wellbeing and gather student suggestions.
The Student Council was involved in the planning of the Wellbeing Week that took place
prior to November midterm. Students brought forward ideas from the student body that
informed the events and components that made up the schedule for the week. The week was
a tremendous success and students were involved in daily presentations on the intercom.
Each year group was engaged in activities for their age group. Students worked very
effectively with the staff team that facilitated the organisation of this themed week. We are
very grateful to staff and students for their work on this activity.
This work was scheduled for March/April 2020 and due to school closure was unable to be
completed.
Targets for 2020 – 2021
• To continue to amend the Student Council Constitution to reflect the new approach to
selection of representatives.
• To further the Council’s work on recycling etc.
________________________________________________________
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Chaplaincy Report
• The Diversity Committee wish to highlight the work of Localise and promote the value of
volunteer work throughout the student body.
• The Chaplaincy Team will continue to acknowledge religious festivals from all faiths.
• The team plans to extend it’s reach throughout the student body. They will continue input at
weekly assemblies. They want to make meditations a lived practice in the life of the college.
• Continue to meet weekly. Since school closure this has taken place on Microsoft Teams and
this will be how we will continue until further changes.
• The Diversity Committee and Chaplaincy Team will continue to share it’s work through the
electronic notice board.
• The team are hoping to continue it’s work virtually with vulnerable groups such as nursing
homes by presenting prerecorded message.
• Overcome and challenges presented by virtual communication with individual students.
• It is hoped that have weekly contact with LC2 students will embed relaxation and anxiety
management skills.
________________________________________________________
Guidance & Counselling Department Report

• The first Careers day was held in the college where all year groups/parents had the
opportunity to attend. Individual presentations on specific career areas were held. The
visiting speakers were extremely complimentary of our students and their level of
engagement, new links were made with college personnel and the day was a great success.
Given the current circumstances and many events not taking place in the foreseeable, this is
an event we will consider in some capacity for next year in order to meet the needs of our
students and provide them with information.
• Guidance team – this proved to be successful and students that signed up engaged well. They
held weekly lunchtime meetings in the careers library. Friendships were made and fun was
had. We will develop this further and engage more of the student body.
• The Guidance plan was reviewed by all stakeholders.
• Guidance Counsellors attended a Mental Health and Wellbeing Summit.
• Mary Moran attended a “Drawing and Talking” therapy workshop. This was very useful and
strategies learned were implemented with students.
• REACH + Careers/work experience programme with TYs - we didn’t find this to be of huge
benefit to our students, a computer room wasn’t always available and we can tailor a
programme that will cover necessary topics.
• As recommended last year, DATs took place before the exams due to the intensity of the
testing. Feedback ran very smoothly again this year.
• Study Skills session for 1st and 2nd years was well received by the students. We will meet all
classes as early as possible next year given the abrupt end to this year.
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• Mary Moran attended a WSG feedback seminar following the pilot programme we ran with
2nd years last year.
• “Rayse the Game” study skills session with 3rd years went well however we found it was too
fast paced for some students and the group was too large. We will consider other options for
the year ahead.
• Weekly meetings with our Principal, John Cronin continued as well as our attendance at care
meetings for all year groups.
• During the Covid 19 pandemic, The Guidance Department delivered online as much
information as necessary to our students, this engagement can continue throughout the
holidays and into the next academic year. Teams has been an efficient way to interact with
our students and colleagues.
________________________________________________________
Extracurricular Report 2019 - 2020

With its extensive extracurricular programme, the College remains committed to its aims:
• Promote the physical, emotional & psychological well-being of students

• Nurture and encourage the talents and abilities of all students
• Foster an interest in and love of pursuits beyond the academic
• Encourage the development of life-skills
• Enhance the positive relationships between staff and students & parents
• Promote Courtesy, Respect and Responsibility
• Provide opportunities for the affirmation of students
• Emphasise the importance of participation & involvement
A full time-table of the College’s comprehensive extracurricular activities program was issued to
students and parents/guardians in Autumn 2016. Students are invited to engage in the one or more
activities in the College Extra Curricular Programme. This year students were offered the chance to
participate a range of sports, The College Choir, Debating, Green Schools Committee, Drama Club,
Ukulele Club, Cumman Gaelach, Library (Lit.Club) Committee, Chaplaincy Team, Diversity
Committee, Zumba, Table Tennis, Couch to 5k Running Club, and the Fitness Suite.
Staff members as well as senior students & parents/guardians continued to give generously of their
time and talents throughout the year to ensure the success of the programme and this commitment
has ensured another very successful year.
It was regrettable that college closure meant that many eagerly anticipated events were cancelled or
postponed. However, we are confident that in the year ahead our students will take up every
opportunity to engage in learning outside the classroom.
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Sporting Achievements 2019-20

We celebrated many success stories including:
Dublin Champions: Our senior footballers were crowned Dublin Champions when they defeated
Malahide Community College on 25th February.
Cross Country: Our junior girls team were placed second in the Leinster Cross Country Finals on
Feb 12th
Camogie: The Junior Team became Dublin Champions on 24th January
Running Club
The Couch to 5k group trained every Wednesday from January and many students and teachers from
the team participated in Parkrun at Porterstown Park on 07th March with great success.
Student Achievement 2019-20

Debating Highlights
Senior Team: Finalists at both Trinity Collee Historical Society Debating and Matheson National
Senior Mace
Junior Team: Semi-finalists at the UCD Junior Debating Competition and Leinster Finalists at the
Matheson National Junior Mace
Transition Year students Dearbhala Peelo and Precious Adeoye travelled to Cambridge University to
compete in the Cambridge Union Schools Debating Competition on 7th March. Dearbhla was due to
participate in the Oxford Union Competition with Rachel Fogarty Keane on 14th March, an event
that was cancelled due to the pandemic.
Festival of Music
Students from Castleknock Community College were among students from across Dublin to
perform at the annual Festival of Music in the National Concert Hall on 10th March. The college
choir and the solo performances from Maria Naspanya (First Year) on piano and Anna Friel (Kells)
on the violin were outstanding.
Fingal Local Enterprise Awards
Our senior mini company team were announced winners in the Fingal Local Enterprise Awards on
07th May. We congratulate students Molly McCarthy, Katie Farmer, Poppy Conroy, Megan
Cheevers and Nicole Olden for their success in this competition.
Kenya 2020
The Kenya 2020 group had a busy year fundraising for their project to build a school in Kenya. The
group raised over 20,000 over the course of the year and although they did not get the opportunity to
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travel to Kenya themselves, their efforts have made a great difference in the lives of the many
students who will benefit from the improved facilities at their school.
Pramercia Spirit of Community Award
The College nominated Rebecca Colley, LC2, for the Spirit of Community Awards. She was one of 20
honourees from across Ireland to reach national the National Finals.
Young Scientists
Alison Egan and Caoimhe Harrington of Transition Year received the Eli Lily Special Award in the
Intermediate Competition at BTTSTE 2020.
Global Passport Award
The College was awarded its first Global Passport, the Citizen’s Award, in April. This Award
recognises the work of the College in promoting Global Citizen Education through Development
Education in Transition Year. There are plans for a presentation of this award to take place in
October.
Volunteering for All Award
This year the College Chaplaincy Team worked with the youth volunteering group Localise to
achieve the Volunteering for All Award for the college. We hope to celebrate this achievement in a
ceremony with representatives from Localise when we return to school. The Chaplaincy Team
continued to work along with Localise while the school was closed through their Reach out
Through the Lockdown Campaign which encouraged young people to stand in solidarity with older
members of the community by making short video messages to let those cocooning know that they
were thinking of them.
Young Social Innovators
The Young Social Innovators Awards were announced on 06th May and we were delighted that our
Transition Year Team received a “Highly Commended” award in the Health and Relationships
Category for their project Not Without my Father.
________________________________________________________
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Section 5 School Management 2019-20

________________________________________________________
Board of Management – Review of 2019-20
The Board of Management had another busy year with board meetings in September October,
December, February, April and June. Meetings from March 2020 were conducted through
Microsoft Teams due to Covid 19.
The Board reviewed and updated the following policies & guidelines:
• Post of Responsibilities (Schedule of Posts)

• Admissions Policy for First Years 2021 & Transfer to Castleknock Community
College 2020-2021
• The Annual Review of the Child Protection Policy & Counter-Bullying Policy was
undertaken in February 2020
• Colleges Critical Incident Policy
• Tender for the Supply of School Uniforms to Castleknock Community College
Due to Covid 19 a number of policies did were not ratified:

• Learning Support Policy
• Guidance Plan
• Data Protection Policy
• Acceptable Usage Policy
Presentations were made to the Board by:

• Ms Aisling Kelly – Maths Department
• Ms Aoife Staunton & Ms Catherine Rafferty – Music Department
Due to Covid 19 a number of annual presentations did not take place this year:
• The Parents Association
• The Students Council
• Leaving Certificate Applied.
Board Members were also presented with updates/reports on the following areas:
• The School Improvement Plan (Formative Assessment & Academic Tracking)

• State Examination Results (Junior & Leaving Certificate 2019)
• The Digital Learning Framework for Post Primary Schools
• The Learning & Teaching Policy (Strand 3)
• The Step Up Initiative
• Literacy & Numeracy
The Board of Management received a financial update on the College finances at each Board Meeting.
The College is also working with the Finance Department at Head Office in relation to new financial
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reporting measures. The new procedures will allow the Principal to set financial targets for each
area of spending for the year.
Board of Management - Planning & Recommendations for 2020/21

The Board is committed to planning and reviewing a number of policies in the forthcoming academic
year:
• Annual review of the Child Protection Policy and Counter Bullying policy
(January/February 2021).
• Learning & Teaching policy (Strand 3) Formative Assessment & The Student Voice.
• AUP & Data Protection Policy
• Suspension & Exclusion Policy Review
• Attendance & Punctuality Policy
• College Code of Behaviour
• The College Guidance Plan
• Guidance Plan
The Board will invite the following Stakeholders/Subject Coordinators to make presentations to the
Board in the coming academic year:
• The Students’ Council

• The Parents’ Association
• The Art Department
• Leaving Certificate Applied Coordinator
• Update on Well Being and the roll out of “400 Hours of Well Being”
The Board will continue to be updated on the initiatives that the College is undertaking:
• The roll out of the New Junior Cycle programme (where applicable)
• The School Improvement Plan (Formative Assessment & Academic Tracking)
• The Step Up Programme
• The Digital Strategy Plan
• The College’s Learning & Teaching strategies
• The Literacy & Numeracy strategies.
________________________________________________________
Management Team Planning for 2019-2020
Senior Management was committed to the on-going review & enhancement of existing policies and
practices as part of the School Self Evaluation Programme:
✓ The completion of Strand 3 of the Learning & Teaching Policy
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✓ The Introduction of the New Junior Cycle Well Being Programme.

✓ The correct protocols for the Child Protection Guideline
✓ The completion of the College’s Guidance Plan
✓ A full review of the Learning Support Policy for the College.
From March 2020 the Senior Management Team focussed their attention onto managing online
learning during school closure due to Covid 19.
Review of Management Team Meetings 2019-20

Care Meetings for each Year Group were held on a regular basis, allowing the team to focus on the
needs of each year group. Additional meetings were scheduled for the LC2 and Third Year Care
Teams as a consequence of the school closing due to Covid 19. The Care Meetings were
complemented by a series of Management Meetings throughout the year. Minutes of previous
meetings were forwarded to each member in advance.
The Care Meetings were attended by their respective Year Heads and her/his Assistants as well as
members of Guidance, Learning Support & Chaplaincy teams. The meetings focused on a number of
key issues in particular:
• Pastoral Care
• Individual students of particular concern
• Intervention & supports
• Academic Progress and Tracking Process
• Discipline
• Review & planning for key events
• Success stories
The Management Team discussed/reviewed the following-
• Learning & Teaching Policy: The policy was further developed over the course of the
academic year. The team’s focus was on embedding the policy and consideration was also
given to Formative Assessment & the Roll out of an Assessment Timetable for the New
Junior Cycle.
• Review of Posts of Responsibility AP1s & AP2s
• Managing/Recording student comments on VS Ware
• The
Management Team - Planning & Recommendations for 2020/21

The Senior Management is committed to the on-going review & enhancement of existing policies
and practices as part of the School Self Evaluation Programme:
• As part of the Learning & Teaching Policy the team will focus on Formative Assessment,
Online Learning & The Student Voice.
• School Improvement Plan 2020-21 (Digital Strategy & Well Being-400 Hours)
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• A number of Policies will need to be reviewed in the coming year:

• Annual review of the Child Protection Policy and Counter Bullying policy
• Learning & Teaching policy (Strand 3) Formative Assessment.
• Suspension & Exclusion Policy
• Attendance & Punctuality Policy
• College Code of Behaviour
• The College Guidance Plan
• Data Protection Policy & Acceptable Usage Policy
________________________________________________________
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Section 6 Parents Association 2019-20

________________________________________________________
The Castleknock Community College Parents Association continues to be an active and vibrant
association. Throughout the school year monthly meetings are held, usually on the first Tuesday of
each month. These meetings are generally well attended and are a forum for discussion, of matters
relevant to the advancement of the well-being of the students of the College and the fostering of
good relations between parents, teachers, students and the school management.
The College Principal attends regularly and actively participates; his commitment to the Parents
Association is recognised and is greatly appreciated. Other members of school staff and management
are always welcome to attend our meetings and will do so as appropriate. This partnership approach
is vital to the effectiveness of the Parents’ Association and has enabled the PA to contribute towards
many aspects of College life in 2019 -2020.
The activities in the 2nd half of the year were truncated due to worldwide Covid 19 Pandemic which
resulted in the school closures on March 12th 2020. This Covid 19 Pandemic is still in the community
and poses a major health risk for the entire community. We had our 1 st virtual Zoom - Parents
Association meeting in May 2020 – the way forward for next period of time.
Communications & Representations

The Parents Association regards effective communication as a core function in its operation and
considers it essential that all parents, whether or not they are active in association affairs, are at all
times fully informed of our activities.
We updated our PA database and switched to Gmail – google groups by year. This enables more
effective communications to specific years groups and in compliant with GDPR. We now have over
600 parents on the database with all the new entrants for 2020/2021 captured from the beginning.
We would like to thank Colm Deehan one of the parents who gave his time and expertise on this
project.
Our Newsletter which is normally published four times a year ( this year twice due to Covid 19) is
distributed via email and is also posted on the College website for parents who do not use email.
Notice of monthly meeting, details of other PA events and requests for assistance with College
activities are all sent via email. The PA also operates a Twitter account @cccpa CCC Parents
Association with over 680 followers which post items and notices of general educational interest for
the parents and reinforces communications from the school.
This became a very valuable means of communicating during Covid 19 including re tweeting
messages from the school re Covid 19, HSE messages, online educational messages.
The PA was invited by College management to deliver presentation to parents of prospective

students to inform them of the activities of the PA for 1st year incoming students as part of the
information evening.
Review of College Policies
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The PA get’s a copy of all school policies that are under review. The PA on occasion has been
requested to formally give inputs on policies.
Other PA Activities
Other areas where the PA was involved included –
• Parents continue to support the Learning Support Department by providing readers/scribes
for house exams.
• Used School Book Sale – Unfortunately this could not take place due to Covid 19 and school
closures.
• Used uniform sale: The traditional June date of having the uniform sale did not happen due
to Covid 19 – this was moved to an online sale in Aug 2020 and was very successful with all
the Covid safety guidelines in place. A huge thanks to Marie King with over 100 items sold
with all monies going to Pieta House.
• Talks/Lectures - The guest Speaker at the AGM in September was Ray Langan – on the
topic of Helping your Teen Rayse their Game. Excellent insights into teens and how
students to become more independent. Parents Talk.
Over 90 parents attended the Spring talk was presented by Wayne Denner -Growing up in
Digital World – very informative & helpful in particular in staying safe online and an
introduction to ‘Tik Tok’ a new platform.
• Finance – The introduction of portable card payment terminals to facilitate debit/credit card
payment have enhanced sales at the Annual Plant Sale and has certainly benefitted from a
security perspective in reducing cash handling.
• The Mock Interview Programme continued this year. This initiative has proven to be a
great success and has gone from strength to strength. A large number of parents volunteer
their experience and expertise and for the first time, this year formal feedback from students
was requested and analysed.
• Annual Plant Sale : Unfortunately our flagship event the Annual plant sale could not take
place this year due to Covid 19 restrictions and school closures. This is a major community
event and a very significant fund raiser for the school. We had kicked off the planning for the
event when the shutters came down and we had to initially postpone and then cancel the
event. We are hopeful the event will take place in May 2021. The event could not take place
without the commitment, expertise and leadership of the plant sale committee and the PA is
greatly appreciative of their efforts and look forward to the wonderful plants in 2021.
• Governance Activities - The Parents Association last year ensured that it is compliant with
GDPR and took out public liability insurance to cover events such as the plant sale. Tickets
for the Debs ball are now sold on the Debs Ireland website to reduce cash handling risks.
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Parents’ Association - Planning & Recommendations for 2020/21

The Parent’s Association contributes to the success of the college and that is due to the years of work
carried out by parents in building up the activities of the association. There is a need to develop the
depth and capacity of the PA by ensuring continuity of active members and that can only happen by
First Year Parents becoming involved early. This will be both a challenge and an opportunity as we
move to online meetings from Sept 2020 due to Covid 19. The priority is to re-open the school safely
and the Parents Association will work to partner with the school on whatever support is required.
We need to transition the organisation of the Plant Sale is a smooth fashion to new parents to
continue this wonderful tradition and key fund raiser for the school.
The Parents Association will actively seek to increase participation and engagement commencing in
September 2020.
________________________________________________________
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Section 7 Adult Education

________________________________________________________
Review of the Academic Year 2019/20

• A total of 27 classes ran in the Autumn Term and 27 in the Spring Term. A total of 360
participants enrolled in the College’s Night Class programme in the Autumn Term with 367
enrolling in the Spring Term. This represents a combined total of 727 participants for the
academic year 2018/19. This represents a decrease of 64 participants or 8% in the numbers
enrolled in the college’s Night Class programme when compared to 2017/18.
• A total of 4,440.00 enrolment hours were generated in the Autumn Term with 4,534.00 hours
being generated in the Spring Term. This resulted in a total of 8,973.00 enrolment hours for the
academic year 2018/19. This represents a decrease of 8.6% or 844.30 hours when compared to the
enrolment hours generated in 2017/18.
• The Department is pleased to report that the College’s Night Class programme created
employment for 18 tutors in the Autumn Term and 18 tutors in the Spring Term.
• Alongside this work, the Director of Adult Education publishes a Night Class brochure for both
the Autumn and Spring Terms and organises the printing and distribution of 11,000 brochures in
the local area each term.
• These brochures are also made available to download from the Adult Education section of the
College’s website. The Director is also responsible for the hosting of two Enrolment Nights in the
College each term.
• The Director is also responsible for updating the College’s course listings in the Adult Education
section of the Dublin & Dun Laoghaire E.T.B. website as well as its annual composite brochure.
Based on the results of the Department’s electronic surveys, this online enrolment system now
accounts for 83.3% of enrolments in the College’s Night Class programmes.
• The Director also continues to offer and administer a postal enrolment facility each term and
continues to respond to many phone calls and e-mails each term and throughout the year.
• The Department makes extensive use of the computerised enrolment system to contact
participants by web text and e-mail to alert them of enrolment dates, upcoming courses and
other relevant information. As previously mentioned, the Department also continues to conduct
and review an electronic survey of the Adult Education programme offered by the College. This
survey is completed at the end of each term by participants enrolled in our Night Class
programme. The Director is also responsible for the setting-up of contracts and the monitoring of
payroll for Night Class tutors each term.
• Since March 2020 the College was able to complete the night school programme due to Covid 19.
All learners were refunded for the lost tuition costs.
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Working with Senior Management to off-set the Financial Impact of Running the Night Class
Programme:
• The Department is keenly aware of the costs incurred by the College in the running of the Night
Class programme and continued with the policy adopted in 2013/14 to restrict the number of
nights the College is used to host Night Classes to two nights per week, namely Monday and
Tuesday evenings.
• The Director of Adult Education also actively engaged with the College’s maintenance staff to
ensure that the college’s heating and lighting systems were used only when appropriate and were
deactivated when not needed, especially in the final weeks of the Spring Term.
Expanding the profile of the Adult Education programme within the local community
• Social Media profiles continued on Twitter and Facebook in order to heighten awareness
around our classes on offer, and to create an online presence for our advertising. The aim is
that it will reach more people, getting the message out via connecting with local businesses
and organisations online.
Recommendations for 2020/21
• Planning for the 2020-21 term commenced in June 2020 and the Director of Adult Education
surveyed all tutors in relation to providing and Adult Education programme against the
backdrop of Covid 19.
• While there are a number of possibilities all decisions will be subject to public health advice.
• The Department will continue to offer the best possible service and experience it can to those
who enrol in its classes.
• The Department will continue its work of self-evaluation, through the use of electronic surveys,
to monitor and improve the service it provides to the local community and to those who engage
with its services.
• The Department will continue to work with Senior Management to off-set the financial impacts
of the running of the Night Class programme on the wider school budget.
• The Department will endeavour to expand and enhance the range of classes currently on offer as
part of the College’s Adult & Community Education programme, although it should be noted
that this may prove challenging for the upcoming academic year, given that the Director will be
on Maternity Leave and an Acting Director will taking over.
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48 | P a g e
Notes:
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49 | P a g e
________________________________________________________
Overview of Policy Development
Policy Development Policy Working Ratified by Review Date

Document in BOM
Checklist
Place
1 Admissions & Participation Policy Policy April 2020 February – March

2021(Annual)
2 Counter-bullying Policy February February 2021
2020 (Annual)
3 Attendance & Punctuality Policy January January 2021
2018
4 Child Protection Policy February January 2020
2018 (Annual)
5 Dignity in the Workplace Policy Yes (ETBI)
6 Code of Behaviour & Code of Policy October February 2021

Discipline 2018
7 Guidance Plan Policy Yes May 2018 May 2020
(Annual)
8 Suspensions & Exclusions Policy March 2018 January 2021
9 Acceptable Usage Policy (AUP) Policy Yes June 2017 September 2023
10 SPHE/Pastoral Care Policy Yes November September 2022

2019
11 Relationships & Sexuality (RSE) / Policy Yes November September 2022
SPHE 2019
12 Religious Education Policy Yes
13 Special Needs & Learning Support Policy April 2015 April 2021
14 Uniform Policy Yes February May 20203

2017
15 Critical Incident Policy October November 2023
2019
16 Substance Use Policy May 2018 November 2021
17 Learning & Teaching Policy Policy May 2016 On-going Reviews

(Includes Homework &
Assessment Guidelines)
18 CCTV Policy Yes September March 2023
2020
19 Data Protection Policy Yes September March 2023
2020
50 | P a g e
Guidelines Development Guidelines Working Ratified by Review Date

Checklist Document BOM
in Place
1 Staff Development Guidelines Yes
2 Tracking Students Guidelines Yes Annual Review
3 VS Ware Guidelines Yes Annual Review
4 Green Schools Guidelines Yes
5 Extracurricular Guidelines Guidelines Yes Annual Review
6 Student Enrichment Guidelines Yes
7 Student Leadership Guidelines Yes Annual Review
8 NQT / Mentoring Guidelines Yes Annual Review
9 Allocation/admission of
students to subjects. Guidelines Yes
(Higher/Ordinary/Foundation)
TY/LC/LCVP/LC Applied
10 Allocation of students to classes
(streaming/banding/mixed Guidelines Yes
ability)
11 Curriculum or Programme Guidelines February 2018 January 2021
Provision / Subject Choice (Subject to (Annual)
Allocation)
12 Health, Safety & Welfare Guidelines Yes On-going
Reviews
13 Home-School/ Primary School
Links Guidelines Yes
14 Interculturalism Guidelines Yes
15 Record Keeping Guidelines Yes
16 Curriculum Development Guidelines Yes Annual Review
51 | P a g e
Appendix 1
Self-Evaluation Report & School Improvement Plan 2019-20
___________________________________________________
Communication with Learning Support Department Yes No N/A
Does your child receive help from a support teacher
outside of the main class either individually or in a
1 small group? 41 21 0
Do you know who to approach in the school if you
2 wish to discuss an issue regarding your child? 59 3 0
Are you confident that if you raised a concern
regarding your child it would be dealt with by the
3 school? 58 3 1
Are you happy with the information you receive on
4 your child’s progress from the school? 41 19 12
Has the school an individual learning plan in place
5 for your child? 31 17 14
Were you consulted about the contents of your
6 child’s learning plan? 12 29 21
Are you regularly informed about the progress your
child makes in attaining the targets contained in the
7 learning plan? 13 29 20
255 121 68
57% 27% 16%
52 | P a g e
Managing your Child’s needs in Castleknock Strongly Strongly

Community College Agree Agree Neither Disagree Disagree
1 My child feels safe and happy in school 31 19 8 3 1
The school managed my child’s
transition from primary to post
2 primary well 30 22 8 2 0
3 My child is fully included in school life 25 28 5 4 0
The work my child is asked to do by
his subject teachers is matched to
4 his/her needs 15 32 9 6 0
I am satisfied with the opportunities I
receive to discuss my child’s learning
5 with subject teachers 12 20 16 14 0
The school is helping my child to
6 progress with literacy/English 16 29 11 6 0
The school is helping my child
7 progress with Maths/numeracy 22 27 6 6 1
8 interact well with others 20 24 16 2 1
9 prepare for life after school 17 26 13 4 2
The work my child is asked to do by
his support teacher is matched to
10 his/her needs 16 21 23 1 1
I am satisfied with the opportunities I
receive to discuss my child’s learning
11 with support teachers 15 14 21 18 2
219 262 136 66 8
32% 38% 19% 10% 1%
53 | P a g e

Castleknock Community College School Report 2019-20

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In serving the needs of our

community we, the pupils,

School Report 2019-20

Foreword to Annual Report by Principal Page 2

Section 1: Mission & Educational Aims Page 4

Section 2: Context Factor: Internal & External Pages 5 -17

Section 5: School Management Pages 40 - 43

Notes Page Page 49

Principal’s Foreword to the 14th Annual Report

~ Section 1: Mission & Educational Aims ~

Section 2: Leading Learning & Teaching

WSE Management, Leadership & Learning (MLL) October 2013.

Follow Through Inspection (MLL) March 2017.

Recommendation 2: A systematic and carefully-monitored embedding of the principles and practice

College’s Response to Recommendations

Music Inspection - November 2019

Curriculum Development Team 2019-20

• Current and innovative themes in teaching, learning, and curriculum development

• Learning and Teaching Strategies

Summary of Survey Results:

55.9% Very Confident

Curriculum Development Team - Planning for 2020-2021

Leadership Projects in Castleknock Community College - Department

Centre for School Leadership- Project Overview in Castleknock Community

• Improve learning experiences and outcomes for students and pupils

• Strengthen school planning

• Strengthen the impact of effective leadership on teaching and assessment practices

• Build leadership capacity of teams in schools

o Team Building and Communications, Foroige

Literacy & Numeracy

Literacy Report 2019-20

Literacy Planning for 2020-2021

• Display Literacy Methodologies on a notice board in the staff room.

Numeracy Planning 2020-2021

The New Junior Cycle Programme (Progress Report)

I.T. Developments at the College

Information Technology 2019-20

Digital Learning Plan

• Increased use of the O365 system, particularly the email function

Community Partnership 2019-20 - West Pharma

What did you like about the presentation?

It was quite informative.

Section 3 Curriculum & Programme Review

Review of Curriculum 2019/20

Professional Development Opportunities at the College 2019-2020

Teaching and Learning

• Project Planning and Management

Whole School Guidance

• Dignity in the Workplace

Learning and Language Support Department Report

Survey of Parents whose children access the LS Department

Recommendations for 2020-2021 (evidence base)

The Transition Year Programme in Castleknock Community College

Transition Year Programme – Review of Academic Year 2019/20

• The Development Education class visited the Irish Aid Building.

There was a large uptake by TYs in the following courses:

o The Mater Introduction to Hospital Life Programme

 *Look into Law (Law Library)

Student Feedback from TY End of Year Assessment Tasks: