S.E.N. (Special Educational Needs) and E.A.L (English as an Additional Language) is provided by a dedicated and experienced team of Special Education Teachers (SETs).

SETs work with individual children or with small groups of children providing support in the areas of English, Maths and S.E.N. SETs also work in-class as team teachers.
St. Mary’s has a well-established and successful ’Literacy Lift Off‘ programme. The S.E.N. team, in partnership with the class teachers, deliver this programme to children from Junior Infants to Third class. This involves four, or sometimes five teachers working with small groups of children to develop reading, writing and comprehension. The children rotate between the four teachers for a targeted lesson. For instance, they might begin with a short lesson on new reading, before moving on to another teacher for another targeted lesson eg: word work.

We have also developed a Maths initiative which we run with Junior Infants up to 1st Class where we help the children develop their enjoyment and knowledge of maths through the use of Numicon Shapes. The children love the Numicon classes, where they are constantly exploring, observing, predicting, manipulating and seeing patterns when they use the shapes. Educational support is only one aspect of SEN provision in the school, the social and emotional well-being of the pupils is also central to creating a positive learning environment in which all are included. 

The nature and provision of SEN teaching is constantly evolving to consider the strengths and needs of our pupils. The staff maintain continued professional development throughout the year completing training through many of the education centres.