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This year, all primary schools can offer a summer programme for pupils with complex special educational needs and those at risk of educational disadvantage.

A school-based programme provides a more holistic experience for pupils and helps keep the connection with school and peers.

There are two schemes available in the 2025 Summer Programme for mainstream primary schools:

* the Primary School Scheme - for pupils in enrolled in special classes, as well as pupils in mainstream classes who have special educational needs, and those who are at risk of educational disadvantage

* literacy and numeracy summer camp/campaí samhraidh for pupils in DEIS schools

Information Webinars on the Summer Programme 2025

Webinar 1

Pre-recorded on Tuesday 25th March 2025

To access webinars and resources from previous years, please click Summer Programme Archived webinars and resource material.

Primary schools that wish to participate in the 2025 Summer Programme must register on the department's Primary Online Registration Portal.

The portal is now live.

If schools do not have access to the registration link, they should contact the summer programme team via email at schoolsummerprogramme@education.gov.ie

Following registration, sanction emails will issue to schools for each scheme that they have registered for outlining the resources that have been sanctioned.
The School-Based Registration Portal closing date is 11 April 2025.
You can watch a number of principals, teachers and school staff talk about their experiences of running the summer programme in the past from the link below:
Summer programme school stories
Participating schools will utilise the department's Esinet system to submit claims. This will allow claims to be processed on an ongoing basis during the summer.

The department will endeavour to reduce payment times this year for all complete payment claims submitted before published deadline dates. The department will process payments to teachers and SNAs as completed payment claims are submitted over the summer period through the Esinet portal.

Participating schools will be issued with information on how to submit claims for payments to staff before they start their summer programme.

The Summer Programme helpline will operate Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm at 090648 4292.

Email queries on the school-based programme can be sent to schoolsummerprogramme@education.gov.ie

Related
Summer Programme

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Summer Programme 2025: school-based programme in primary schools

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All primary schools can offer a summer programme for pupils with complex needs and those at risk of educational disadvantage

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lqgvY5ZOl0

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How to download and install Daisy and ePub books on a Connect 12 device

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How to download and install Daisy and ePub books on a Connect 12 device

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How to download and install Daisy books on Windows devices

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How to download and install ePub books on Windows devices

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How to download and install Daisy and ePub books to an iPad

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Bookshelf Videos - How to download books

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This playlist includes videos that show - How to download and install Daisy and ePub books to an iPad - How to download and install ePub books to Windows dev...

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Guidance Videos for Teachers and Students using Connect 12 tablets

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Guidance Videos for Teachers and Students using Connect 12 tablets

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Home-Based Summer Programme Resources – Academic Core Skills – National Council for Special Education – Working to deliver a better special education service

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Learn how to touch type with the BBC Dance Mat Typing game. It’s a fun introduction to touch typing game for kids and covers levels 1, 2, 3, 4.

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The braille teaching materials are meant as suggestions for getting started with LEGO Braille Bricks, enablingteachers to create playful braille lesson plans. Each activity can be varied in the level of difficulty according to the child's motivation and level of knowledge about Braille. Each child is different, and it is important to work and play with the bricks with respect to the child's development stage.

The braille activities are divided into:

With Pre-braille and Braille activities it is possible to work with multiple academic and visual impairment skills.

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The braille teaching materials are meant as suggestions for getting started with LEGO Braille Bricks, enablingteachers to create playful braille lesson plans. Each activity can be varied in the level of difficulty according to the child's motivation and level of knowledge about Braille.

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Touch typing games that take learners from the home keys to mastery of the whole keyboard and typing sentences. These activities have a range of accessibility options

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This guide describes the most popular accessibility features of Windows and Microsoft Office. It also covers assistive technology products for Windows and Microsoft Office that are designed for people who are blind or low vision. For a more complete overview d ownload the full guide.

If you have questions related to accessibility, contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk. This team can help you use many popular assistive technologies with support in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language (ASL).

If you're a government, commercial, or enterprise user, see Accessibility support for enterprise.
To troubleshoot common issues and learn more about some of our accessibility features, including some features covered in this guide, check out the Accessibility playlist on the Microsoft Customer Support YouTube channel.

In this guide:

Use Narrator and Cortana to install Windows 10

Set up accessibility options in Windows 10

Use accessibility features in Office

Use Narrator and Cortana to install Windows 10

This section shows how you can use speech from Narrator and Cortana to guide you through both the Windows installation and setting up your computer.

Installing Windows with Narrator

As soon as you start your computer, you can use Narrator to install Windows.

Activate Cortana to help set up Windows

After installing Windows, you can activate Cortana to help with the out-of-box experience.

See Download Windows 10

Set up accessibility options in Windows 10

Ease of Access lets you set up accessibility settings and programs available in Windows.

See Make your PC easier to use

See Windows 10 accessibility help

Turn on Ease of Access options

In Windows, you can access commonly used accessibility options right from the sign-in screen. Press the Windows Logo Key + U to open theEase of Access settings.

To open Ease of Access settings on a touchscreen device, swipe in from the right edge of the screen and select All Settings > Ease of Access.

Hear text read aloud with Narrator

Narrator is the built-in screen reader that reads text on your screen aloud and describes events, such as notifications or calendar appointments. To start or stop Narrator, press Ctrl + Windows Logo Key + Enter. On Windows Mobile devices, press Windows Logo Key + Volume Up key to toggle Narrator on/off. To open Narrator settings, press Ctrl + Windows Logo Key + N

Narrator can jump between headings and landmarks in apps. To enable scan mode, press Caps Lock + Space then use the following keyboard shortcuts:

See Get started with Narrator

Use Magnifier to see items on the screen

Magnifier is a tool that enlarges your screen, so you can see words and images better. You can magnify the entire screen or just a part of it and move the magnifier where you want it on your desktop. Magnifier can also smooth edges of images and text when it's zoomed in.

Other keyboard shortcuts:

See Use Magnifier to make things on the screen easier to see

Improve visibility with high contrast

High contrast increases the color contrast between the foreground and background on your screen, making text and images more distinct and easier to identify. To turn on high contrast, press left Alt + left Shift + Print Screen.

You can choose different themes in high contrast settings. Press the Windows Logo Key + U, then select High contrast. Choose a high contrast theme from the drop-down menu and select Apply

See Use high contrast mode

Change the size of text, apps, and other items

If text and other items on the desktop are too small, you can make them larger without changing the screen resolution or turning on Magnifier.

To change the sizes:

Use accessibility features in Office

Microsoft Office comes with built-in accessibility features designed for people who are blind or low vision. You can also customize options in Office to meet your individual vision needs and preferences.

Ease of Access options in Office

You can customize common accessibility settings within the Ease of Access options in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

To find the Ease of Access options:

Zoom in or out of documents

You can increase the size of pages in Word documents, PowerPoint slides, Excel spreadsheets and other documents in Office.

See Zoom in or out of a document, presentation, or worksheet

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Guide for people who are blind or low vision

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This guide describes the most popular accessibility features of Windows and Microsoft Office. It also covers assistive technology products for Windows and Microsoft Office that are designed for people who are blind or low vision. For a more complete overview d ownload the full guide.

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School Support Plan - IEP - Individual Education Plan

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Improving Communication Skills

Download the PDF Forms:
Purpose: To help individuals with communication and social deficits to understand the back and forth nature that is the basis of a reciprocal conversation

Real Life Examples

Child

Adolescent

Talking about a homework project

Adult

Instructions:

Read the social article with your student paying close attention to key words highlighted in blue.

Demonstrate how a reciprocal conversation is like a game of catch by throwing a ball back and forth as comments or questions are made about a specific topic.

Have students practice this slow and deliberate way of experiencing a reciprocal conversation with teachers, parents and peers.

Create a game by picking a topic out of a hat and spontaneously engage in a reciprocal conversation about the topic.

Use the cloze quiz (fill in the blank) to assess the basic facts about having a reciprocal conversation.

Using this social article provides information about the "structure" of a reciprocal conversation. The analogy of the game of catch and practicing a slowed down version of a conversation should help students with communication deficits to "feel" the reciprocity that they often overlook by not paying attention to the speaker or thinking other topics while they are speaking with someone.

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picture exchange communication system cards

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Do2Learn: Educational Resources for Special Needs

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Improving Communication Skills Download the PDF Forms: Purpose : To help individuals with communication and social deficits to understand the back and forth nature that is the basis of a reciprocal conversation Real Life Examples Child Adolescent Talking about a homework project Adult Instructions: Read the social article with your student paying close attention to key words highlighted in blue.

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With built-in features for a range of vision needs, you can customize your display, control your devices, and navigate your surroundings your way.

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2023 Summer Programme for Special Schools

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Bookshare | An Accessible Online Library for people with print disabilities

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Bookshare makes reading easier. People with dyslexia, blindness, cerebral palsy, and other reading barriers can customize their experience to suit their learning style and find virtually any book they need for school, work, or the joy of reading.