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Monday 10th May 2022: Application for Yellow Flag filled by link teachers.

19th May 2022: Application successful!

24th May 2021: Introductory Session with link teachers and our Yellow Flag Facilitator.

1st June 2021: Link teachers give presentation at staff meeting to all staff about the news of beginning the Yellow Flag programme next academic year!

21/09/22 Kick off meeting: Link teacher, principal and our Yellow flag facilitator. Plan for next steps and date proposed for staff CPD.

8th September 2022: CSPE classes introduced to Yellow Flag Programme and a team of students set up from 3rd year CSPE class, 3 5th year students and one 6th year to student to prepare a workshop given to each year group introducing the whole school to the programme.

September to December: Team of students working on preparing and practicing the delivery of workshop to whole school. Posters made and put up around the school informing whole school community about the Programme.

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Students giving the workshop to every year group

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Yellow Flag Workshop/Presentation to all year groups in room 38 all week of 16th to 20th January.

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Yellow Flag Workshop/Presentation to all year groups in room 38 all week of 16th to 20th January.

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The programme was then briefly introduced to all CSPE classes, and seven students volunteered to take part in creating a workshop for all year groups. The workshop was delivered by these students to every year group in our school. The workshop included a detailed outline of steps involved in Yellow Flag, the introduction of key terms associated with inclusion (worksheets with activities), videos of other schools' feedback on the programme and the recruitment of members of the Diversity Commitee.

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The recruitment of this committee began during the ‘Introduction to Yellow Flag’ workshops for each year group. The presenters outlined what involves being a member of Yellow Flag and the application process. Students who showed interest were given an application form to fill out. These applications were collected after a week and the link teachers met with the seven student presenters to go through the application forms. The application forms included information about the student, their understanding of the role of being a diversity committee member, their skills and hopes for Yellow Flag and their availability. 18 members were choses through this process – these were announced over the intercom and a brief meeting was held

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Step 3 Goals

1. Staff undertake diversity and equality awareness training

2. Staff understand how to deliver intercultural education

3. The Link Teacher and others undertake the on-screen course ‘Yellow Flag Self Awareness Training

4. Staff are empowered to value diversity and challenge racism

Intercultural Awareness CPD in Presentation Waterford

9/11/22- 1-and-a-half-hour staff CPD about intercultural awareness with facilitator Mdahyelya Bassi.

The facilitator opened a discussion about Identity, nationality, race, statistics on racism in Ireland and how to foster an inclusive environment in the classroom.

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(African saying)

Step 3 Goals

1. Staff undertake diversity and equality awareness training

2. Staff understand how to deliver intercultural education

3. The Link Teacher and others undertake the on-screen course 'Yellow Flag Self Awareness Training

4. Staff are empowered to value diversity and challenge racism

Step 3 is about empowering staff and management to become intercultural educators.

An experienced trainer from the Yellow Flag Programme will visit your school to deliver a 2-hour workshop in intercultural awareness. Staff, board members and others are welcome to take part.

It is highly recommended that staff and board members also do the on-screen programme 'Yellow Flag Self Awareness Training' as part of their continuous professional development. This training must be undertaken by the Link Teacher. The training consists of six modules each around 25 minutes in duration. The training can be undertaken individually or in teams.

A link to the training will be sent to your school after you have completed the Equality and Diversity training.

Schools often use Croke Park hours to do the training on offer.

What will we learn?

Through the in-school and on-screen training programme, staff will gain a greater awareness of how to be an intercultural educator. This includes being more aware of their own attitudes and values, understanding the dynamics of racism and how to relate to students from diverse cultural backgrounds.

We are not the same!

There is often a tendency to say that we are all 'the same'. However, this is not the case. The young people we work with bring different life experiences, beliefs and values to our own. Intercultural education means that we acknowledge these differences and celebrate them, this enables us to treat everyone equally. Giving our students the chance to see their culture from a position of strength, helps them to become more engaged with learning, build self-esteem and a positive sense of identity.

What is racism?

Racism occurs when someone is treated differently or unfairly because of their ethnicity, skin tone or culture. Indirect racism occurs when our practices do not appear to advantage or disadvantage any group, but end up having an unfair effect. Students can experience direct racism through the use of racist language, attacks or being excluded. They can experience indirect racism by taking part in classes that give expression to only one cultural view point.

Saying the wrong thing

A big fear we can have when talking about culture, ethnicity or racism is 'saying the wrong thing'. However, failing to talk about these things and treating all of our students 'the same' can prevent us from seeing the full identity of our students or making meaningful relationships with them. Avoiding the issue prevents growth, understanding and learning for all of us. Sometimes conflicts come out into the open, these should be seen as a way to learn more about the topic and each other. Acknowledging that we are all learning and that we are all used to seeing the world from our own particular cultural viewpoint, can help create an environment where it is safer to make mistakes.

Go further!

See our Glossary of Terms at the back of this Handbook

Have all staff undertake the 'Yellow Flag Self Awareness Training' as part of their continuous professional development.

Have copies of the NCCA Intercultural Guidelines for schools available to teachers in the staff room or library

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Step Three - Introduction to Intercultural Awareness CPD - Yellow Flag Programme

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Step 3: Equality and Diversity Training Start where you are, but don't stay there (African saying) Step 3 Goals Staff undertake diversity and equality awareness training Staff understand how to... read more →

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• Students completed the Intercultural Review survey during Junior computer classes and senior religion classes. The links were also posted in each year group team by diversity committee members for any student who may have missed this.

• Parents were informed about the intercultural review through a letter being given to all students during the Introduction to Yellow Flag workshops and a text has been sent to all parents with the survey link

. • Teachers were asked to complete this survey at the beginning of one of the staff meetings.

• Link teacher and student members of the diversity committee met with our Yellow Flag coordinator to receive the results of the intercultural review. The results were then shared to all teachers in the Yellow Flag team and a presentation of this results were given to all members of the diversity committee.

• The diversity committee have started to analyse the data from this survey and began the creation Action Plan.

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How did we make an Action Plan? This was an exciting step for our Diversity Committee. A Yellow Flag worker came to a meeting of the committee and showed us the results of the Intercultural Review. These results helped us decide what we needed to do to make the school more intercultural and inclusive. The Yellow Flag worker helped us decide on actions.

What kinds of actions could be in our plan? Many schools planned special events to celebrate diverse cultures in their schools. These were a great way to celebrate our Yellow Flag year. However, a good plan included changes and actions that made our school intercultural on a daily basis. We thought about

How the school looked and felt

How to help everyone feel they belonged

How diverse cultures could become part of our school culture

How to help students and teachers understand each other’s culture and values

How to bring parents and community into school life

How to keep people safe from racism and discrimination

How to change school rules to reflect an intercultural ethos

The Action Plan was a live document shared in the Diversity Committee Microsoft team.

As events and actions were being planned and implemented more folders were made with resources for each action.

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Step 7 Goals

Teachers reflect on the hidden curriculum in their classrooms

Students do lessons and projects about race, ethnicity, culture, identity, equality and discrimination

Intercultural education is integrated into the formal curriculum

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Step 8: The Diversity Code and Policy Review

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Step 8: The Diversity Code and Policy Review

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We wanted the whole school to be involved in creating this policy and respect this policy once written. Some of our diversity committee members were working on creating a survey to be completed by all students to ensure every students gets a voice in creating this policy.

Junior students have filled out this survey during their Computer classes and Senior students filled it out during Religion classes.

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Ideas from every student about Inclusion!

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Ideas from every student about Inclusion!

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26/01/23 - Noticeboard covered in sticky notes from workshop – where students from each year group shared on ideas on what they would like to get out of yellow flag, what they would like to contribute or what changes would they like to see in the school to make our school more inclusive

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We are currently in Year 2 of our journey.  This programme will enable the students, staff and the wider school community…

to learn more about their own and others’ culture

to value and celebrate the cultural diversity that is in the school

to learn more about treating people fairly

If the school can complete 8 steps, we will receive our Yellow Flag. The Yellow Flag will show everyone that we are a school that values cultural diversity. Involving parents, families and communities is one of the steps – your help is needed to earn a yellow flag.

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During one of our diversity committee meetings, we reviewed the findings and found that 90% of our students agreed that we should have a Racial and Cultural Inclusion Policy. They answered questions on what racism looks like and how they would like to report racist incidents.

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Members of the diversity committee have reviewed the ideas and opinions of our student body and have discussed what our policy should look like.

Following this and the guidelines from Yellow Flag, the first draft was completed and reviewed by a focus group of teachers.

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Mincéirí Port Láirge works with our school and a team of members meet weekly with our Traveller students. The aim of the organisation is the improvement of quality of life, living in circumstances, status and participation of Travellers through working for social justice, greater solidarity, development, equality and human rights.

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Mincéirí Port Láirge, Formerly known as Waterford Traveller Community Development Project, information for the travelling Community in Watereford, Ireland

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All parents got an introduction to our Yellow Flag programme during our ‘parent-tutor’ day, were tutors outlined the programme to each parent and handed out a letter with more information about the programme.

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Welcome to the Yellow Flag Programme!

We are delighted to let you know that your school has been accepted into the Yellow Flag Programme. This programme will enable the students, staff and the wider school community...

to learn more about their own and others' culture

to value and celebrate the cultural diversity that is in the school

to learn more about treating people fairly

If the school can complete 8 steps, you will receive your Yellow Flag. The Yellow Flag will show everyone that you are a school that values cultural diversity. Involving parents, families and communities is one of the steps - your help is needed to earn a yellow flag.

What will be happening?

Students and teachers will be asked to learn more about each other's culture. You will have an important role to play, as you can talk to your child about their culture, heritage and history. We want every child to be proud of themselves, their community and culture. You will be finding out what students and parents think about your school, and how their culture is valued - share your views with the school or fill out the school
survey later this year. Your school will be celebrating the cultural diversity in the school and having events for parents and families, please come along and get involved.
The school will be inviting people into class to talk to us about their culture - maybe you or somebody you know would like to give a talk?
A Diversity Committee of students, teachers, parents and community leaders will be set up to help guide our school towards our Yellow Flag. Parents from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to get involved.

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Parents, Guardians and Community Members - Yellow Flag Programme

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A Note for Parents, Guardians and Community Members Welcome to the Yellow Flag Programme! We are delighted to let you know that your school has been accepted into the Yellow Flag... read more →

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Our school participated in Wear Red day on March 21st last year 2023 for anti racism month, we did workshops with some activities from the Wear Red day resource pack. These were put into PowerPoints by the diversity committee and students from the committee gave these workshops to the whole school in SPHE and religion classes. We also collected money on that day last year and donated to the Wear Red day foundation.

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Change Hearts. Change Minds. Change Lives.

In 2022, an incredible 440,000 individuals registered to celebrate with us on Wear Red Day. To us it was a sign that we have never been more in demand, more needed or more relevant. As a charity, we exist through necessity and as a supporter you drive us on to be the best that we can be. As a supporter you are showing your true brave colours. As part of the team you make us stronger.

Every heart and every mind that we change changes at least one life but has the capacity to change hundreds, if not thousands of others.

Be a proud anti-racist. Be the difference. Join us.

Wear Red.

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Change Hearts. Change Minds. Change Lives. In 2022, an incredible 440,000 individuals registered to celebrate with us on Wear Red Day. To us it was a sign that we have never been more in demand, more needed or more relevant.

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Yellow Flag Microsoft Team for all staff

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Yellow Flag Microsoft Team for all staff

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This team was created to share resources, news, cultural calendars and information from Yellow flag to be shared with all staff!

Ideas for lesson plans and classroom work were also shared and photos from different lessons!

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On the 16/11/22, our school sent out an invitation to all EAL parents to meet with our link teachers, home school liaison, principal and deputy to talk about their experiences as an EAL parents in our school and a discussion was held about inclusion in our school. 

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The letter was translated into over 30 languages to ensure that all parents felt included and invited to come to our meeting.

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Holocaust Education Ireland provides yellow crocus bulbs for children aged ten and above to plant in memory of the 1.5 million Jewish children who died in the Holocaust, alongside thousands of other child victims of Nazi crimes. These yellow flowers symbolize the stars Jews were compelled to wear during the Nazi regime, blooming around late January, coinciding with International Holocaust Memorial Day.

Known as the Crocus Project, this initiative offers a concrete and age-appropriate method to educate students about the Holocaust. As the flowers bloom, students share the significance behind them, commemorating the children lost in this tragic period of history.

In November, 3rd year and TY Gardening joined this project and planted flowers as a stark reminder of our Holocaust education. The yellow blooms commemorate the 1.5 million Jewish children who died in Europe.

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The Crocus Project — Holocaust Education Ireland

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The Crocus Project is an Irish initiative that is now active in 11 European countries. The project recalls the memory of the nearly 1.5 million children who perished during the Holocaust

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Highlighting interculturalism in the curriculum

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Highlighting interculturalism in the curriculum

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All teachers dedicated time during a staff planning period to highlight and discuss interculturalism in each subject plan.

Teachers indicated opportunities for interculturalism education in their subject plan Word Document using a yellow highlighter and a star.

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Angie Thomas’s debut novel was a sensation when it was published in 2017, remaining on The New York Times best-seller list for 50 weeks. It centers on the killing of an unarmed black teen by a white police officer, a shooting witnessed by 16-year-old Starr, whose days are split between her black neighborhood and mostly white suburban school. The killing of her friend Khalil drives those two worlds farther apart than ever.

"The Hate U Give" addresses several poignant themes. Firstly, it confronts the pervasive issues of racism and police brutality, particularly within African American communities. The protagonist, Starr, grapples with her identity and the concept of code-switching as she navigates between her predominantly black neighborhood and her predominantly white school. Socioeconomic inequality is starkly depicted, highlighting systemic injustices and the struggle for economic empowerment. Family and community support play vital roles in Starr's life, emphasizing resilience amidst adversity. The novel also explores themes of activism and finding one's voice, as Starr becomes a catalyst for change in her community. Friendship and loyalty dynamics are intricately woven into the narrative, revealing the complexities of relationships across diverse backgrounds. Additionally, the novel critiques media representation and stereotypes, advocating for critical thinking and media literacy to challenge harmful narratives. Throughout, "The Hate U Give" offers readers a thought-provoking exploration of contemporary social issues and the multifaceted nature of human experience.

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Lesson Plans were created and sent out to all staff to participate in the celebration of Black History Month.

Students took part in these activities during Art, English, CSPE, SPHE, Religion, Science and History classes.

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Some of our teachers registered and participated in the above CPD.

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Teachers take part in survey about impact of Dublin Riots

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Teachers take part in survey about impact of Dublin Riots

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The link to this survey was posted to all staff in the Yellow Flag Microsoft Teams. Teachers gave their opinions on the impact of the Dublin Riots on our school community.

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Part of our Action Plan was to ease the transition of new immigrant students, especially those who had English as an additional language.

A language buddy system was set up, where students were located from different year groups to match new incoming students. This was based on similar language or culture. The language buddies were especially useful at the beginning of the year or when a new student was enrolled as they were able to help with lockers, homework, lunches and over all day-to-day running of the school. Link teacher and language buddies were also scheduled to meet after school every Wednesday in the EAL room if the new students had any queries or wanted to chat.

8/09/22 Language buddy pairing meeting.

Every Wednesday after school buddies were welcome to come to room 35 for a quick chat, snacks and coffee/tea.

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Inclusive and Welcoming language all over the school 

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Inclusive and Welcoming language all over the school 

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Another action in our Action plan was to make the school environment visually more inclusive.

Religion and CSPE classes spent time making welcoming signs in different languages to be put into our EAL hub in room 35 and all over the school.

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One of our actions was to make a physical space were students felt reflected them and highlighted the importance of EAL as a subject in our school.

The Diversity Committee spent time during and after school in helping to clean, redecorate an old Home Ec/Art room to turn into an EAL and Diversity Committee hub.

The room was made more colourful thanks to a new paint job, posters to help learn English and welcoming signs in different languages.

This room is where all EAL support classes take place and where our Diversity Committee meet weekly.

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Meetings after school - sharing cultures

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Meetings after school - sharing cultures

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Link teachers facilitated a weekly after-school meeting for language buddies and anyone who had questions, concerns, or wanted to chat.

This was very popular as students shared their language and culture with other students and the link teachers!

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Ty Students listening to Ireland’s First Black Public Representative at the Shine Festival 2022.

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TYs listening to Senator Eileen Flynn - First Traveller in the Houses of the Oireachtas and Amanda Ade creator of the organisation ‘Black and Irish’ at Shine 2022.

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Black History month Display on corridor 

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Black History month Display on corridor 

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2nd year students worked on researching important black historical figures, made a poster and a display along the upstairs corridor.

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Students took part in making a video to mark Human Rights Day 2022 10th December.

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Students took part in peer one-to-one reading with EAL students to help them with their reading skills in English.

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Holiday celebrations - language buddies 

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Holiday celebrations - language buddies 

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Students involved in the language buddy system met after school before the December holidays to celebrate with cakes, hot chocolate and good company!

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Workshops from the Diversity Committee for the whole school! - Anti Racism month 

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Workshops from the Diversity Committee for the whole school! - Anti Racism month 

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During the month of March, the diversity committee have planned events to mark this occasion. Member of the committee have gathered resources and created a whole school workshop (80 minutes for Junior Classes and 40 minutes for senior classes). This AntiRacism workshop included discussions, games and worksheet about topics of stereotyping, prejudice, bias, hate speech, and impacts of hate speech. The workshop also helped to highlight and remind the whole student population about the goals of Yellow Flag and how it is a whole-school programme. The Junior workshop took places during SPHE, CSPE and religion classes and senior workshops took place during religion classes. The workshop was delivered by senior students of the diversity committee.

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Red Day – On the 31st of March our school took part in Wear Red Day to show support for Anti-Racism. Students wore red and donated 2 euro. We raised over 400 euro which was donated to Wear Red Day to create resources for Anti Racism cause.

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Workshops made from Red day and Beyond Hate resources plus Diversity Committee input!

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Workshops made from Red day and Beyond Hate resources plus Diversity Committee input!

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Students were given the opportunity to type up traditional recipes from their cultures and have them made into a school-wide cookbook. Members of the diversity committee informed their classes of this opportunity.

Cultural cookbook created from recipes from members of our diversity committee and wider student body

The home Ec department spread the word and encouraged all students to take part.

Cook book created and available to rent from school library

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The how to interrupt racism guide was shared with all staff on the Yellow Flag Microsoft team. Guide was taken from the Black& Irish website.

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Culture Week was organised by student council and linked with diversity committee. Students from different backgrounds met every Thursday to plan for the week. The main event was on Friday where each country represented had a table with traditional food, photographs, books and symbols that represent their country. Year groups were timetabled to go to the hall to experience this exhibition and to watch our Cultural Fashion Show. Students were dressed in cultural and traditional clothing and music was played from each country as they walked down the middle of a hall to represent their country. Other events during this week included daily intercom announcements about different country’s facts and phrases in different languages, kahoot quiz made by diversity committee was played by each class, geography quiz in geography classes, and cookbook was made in home ec classes with recipes from different countries and a flag quiz. The cookbook was put together and printed and is available to be rented from the library.

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Members of the Diversity Committee spent weeks planning, organising and attending Open Night in our School to show parents of 6th-class students our EAL room and talk about the diversity in our school and our Yellow Flag journey.

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Welcome to school booklet - accessible to all

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Welcome to school booklet - accessible to all

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TY Language ambassadors worked on the creation of a visual ‘Welcome to Presentation Secondary School’ booklet where information about our school was written in an accessible way for non-English speakers. This includes the general timetable, lunch, books, uniform and the Irish schooling system

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Anti Racism talk from Black&Irish organisation 

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Anti Racism talk from Black&Irish organisation 

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To mark the Month of March as Anti-Racism month, Pierre Yimbog from the Black&Irish organisation gave a talk about anti-racism on Monday 11th March to our 5th year, TY students and some members of the diversity committee.

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Empowering Black and Irish Communities for an Inclusive Ireland. Black and Irish was established with the mission of enhancing the life of Black and Irish people. We aim to work with strategic partners across various areas of society, especially in the areas of Advocacy, Community and Education. Our…

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The Weight of Water - Second year English Ordinary Level Novel about immigrant from Poland 

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The Weight of Water - Second year English Ordinary Level Novel about immigrant from Poland 

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"The Weight of Water" by Sarah Crossan demonstrates the challenges faced by immigrant Kasienka, offering a platform for teaching inclusion. Through her narrative, students explore issues of xenophobia, racism, and social exclusion, fostering empathy and understanding of diverse experiences. The novel prompts reflection on stereotypes and prejudices, encouraging students to advocate for inclusivity and social justice. By incorporating the book into teaching, educators create opportunities for students to develop empathy, critical thinking, and a commitment to building inclusive communities.

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This year our school purchased sets of exam suitable dictionaries available to rent for our EAL students.

We have also purchased many books that deal with the themes of immigration, inclusion, racism and books written from by authors from diverse cultural backgrounds.

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We celebrated Flag 2024 in our school on Friday, March 15th. We used this opportunity to celebrate our diversity and made a display of the different flags from the countries our students come from. These were stuck up around the tricolour to make students feel represented.

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The student council and the Diversity committee have worked together to plan our annual Culture Week.
Students met regularly to plan events such as lunchtime language clubs, creating a diverse Spotify playlist to be played each lunchtime in the social area during the week, origami art during lessons and an event in the hall on Friday to conclude the week where the whole school community gathered along with some parents from our diversity committee members and the school of sanctuary panel.

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As part of culture week activities, language clubs took place every day at lunchtime. The clubs were

All students and teachers in our school had the opportunity to learn phrases in the languages below:

Monday - Romanian

Tuesday - Russian

Wednesday- Polish and Portuguese

Thursday - Zulu

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Our students sharing their language <3

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Gathering data - one of our goals in the Action plan!

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Visual representation of where our students come from and have far they have travelled to come to Presentation Secondary School!

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Our students won Waterfords anti racism poetry competition 2023

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Our students won Waterfords anti racism poetry competition 2023

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Students attended an awards ceremony in Waterford city library where two of our students were awarded junior and senior winners of Waterfords anti racism poetry competition 2023

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Our diversity committee are working hard to make posters to display our diversity code!

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Students took part in the creative cluster scheme in collaboration with local schools.

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'What's your story?' - Creative cluster - learning through lens of culture and creativity

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'What's your story?' - Creative cluster - learning through lens of culture and creativity

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EAL students developed their creativity and story telling skills to express 'their story' by creating visuals to represent them and a story about where they come from.

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Our diversity committee has grown over the past two years and meets regularly every week.

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Anti-Racism workshop with Pierre Yombog

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Creating a sense of belonging through art

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Creating a sense of belonging through art

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This mural was funded by creative engagement. The theme was to celebrate the diversity of culture and identity in our school, to create a sense of inclusion, belonging, student voice and celebration of culture.

Caoilfhionn Hanton was the artist and she worked with our TY students. This mural is a reminder to our school community that there is beauty in diversity.

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Third-year Art students got involved in helping us finish the Diversity Code Posters to make them eye-catching and easy to read.

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Members of our diversity committee and the wider student body worked very hard on culture day events. From dances to songs in different languages, henna, food stalls, cultural clothing and more !

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Exploring black artists through their work, style and expression .

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Students in Art learned about different black artists, their style, themes and what they represented in their art.

They then chose a style that made an impression on them and made art pieces using this style.

Find out more about these black artists by watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oeVUFa1G64&ab_channel=ArtinColor

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TY English class ​​​studying Maya Angelou 'Still I Rise'

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We have added a QR code in prominent places throughout the school and at the offices of our pastoral care team. This is to support our EAL students and their families by offering easy access to an online translation tool.

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In November 2022, 5th years visited garter lane to see “belonging”

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In November 2022, 5th years visited garter lane to see “belonging”

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In November, 5th years attended the drama “ Belonging” in garter lane. This drama presented what it means “to belong as a Ghanaian in Europe, or a European who “longs to be in Ghana”.

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Ongoing: professional development training in diversity, inclusion and equality completed by members of our staff. 

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Ongoing: professional development training in diversity, inclusion and equality completed by members of our staff. 

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‘EAL Series - EAL and Academic Language- Dr. Aoife Merrins Gallagher’ - ECSI.

An introduction to Disability Equality, inclusion & human rights (DESSA).

Leading the inclusion of EAL Learners in Post Primary Schools (OIDE).

Supporting English as an Additional Language (EAL) Learners in the post-primary classroom.

Traveller cultural awareness training, Yellow Flag.

Post-Primary Mental Health, OIDE.

Uncovering our unconscious bias to increase inclusivity and build positive relationships- Nicola Cullotty.

Stand Up Awareness Training, Belong to.

Nurturing Groups and Nurturing Schools, Dr Susan Gibney.

Leading Inclusive Learning, NCSE

Education Support Centres Ireland Introducing Trauma informed practice- the stress factor getting the balance right for School Leaders.

Shane Martin : The Psychology of Bouncibility, building resilience.

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Ty students attended the Shine Festival 2023. Here they heard inspiring stories of anti-racism from Amanda Ade and Ireland’s first black politician, Yemi Adenuga.

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All staff members have been busy updating department plans. A yellow star in each subject plan indicates areas in the curriculum where we can broaden discussions and learning around Interculturalism. We believe that inclusion need to be embedded into our teaching and learning and part of our everyday life in school.

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Our school has been selected as one of the winners for the European Language Label Award for 2023-2024.

This award is coordinated the by European Commission.

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B2 English class studied the poem “Refugees” by Brian Bliston in their English class.

This is a palindrome poem which enabled students to explore the topic of refugees immigrating into our community from two different perspectives. Students learned a lot from the pre reading research they conducted and also enjoyed studying the poem.

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Third-year students have learned about Katherine Johnson, who helped develop NASA's space navigation systems. She overcame racial and gender hurdles to make giant leaps for humankind.

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Through generating and applying evidence, The Bell Foundation aims to improve policy, practice and systems to enable children, adults and communities in the UK that speak English as an Additional Language (EAL) to overcome disadvantage through language education.

The link to their Youtube channel has been shared with all staff in our Yellow Flag team. The channel contains videos on how to best support EAL learners in the classroom, some videos are specific to certain subjects and some are general.

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The Bell Foundation is a charity which aims to overcome exclusion through language education by working with partners on innovation, research, training and practical interventions. Join The Bell Foundation mailing list to receive updates about the Foundation's work, including information on resources, research, blogs, webinars, events and training opportunities: https://www.bell-foundation.org.uk/sign-up-to-the-newsletter/

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The website has been shared with all staff on our Yellow Flag team. The website contains resources and research on EAL guidance and education.

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Blog: EAL Children and the Early Years Sector - The Best Start?

In this blog, Professor Claudine Bowyer-Crane and Dr Silke Fricke look at the achievement gap for EAL pupils in early years, exploring the reality behind the misleading data and what this means for policy.

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The Bell Foundation - Changing lives and overcoming exclusion through language education

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The Bell Foundation is a charity which aims to overcome exclusion through language education by working with partners on innovation, research, training and practical interventions.

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The website is a great resource with Lesson Plans for teaching and worksheets for students that align with Junior Cycle learning outcomes. http://www.elsp.ie/indexLS.shtml

This website has been shared in the EAL teaching team with staff who are in the department.

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Whole school survey informing our inclusion policy allowing all students to have their input.

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Whole school survey informing our inclusion policy allowing all students to have their input.

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All of our students have a sora account. Sora is an app run by JCSP library initiative. This app has thousands of books, many about topics such as diversity, inclusion and seeking refuge.

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How many miles to Presentation Waterford ? 

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How many miles to Presentation Waterford ? 

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Our school has travelled a total of 228,006km to be with us in our school! That’s the equivalent of 5.5 trips around the world!

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Our school community is a vibrant and diverse place for all. We come from 44 different countries.

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Parents have enjoyed a variety of classes this year including cookery, makeup, sowing and English.

These classes have encouraged inclusion beyond the classroom and have been a great way for parents to get to know each other and learn more about each other.

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Our parents enjoyed a variety of classes from makeup to dance and art classes!

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Our weekly English classes for parents! 

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Our weekly English classes for parents! 

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Visit from Homayoon; school of sanctuary coordinator. 

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Visit from Homayoon; school of sanctuary coordinator. 

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Our TY students and members from our diversity committee had the opportunity to meet with Homayoon from schools of sanctuary. This was a very interesting and beneficial talk and reminds us to be proud of all we are doing as a school of sanctuary and a school doing the yellow flag programme.

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Our schools Young Saint Vincent De Paul group led our school in collecting and donating food for the fill a bus campaign where our school donated two full cage trolleys of food to Waterford food bank. We are greatful to be part of this campaign to benefit many in our local community.

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This year we celebrated wear red day again to show our support to the anti racism movement show racism the red card. There was a real sense of inclusivity around the school. Here is a picture of B2 and C1 showing their support.

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Students supported the GOAL collection to aid victim of the Syrian /Turkish earthquake. 1,2000 euro was collected.

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Announced as a Champion School of Sanctuary!  

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Announced as a Champion School of Sanctuary!  

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Our school received our monitoring visit from the school of sanctuary panel and was announced that we will now be recognised as a champion school of sanctuary. This was a moment of great celebration for our school community and was announced towards the end of our culture week celebrations!

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Visit to our presentation primary school. 

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Visit to our presentation primary school. 

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Members of our school of sanctuary committee paid a visit to Presentation Primary to talk about school of sanctuary, inclusion and challenge for change. Angie Goma who is a member of both our diversity committee and the school of sanctuary committee spoke to Mrs McAra’s 5th class and shared her story as a proud ambassador of our school.

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Christmas Jumper Fundraiser Day in aid of UNICEF, SVP and Waterford Lions Club

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Christmas Jumper Fundraiser Day in aid of UNICEF, SVP and Waterford Lions Club

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We are grateful to be part of a school community that cares and spends their free time helping others. Members of our diversity committee and our schools young SVP group collecting for SVP in their own time.

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Exploring ‘identity’ in first year English. 

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Exploring ‘identity’ in first year English. 

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1st year students started their ‘identity’ unit in their English class. They discussed who they all felt they were as individuals. We discussed how your ancestry and where you are from, as well as your cultural values, played a big part in your identity. This lesson was rounded up by a placemat activity and a discussion about ways we can make sure students from all backgrounds feel that they belong in our school.

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Advertising of English Language club at our extracurricular fair. 

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Advertising of English Language club at our extracurricular fair. 

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At the start of this year students were given the chance to sign up to English Language Club. This is a lunchtime club held at lunchtime every Wednesday. Where students from 1st to 6th year have been really enjoying learning English in a fun, relaxed social setting often supported by their friends. This club was run by our yellow flag link teacher. English language club has been very popular and has enjoyed by many students throughout this year.

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Our EAL team was visited by a member of the inspectorate from the Department of Education in October 2023. The inspector indicated that she observed VERY GOOD Teaching and Learning. She praised the accommodation and support for all our EAL students and the huge welcome and inclusion given to all our students. The inspector also said that everything we are doing to support our EAL students is an example of Best Practice.

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Our TY students held their annual Christmas party with Belmont in December- a great time was had by all! TY students have been working with Belmont (brothers of charity) in PE for many years. Brothers of Charity Services Waterford provide a range of services to adults with an intellectual disability some of whom may have additional  medical, physical and/ or sensory needs.

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Ensuring our EAL learners and access the curriculum in their coding classes.

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Our school celebrated open book day. During open book day one of the events that occurring was our school of sanctuary ambassador students shared their story of their family’s journeys from Syria to Ireland. They talked to students in Religion and Geography classes from 1st to 6th year. We talked about refugees, asylum seekers, the myths and facts of what it means to be a refugee and her classmates learned about the Syrian civil war. Many of these students were not aware of the courage needed to undertake such a journey and were grateful that our ambassador student felt safe to share her story with us.

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Resources and lessons created and shared with staff for open book day- activity’s and lessons for both junior and senior cycle subjects. 

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Resources and lessons created and shared with staff for open book day- activity’s and lessons for both junior and senior cycle subjects. 

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2nd year art project on their hometowns. These are displayed in our school to celebrate and showcase the variety of backgrounds, cultures and diversity in our school.

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Today we celebrated the winners of our diversity code competition where we awarded prizes to the students who created our school wide diversity code. Well done to all who took part and shared their entries and ideas.

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Today we awarded prizes for our diversity code competition winners and awarded these students for the most creative entry. Well done!!