Our visit to Thornfield House
Erasmus Plus Partnership “Get to know us”.
Visit 2 to Belfast, Northern Ireland – Hosts – Thornfield House School
Date December 27th March - 1st April 2022
Representatives: Croatia ( 4) Slovenia (3) Ireland (7) Austria (4) Germany (4) Northern Ireland (22 host and school wide participation)
by
Colm Burns
Principal of Thornfield House School
& Project co-ordinator
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Sunday 27th March
Sunday evening was spent welcoming some of our visitors to Northern Ireland. We held an informal evening meal where we were able to spend the evening introducing new people to each other and chatting over our last visit. We talked about our hopes for the week ahead. Monday 28th March
On Monday afternoon once everyone had arrived from their travels we met in Royal Belfast Academical Institution. This initial meeting included a presentation on reviewing our last visit, discussing the positives from the last visit and sharing the ideas that we took from it, and implemented into our own schools. Mr Burns also shared the planned agenda for the week ahead. Each school representative shared how they have taken the project forward in their school, including the further development of the shared website and blog. Slovenia showed everyone how to access the blog efficiently, Croatia presented on E-Twinning and Ireland reinforced how to use the website effectively. We also reviewed the sharing of pupil work which has been a great success. The plan of the week was presented in detail with an explanation of what the expectations should be from each planned activity and how they linked to our” Get to know us” theme. In the evening we met for dinner where we were able to establish connections and relationship between schools and discuss the week’s event. Thursday 31st March
Today we accommodated a visit to a local Special School for sensory impaired students. The Principal provided an over view of the school and a detailed tour of the school and its grounds, we also shared information on entrance criteria, how the children are taught and the nature of the difficulties the children present with. To link in with our “get to know us” theme, she explained the different methods used by the school and the children in promoting communication by blind, deaf and sensory impaired children. We then visited the local council offices where we met with the deputy mayor who gave a history of the local area and the building which was an old spinning mill. We were then provided with a complimentary lunch and given a historic tour of the building. We returned to Thornfield and the local community police team gave a presentation on the importance of E-SAFETY in young people and schools. Again this tied in really well with our theme and encouraged positive communication and interaction. |
Tuesday 29th March
We spent the day in Thornfield House School. Mr Burns gave a presentation on school life in Thornfield as well as explaining the unique provision that our school has to offer in relation to Speech and Language needs. It was interesting to compare the different structures in place in each country in regards specialist provision and entry criteria across the different schools. The presentation included photographs and videos of the classrooms and pupils in Thornfield. Our colleagues then had the opportunity to visit a number of classes in our school. This ranged from year 1 to year 12. The classes demonstrated speech therapy groups in action, individual therapy sessions as well as curricular lessons that take place every day. The children interacted and engaged well with the visitors and our colleagues were able to take photographs of display boards, resources and ideas that they wanted to share back in their own schools. We provided everyone with a traditional Irish lunch cooked on site by one of our classroom assistants. Recipes were shared at the end! In the afternoon 2 presentations took place that outlined how we promote and develop social skills across our school with focus on preparing our older pupils for the world of employment. Our careers teacher Laura Finnegan shared the “ICANS” initiative with the group which is a programme that enables or children to become more aware of their communication difficulties, helps employers become more aware of young people with Speech and language difficulties and in turn helps these young people prepare for interviews and work. Mrs Brid Tate then presented to the group on Speech Therapy provision in our school and how we develop social skills in our children. She provided information on the Paget Gorman signed speech as well as Cued Articulation - signing systems we use in school as an additional visual aid for our children. Our guests found the classroom visits fascination and were especially pleased to see first hand how our system works and how we develop and support our students to increase their communication levels and skills.
Friday 1st April
The group met in the morning to review the week’s events and to identify our learning aspects from the week including how we can continue to improve and develop our project. It was agreed that all presentations at or exchanges would be included on our project blog and that at each initial meeting and concluding we would review progress. It was also agreed that partners need to continue to engage with our etwinning platform and continue to share updates on the blog across our individual schools and with our students. We then agreed a range of dates for our next zoom meeting and also the need to continually link exchange activities to our project objectives plan for the next visit to Germany. Everyone agreed the week had been extremely informative and beneficial (and exhausting) we all had ideas to take back to implement into our own schools and classrooms. |
Wednesday 30th March
Our first activity today was a visit to the Titanic Centre in Belfast. This was a wonderful visit giving the opportunity for our visitors to learn about the history of Belfast and the shipyard that provided employment to so many in NI for decades. The Museum provided detailed accounts of events, memorabilia of the Titanic and numerous videos and presentations. We then completed an open top bus tour giving more insight into the history in NI. Our colleagues enjoyed these visits and will be able to share their experiences as part of their curricular learning back in their own schools. It is invaluable to be able to have the opportunity to learn about historic buildings and events in each participating country enabling us to become more culturally aware. |
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