Scoil An Chro R Naofa osa

Huntstown
Mulhuddart
Dublin 15
Roll No. 19755L

School Self-Evaluation Summary Report for School Community

Mathematics

Report Issue Date: September 2013

1. Introduction

Scoil An Chro R Naofa osa is a co-educational primary school with an enrolment of 852 pupils.
There are 51 teachers in the school, including an administrative Principal and Deputy Principal, 11
resource/learning-support teachers, 5 English as an additional language (EAL) teachers and 11
Special Need Assistants (SNAs). The school has 32 mainstream classes as well as 2 classes for
pupils with autism. The school aims to provide an inclusive teaching and learning environment
responsive to the needs of all its pupils. To this end, the school has implemented a number of
different programmes and initiatives over the years including Aistear, DEAR time, Power Hour,
MIST Forward Together, Rainbows, Green Schools and Yellow Flag.
A school self-evaluation of literacy and numeracy teaching and learning in our school was
undertaken during the period September to December 2011 in preparation for the implementation
of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy in January 2012. During this evaluation it
became clear that the teaching and learning of mathematics within the school required further selfevaluation and investigation. The following is a summary report on this self-evaluation of
mathematics teaching and learning in our school.
2. Summary of school self-evaluation findings
We collected information regarding teaching and learning of mathematics in our school from
parents, pupils and teachers using questionnaires, parent/teacher meetings, whole-school discussions
and individual teacher reflection. We found that our school has strengths in the following areas:
overall positive disposition at home and at school to teaching and learning of
mathematics;
willing and able staff interested in effecting improvement;
availability and use of concrete materials and digital media within the school to
support teaching and learning of mathematics;
and ongoing implementation of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy since
January 2012 beginning to show improvement in problem solving skills.
The following areas were identified for improvement:

pupils end-of-year standardised mathematics scores;

pupils ability to do their mathematics homework without assistance;

and pupils care and presentation of written work.

3. Targets for Improvement

We decided to prioritise the following targets for development and improvement over a period of
3 years, beginning in September 2013:
Increase the number of pupils scoring within the average range on end-of-year standardised tests.

Decrease the number of pupils who usually need help with their mathematics homework

Increase by at least 20% the proportion of pupils in each class from First to Sixth who estimate,
use rough-work, check their work for mistakes and present their work neatly and carefully
according to school policy.

The above areas were prioritised based on discussion and feedback from pupils, parents and
teachers, as well analysis of end-of-year standardised mathematics test results for First to Sixth
class and a comparison of these results with national norms and standards.