Student Supports

The role of the Guidance Counsellor is to support, encourage, advise and provide information for students to assist them in making life/career choices through counselling.

The role of the Guidance Counsellor in care and well-being helps students to make decisions, solve problems, change behaviour or effect changes in their lives.

Counselling is offered on an individual or small group basis.

The focus of counselling may be on personal, educational or career-related issues.

The Guidance Counsellor engages in a two-way process of consultation with students, teachers, college management and referral agencies.

The following are the key elements of referral and counselling: school management, teachers, learning support may refer students to the Guidance Counsellor.

Students may also self-refer and consult the Guidance Counsellor resulting in the issue of an appointment. The voluntary participation in counselling of the referred student must be respected by all concerned.

The Guidance Counsellor may recognise that an individual student needs assistance from other qualified helpers outside of college and organise the provision of such assistance following agreed procedures with the school and local agencies.

Particular care is taken to involve all interested in the student’s welfare and information will be shared as appropriate on a need-to-know basis.

The guidance counsellor maintains an appropriate link with the school psychotherapist, on a need-to-know basis.

Recommendations are made to external agencies when needed in consultation with relevant school management.

The Guidance Counsellor is also a member of the school Care Team and the School Critical Incident Team.

Niamh Murphy, a HSE Counsellor works with students for three-four hours a week to provide additional support.

School Chaplains are a faith presence in the school community and are available to all students and staff. ACS has a full time Chaplain on staff. The Chaplain meets and supports students when referred by management, year heads or as required as various situations/issues arise.

The Chaplain:

• Supports the BOM and Management in upholding the ethos of the school in accordance with the wishes of the trustees of the school.
• Personal contact: Meets and supports students when referred by management, year heads or as required as various situations/issues arise.
•  Adheres to child protection guidelines as a mandated person.
• Class contact: Teaches RE, SPHE and other subjects related to well-being (4 hours weekly).
•  Care Team: Member of the school care team and the school critical incident team.
• School/community celebrations: Organises school ceremonies i.e. opening school service, Christmas celebration and graduation ceremony, and in-house reflections.
•  Takes an active interest and support where appropriate any well-being initiatives for students and staff.
• Promotes social justice initiatives and raises the awareness of students to appropriate social justice issues
• Maintains records in accordance with GDPR.
•  Organises extra-curricular for student and links into organisations in the community which offer similar support to students such as youth clubs
•  Provides support to students during state exams

As part of the ongoing commitment to supporting our students the Board of Management employs a psychotherapist who attends the school for one full day per week.

• Students, who have been pre-assessed through referral, and are not in receipt of therapeutic input outside of school, can be referred in for weekly sessions.
• This facility is in place to offer immediate support for students in need or distress

The AEN Coordinator is responsible for the operation and implementation of the AEN policy and coordination of provision for students with learning difficulties. The AEN Coordinator seeks to develop effective ways of overcoming barriers to learning and sustaining effective teaching to meet all students’ needs. The key responsibilities of the AEN Coordinator include:

The Role of the Additional Educational Needs Coordinator
The AEN Coordinator is responsible for the operation and implementation of the AEN policy and coordination of provision for students with learning difficulties. The AEN Coordinator should seek to develop effective ways of overcoming barriers to learning and sustaining effective teaching to meet all students’ needs. The key responsibilities of the AEN Coordinator include:

• To liaise with the principal/deputy principal in relation to the allocation of the school’s resource hours to cater for students with additional educational needs
• To identify students with AEN by means of assessment/standardised/in-class tests testing.
• To share relevant information with teaching staff and SNAs to allow them to best support the students.
• To foster inclusion and equality of opportunity for all students by sharing with teachers good practice in catering for students with individual needs.
• Overseeing the day-to-day operation of the school’s AEN policy. Liaising with and advising fellow teachers and SNAs
• Meeting with the core team of AEN Link Teachers weekly
• Coordinating the AEN Link teachers in the provision for students with AEN in their year groups.
• Supporting the wider team of AEN teachers.
• Maintaining records on all students on the AEN register with the support of the AEN Link Team
• Assigning timetabled teachers to Learning Support withdrawal groups of students
• Liaising with parents of students with AEN where required.
• Liaising with external agencies eg. NEPs, NCSE, Tusla as required.
• Contributing to the Continuous Professional Development of staff in the area of AEN.
• To apply for SNAs and Assistive Technology to the SENO
• Coordinating SNA provision.
• To oversee the appropriate use of psychometric testing results in determining suitable options for incoming 1st years, 3rd Year and TY students in conjunction with Guidance.
• To participate in the transition programme of new students with AEN.
• To liaise with primary schools and the incoming 1st Year Year Head in the exchange of information regarding new students
• To be a member of the Care Team and attend weekly meetings to support students with AEN
• To organise special centres for students with RACE in semester exams and in state exams
• To ensure RACE applications are completed with support of the AEN Link teachers in a timely fashion
•  To support the work of the SNA Team in completing reports on students and in their work June in preparation for the new academic year

The Role of the AEN Link Teacher:

• Meeting(s) with SENCO and SETs during induction week to plan for staff AEN session
• Gather all information on new students including 1st years ie. CAT4 results, reports etc
• Get Educational Passports for new 1st Years from SENCO/YH
• Read reports provided on students
• Update AEN Register and identify students in need of support eg. literacy, numeracy, organisation, sensory, movement breaks
• Update AEN info on VSWare
• Complete Student Support Files (SSFs) for students in red/green categories on the AEN Register
• Link with SETs to identify targets for students for SSFs
• Assist SETs in planning intervention using AEN meeting
• Assist SENCO and AEN colleagues with RACE testing, corrections etc
• Identify students in need of reading assistance and/or separate centres for SA1 exams
• Arrange EAL dictionaries for SA1 exams
• Review work to date with SENCO and relevant staff
• Link with SETs to review interventions to date
• Review SA1 results to check progress of students
• Update SSF with SA1 results
• Assist with LC RACE paperwork/testing
• Assist with JC RACE applications
• Identify students who may need assistance after formative assessments in February
• Update SSFs after Semester 2 Assessments
• Identify students in need of reading assistance, technology, separate centres for SA3 exams
• Review the years’ work with AEN Team – Finalise/File paperwork for all AEN students in the year group
• Identify possible students for L2LP/L1LPs the following year
• Review of all students receiving support

Each of our Year Heads are the Anti-bullying Coordinator for their own year group.

While a pupil or a parent may bring a concern of bullying to any staff member in the school, the member of teaching staff who has responsibility for investigating and dealing with bullying in the first instance is the Year Head.

The Year Head is the initial contact who may be in a position to resolve the bullying issue quickly as a result of knowing the students involved already. During the weekly Year Head Meeting with the Deputy Principal and the Principal, an item on the agenda is Anti-Bullying so reports of bullying will be mentioned in this forum. If the matter persists, the Year Head will work with the Deputy Principal to resolve issues as they arise. The Principal may be involved as the investigation progresses.

A student should feel comfortable reporting an incident of bullying to any one of these people:

• Class Tutor and/or Year Head/ and/or any member of the Care Team.
• Any member of staff with whom the student feels comfortable e.g. One Good Adult.
• Principal or Deputy Principal.

A student should feel comfortable reporting a bullying incident by using one, or any, of the following approaches:

• Directly approaching a teacher. e.g. after class, break/lunch time
• Contacting a staff member by Teams
• Placing an anonymous note on the Anti-Bullying button on the school App
• Getting a parent to contact the school by ringing the Year Head or CT.

The role of the class teacher in Athboy is a very important one in the school. The Tutor’s responsibilities include:

• Get to know each student in their tutor group
• Become familiar with any difficulties each student may have
• Monitor attendance and punctuality each morning
• Ensure that all students have journals, or a Journal Report
• Check that journals are signed by parents each week
• Check the journal for Assets, ensure all students are recognised when they excel
• Create an environment where students can come to you with Red or Amber notes, and record as agreed by year head
• Support students to avoid getting on Level One of the Learning Code
• Monitor students on Level One of the Learning Code
• Take up journals regularly and put in a note for parents
• Check absence notes and collect completed notes for student files
• Check uniforms and encourage students to check that they have all books and materials for the day at tutorial every morning
• Attend weekly meetings with the year head

Role of the LCA/LCVP Coordinator is to take overall responsibility for the planning, co-ordination, implementation and monitoring and Year Head duties of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme and for work experience for student in Transition Year and the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme.

The LCA Year Head will:

• Meet the year group on a biweekly basis at morning assembly to support their progress.
• Use Teams to share information with the year group.
• Attend the weekly meeting with all year heads, the principal and deputy principal.
• Liaise with AEN Coordinator in relation to students on the AEN Register who need support in relation to organisation, behaviour and interactions with others.
• Liaise with tutors to ensure that all the school journals of the students in their group are checked and signed and that notes in the journal are collated at weekly tutorial.
• Follow up with students in the year group in relation to notes in the journal.
• Liaise with other members of the Care Team where necessary to deal with incidents of bullying and other issues that involve members of the year group and liaise with other year heads in dealing with incidents involving members of more than one year group.
• Liaise, where necessary, with external agencies in relation to providing support for students in the year group.
• Monitor uniform of pupils in the year group and intervene where pupils consistently present in incomplete uniform.
• Complete comments in school reports for students in the year group.
• Foster a group spirit and a sense of belonging among the members of the year group.
• Encourage and publicly recognise student achievement in areas such as effort, attendance, leadership and contribution to school life.
• Encourage teachers of the year group to monitor academic performance through the Athena academic tracker and to inform you of concerns in relation to academic achievement.

Role of the Transition Year Coordinator

• To take overall responsibility for the planning, co-ordination, implementation and monitoring of the Transition Year Programme and to promote, manage and implement the Transition Year programmes and curriculum while fostering inclusion and equality of opportunity for each student.
• To present to students and parents each year an overview of the programme and to liaise with parents and students regarding the application process for TY.
• To liaise with the principal and clerical staff in relation to costings for the TY Programme and the organisation of trips, speakers and events for TY students and to provide a shared calendar of events for the year
• To liaise with the clerical officer in relation to payments made for TY and various trips on the school app.
• To manage the Credit System for the TY Programme and liaise with teacher in relation to records of credits and portfolio deadlines.
• To oversee the TY graduation ceremony.
• To manage assessment of student portfolios in TY and organise interviews in April/May each year for students with the TY Team.
• To liaise with members of the community in relation to possible initiatives students could become involved in as civic minded citizens
• To advise teachers of CPD opportunities for TY.
• To provide an overview of TY activities for the Principal’s Report prior to each Board of Management meeting.
• To establish a small team of TY teachers and meet to review the programme at key stages throughout the year in order to make improvements as needed in conjunction with the Principal/Deputy Principal
• To share the review with the PA/BOM at the end of each year.
• To update relevant policies concerning the TY Programme as needed.

As part of the new Junior Certificate model, we have a dedicated Assistant Principal II responsible for the coordination of the schools’ Wellbeing Programme. This consists of 400 hours of learning time across various subjects. The subjects covered under this are PE, SPHE, CSPE and tutorials. As a school, we run themed weeks and events throughout the school year to promote positive wellbeing. The Wellbeing Coordinator is responsible for organising events for Wellbeing Week in particular.

Wellbeing includes social, emotional, physical, spiritual, intellectual and environmental aspects of a student’s experience. The six indicators below describe what is central to a young person’s wellbeing in our school context:

• To be Supportive
• To be Responsible
• To be Resilient
• To be Respected
• To be Connected
• To be Aware

Role of the Year Head

• Has responsibility for one assigned year group as determined by the Principal.
• Consults with management and Care Team on matters relating to their year group in line with the NEPS model of support. NEPS categorises support as: Support for all (Lv1), Support for some (Lv2) and Support for a few (Lv3).
•  Liaises with parents/guardians and helps maintain a good school/home working relationship.
•  Oversee the pastoral, educational and disciplinary care of the year group.
•  Meets the year group on a regular basis, individually and at assemblies, and keep students appraised on school policies and procedures.
• Attends all relevant meetings of the year group and have access to information on students in that year.
• Maintains a caring interest in each student of that year and is aware in so far as is possible of the reality of the students’ lives.
• Intervenes where necessary to help students who are encountering difficulty with particular areas of school and provide necessary supports for the students.
• Maintains records for the year group as guided by best practice and GDPR.
• Supports new teachers if requested by offering advice and encouragement, i.e seating plans, administering the Learning Code etc…
• Encourages students to take part in extra-curricular activities.
• Oversees wellbeing of students and offers support where necessary.
• Communicates with the AEN Coordinator regarding any relevant issues arising.
• Is familiar with the relevant Student Support Files.
• Liaises with outside agencies e.g. TUSLA, CAMHS etc… when necessary
• Communicates with students/home in relation to Semester 1, 2 and 3 assessments and checks semester reports prior to publishing on VS Ware to ensure that a positive message is received by parents.