The Additional Support Needs Team (ASN)

The ASN team supports students who require additional support to access the curriculum. These students may have a diagnosed need like dyslexia or dyspraxia or may be identified as needing support for other reasons. Some students may need support in navigating social and emotional life at school and others may have primary care needs which can only be addressed by having SNA access. Support can be offered with team teaching or in small groups or sometimes in a one-to-one setting. While the classroom teacher remains responsible for all the students in their class, the ASN team can further support identified students to achieve the best that they can. The ASN team also supports the work of the TLAR/Board of Studies team and communicates with the SST.

Reasonable Accommodations at the Certificate Exams (RACE)

The scheme of Reasonable Accommodations at the Certificate Examinations (RACE) facilitates access to the certificate examinations by candidates who would have difficulty in accessing the examination or communicating what they know to an examiner because of a physical, visual, hearing and/or learning difficulty. The scheme assists candidates who have special educational needs to demonstrate what they know and can do in certificate examinations, without compromising the integrity of the assessment. The focus of the scheme is on removing barriers to access, while retaining the need to assess the same underlying skills and competencies as are assessed for all other candidates, and to apply the same standards of achievement as apply to all other candidates.

The scheme provides accommodations for students with a variety of complex special educational needs including learning difficulties as well as permanent or temporary physical, visual, hearing, medical, sensory, emotional, behavioural or other conditions.

Accommodations granted at Junior Cycle are reactivated for Leaving Certificate provided that the State Examinations Commission (SEC) are satisfied that the need that existed at Junior Cycle is still present at Leaving Cert.

For further information on RACE see here.