Pupils can add to school ‘passport’ for second level

Children can provide information about themselves to their new schools when they move to second-level education, as part of a new compulsory education passport.

All primary schools will be obliged from next year to provide an education passport for each child to the second-level school that they transfer to, which must include a sixth-class report card about their academic and personal progress.

But the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) has also developed a form for pupils themselves to share information about themselves with their new school, which includes the following statements to complete:

- “In primary school, I take part in activities such as...”

- “My hobbies and interests are...”

- “I am good at...”

- “I sometimes need help with...”

- “When I am in first year I hope that I...”

- “Friends starting with me in my new school are...”

“Remember that there are no right or wrong answers. This information will help your new teachers get to know you and help you settle into your new school,” reads the note at the top of the single-page My Profile sheet.

Schools are also being given ideas about how to get pupils to reflect on the information they would like to write into the form.

In addition, the parents of all children finishing their primary education have the option of filling in a My Child’s Profile sheet, detailing what things a child likes both inside and outside of school, what areas they sometimes need help with, and other information about the child’s learning which could be of assistance to their new teachers.

These two documents can be used as optional extras to accompany the sixth-class report card, which Education Minister Ruairi Quinn said at the weekend will be compulsory for primary schools to provide to the second-level schools their pupils transfer to from next summer.

“In the next academic year, the education passport will be compulsory for all schools — ensuring that parents and students are better supported through this challenging transition,” he told the National Parents’ Council-Primary annual conference at the weekend.

The passport must include a sixth-class report card which contains information about how a child learns (such as how well they listen, quality of homework, or how well they work independently or with others) and also about their personal development: behaviour in class and playground, happiness at school, and expression of feelings. The teacher can also give specific information about each child’s competencies at English, Irish and maths, and information about progress at all other curricular subjects=.

The report cards also allow teachers to share information about progress made by children with special educational needs.