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Specialist Schools Coordinator/Leader Programme

Specialist Schools

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Cohort 4 Specialist School Support Programme for Coordinators

Overview :

The Specialist School pilot programme has been operating for four years and is due to conclude at the end of the academic year 2011. RTU have been supporting those who have been designated with the task of coordinating the status within the schools during that period. The main focus of our support is based on the maxim ‘By schools for schools’. Our task is to ensure that coordinators gain confidence in their own ability to support each other and to support staff within their own schools.

Benefits :

The programme enables all those attending to:

Build close relationships with those acting as coordinators in other schools and in particular with those in schools with the same specialism;
Develop a shared understanding of the specialist model for Northern Ireland and what is expected from it;
Discuss the role and responsibilities of a coordinator with a view to identifying the professional knowledge and understanding, skills and personal qualities that are likely to help those with them to be successful ;
Meet and learn from the experience of those appointed to be coordinators in cohort 1, 2 and in cohort 3 schools ;
Decide whether closer links with cohort 1/2/3 coordinators would be helpful ; and
Contribute to shaping the remaining parts of this one-year programme.

Programme Features :

This is a programme which will last for the first academic year of the specialist school designation. It will consist of six days – an introductory day in the first term followed by a two day residential experience before Christmas 2009. Another two day residential conference will be held in term 2 and a single concluding day will be held in June 2010. The programme will be self-supporting and will consist of discussion and group work. The coordinators will be expected to suggest methodologies for creating a self-supporting environment.

Contact person : Stewart Polley

Provisional Dates for the Programme:

Day 1	Wednesday 30 September 2009	Comfort Hotel, Antrim
Day 2 and 3	Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 November 2009	Glenavon Hotel, Cookstown
Day 4 and 5	Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 March 2010	Burrendale Hotel, Newcastle
Day 6	Wednesday 16 June 2010	Rosspark, Kells

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