Original program
Our program is entirely original, created for our students but agreeing with the Core Curriculum for Polish expatriate students attending schools outside the territory of the Republic of Poland.
The proprietary curriculum spans across all levels, from preschool, through primary school, to secondary school, designed especially for Polish students living in Ireland. Our original program takes into account students’ specific language needs resulting from multilingualism and multiculturalism.
The selection of content and the skills developed are in line with the core curriculum for Polish students studying abroad.
The main goal of our education is to enable Polish children to learn, read and write in Polish and develop practical language competencies. The selection of content and skills developed are in line with the core curriculum for Polish students studying abroad.
From preschool, children learn about Polish culture and tradition, and participate in celebrating important events related to Poland. They get to know Polish cities and regions, learn about famous Poles, and at a later stage of education participate in history and geography lessons. The program also includes classes in mathematics to allow the students to gain the necessary technical jargon to discuss problems and methodologies in Polish.
What distinguishes us from other Polish schools?
We enable the implementation of material from the scope of the Polish core curriculum.
We provide modern and effective teaching methods.
We deepen the knowledge of our youngsters about Poland.
We develop the knowledge of the Polish.
PRESCHOOL
Our preschool is a place where, through fun and games, we teach and develop the children’s native language.
Already at this stage, as part of the preparation for independent reading, we introduce vowels and onomatopoeic expressions according to the Simultaneal-Sequential Reading Science. Every Saturday, we perform exercises that stimulate the left hemisphere of the brain, which supports the development of speech in children, perception of language and its formation. For pre-schoolers, we have created a set of themed cards entitled „I’M PLAYING AND LEARNING”, which aims to combine fun with preparation for learning to read and write.
It includes carefully selected exercises for visual perception, left hemispheric mechanisms, and graphical perception. As a creative team, we prepare activities full of surprises and allow space for the development of creativity in children. We often hear from parents that children ask on Monday when they will come back to Polish school again.
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
At Polish School SEN, we work on a program with content which is compatible with the Irish curriculum.
We are the only Polish school that offers Junior and Senior Infant classes, thanks to which children start their Irish and Polish education simultaneously. They are immediately immersed in both languages and cultures. In the first grades, we have created two levels of education – the first level for children who only begin their adventure in Polish school at this point, and the second level for students who have graduated from Senior Infants, initially mastering the ability to read and continue their Polish education.
POLISH LANGUAGE
In Polish language lessons, we have moved away from working with textbooks created for schools in Poland. During these lessons, we implement our own lesson scenarios prepared on the basis of the curriculum and supplemented with various additional content.
Classes 4-8 and Secondary School
In Polish language education, we have moved away from working on textbooks created for schools in Poland. During Polish language lessons, we implement original lesson scenarios prepared on the basis of the curriculum and supplemented with additional and attractive content on various topics, often changing in relation to the needs of our students and their interests.
The methods of implementing the lesson scenarios are dynamic, focused on the student’s interest. We create escape rooms, quizzes, game shows, games and puzzles. We use multimedia boards, interactive tools to prepare materials, e.g. genially, kahoot, learning apps, and others. Students keep their own activity logs, in which they record their achievements and successes, and monitor the implementation of school tasks (work in lessons and activities, homework, projects, participation in competitions and Olympics).
We conduct Polish language lessons respecting the bilingualism of our students, we look for analogies and common cultural and linguistic factors so as to help our students find their linguistic and cultural identity.
For 2 years we have been running the Patron’s Festival, during which we learn about outstanding figures and epochs that had an unquestionable impact on shaping the Polish national identity. Students have already had the opportunity to learn neologisms from Stanisław Lem or to find their „Everests” under the leadership of Wanda Rutkiewicz.
We support the language talents of our students by encouraging them to branch in literary and poetry competitions, in which students of the Polish School SEN have great fun and success every year.
LEAVING CERTIFICATION COURSE
The Polish School SEN has been running Leaving Certification Courses for our students for many years. The core curriculum assumes the completion of 180 hours of material in the last two years of high school, as well as the preparation of a language portfolio in which students will document their experiences and observations gained during the learning process. The target level of knowledge of the Polish language at the LC exam has been defined as A2/B1, which according to the European System of Language Education Description means: basic and lower-intermediate, respectively. Currently, the matriculation examination is divided into 3 parts making up the final matriculation examination in Polish. The student scores points for speaking, listening and writing. Classes at the SEN school are created very carefully, by qualified teachers with experience in preparing students for the LC exam. We guarantee attractive teaching methods conducted in a friendly atmosphere, where the student is an active participant of the classes.
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HISTORY
In our history lessons, we focus on learning and understanding the causes and effects of historical events.
In many Polish schools, historical content is implemented in conjunction with teaching geography in lessons called Knowledge about Poland. The advantage of our system is the ability to teach history as a separate subject. Thanks to this, we can implement an entire history program for primary school and high school classes.
In 4th class, students use the SEN textbook written by one of our history teachers alongside materials specially designed for bilingual students whose vocabulary is limited to everyday language. That is why we begin the adventure with this subject by introducing historical concepts so that students can understand and freely use specific terminology, both in writing and discussion. The content for 4th class introduces students to the subject of the beginnings of the Polish state, working with textbooks, various activities and proprietary presentations and lesson scenarios. The further stages of education in primary and secondary school classes are a tour through the history of Poland from the Middle Ages, through the early modern times to contemporary history.
It is widely known that we learn the fastest through active participation in classes, which is why we use the following methods in history lessons –
- Lego logos method,
- the reverse lesson method,
- mind maps,
- puzzles and lessons with props.
We also summarise knowledge in an innovative and attractive way. For this we use new technologies in the form of quizzes on such platforms as Quizizz, Kahoot, Google Forms and many others. As part of a summary of each semester, students themselves evaluate their work and acquired knowledge and skills. They create multimedia-based projects which help teachers to check whether the student can independently present the acquired knowledge and expresses themselves fluently using appropriate language and terminology.
GEOGRAPHY
Like history, geography in our school is a separate subject.
Geography lessons are an exciting journey around Poland. Geography in our school enables students to understand the contemporary world, including the perception of regional and global connections.
In geography lessons, students will get acquainted with geographic terminology such as the parallel, meridian, altitude, latitude, longitude, landscape types, etc. Terminology that may seem obvious to people brought up in Poland may not be as obvious to our bilingual students. Sample topics include: the geographical location of Poland, its neighbours, the most important cities, regions and interesting places worth visiting. We travel around Poland via „finger on the atlas”, but we also make virtual trips by making use of various online resources.
At each stage of geographical education, students create numerous projects, such as Baltic Sea ID cards or a walk around Warsaw, show me Krakow and its surroundings, my little homeland. As part of the lessons, students set up a travel agency for which they create a folder about a randomly selected city or region in Poland, construct a game about the Baltic Sea, design an eco-city, play the role of weather presenters and announce the weather forecast. In line with our motto – learning through play – we use quizzes, wheels of fortune, puns, songs and even dances during our lessons.
MATHS
Mathematical education at SEN can be broken down into different stages:
- 4th through 6th class of primary school,
- 7th and 8th class of primary school and 1st year of high school (corresponding to 1st, 2nd and 3rd year, i.e. the entire Junior Certificate cycle of secondary school respectively),
- – 2nd and 3rd and 4th class of high school (corresponding to TY/4th year, 5th year and 6th year in secondary school respectively).
Although mathematics is not a compulsory subject in Polish schools abroad, we have it in our offer, with its main task being the familiarisation of students with Polish mathematical terminology. Additionally, we place emphasis on developing students’ logical and analytical thinking skills combined with understanding of text-based tasks or questions. In classes 4-6, semester summaries are carried out using projects based on topics covered throughout that semester. Logical games and puzzles appear in the lessons. Students have the opportunity to work in small groups or pairs, where possible we use interactive methods.
In the later stages of education, in order to meet the needs and requests of parents, English begins to appear in math classes, both to allow for better understanding of specific terminology in both languages, as well as to prepare the students for exams in a more realistic form (after all, they will face the JC and LC maths exams in English). Students follow a preparation program for the Junior Certificate exam at Higher Level, and likewise for Leaving Certificate Higher Level in later classes. For the senior students (4th-6th year), mathematics is an optional subject.