First Steps

Getting started ? Questions and activities to stimulate discussion about the new Junior Cycle in your school.

Presentations and Tools

• Junior Cycle Planning: Initial questions to stimulate discussion (pdf) 
• Junior Cycle Overview: Staff Presentation (ppt) and Speaker Notes (pdf) 
• Presentation for parents (pdf) 
• Consulting with students about Junior Cycle (pdf) 
• Surveying staff on their interests and skills (pdf) 

Whole Staff Activities

• Introductory Session: Ice-breaker activity (pdf) 
• Subject Department Meetings: An exercise to examine the Key Skills (pdf) 
• Templates to help plan for key skills within subject planning:

• Examining the eight Principles of a new junior cycle (pdf) 
• Planning to meet the 24 statements of Learning within a new junior cycle programme (pdf) 

Case studies of planning

St. Mark's Community School

• How we got started with the Framework in 2012/2013 (doc.) 
• Presentation to Staff on Junior Cycle: St Marks (ppt) 

Handouts for staff workshops:

• Handout 1: The 24 Statements of Learning (doc.)
• Handout 2 (doc.) 
• Handout 3: Student Reflection Sheet (doc.) 

Videos

• A short video in which different schools talk about their experience of junior cycle planning (8 min. 07) 
• Look at the School Self Evaluation handout (pdf) and then view this short video (5 min. 12) to see how St Colmcille’s Community School, Knocklyon has linked up JC planning with SSE