Developmental Education Committee

The Developmental Education committee of Willow Park Junior School has had a very busy week recently. The committee is comprised of eight elected representatives four from 5th and four from 6th form.

Patrick Agnew, Sebastian Simons, Sam Hickey and Cillian Hall from 5th form. Conor McCourt, Barry McEvaddy, Tom McAleese and Gearoid Nutley from 6th form. As well as participating in a beach clean-up with Blackrock College and Willow Senior School, they also hosted a workshop with Sightsavers. Developmental Education committees from St. Mary's Junior School, St. Michael's and Willow Senior School also attended.

Sightsavers is a charity that works in more than 30 countries worldwide, focusing on Africa and Asia. Their aim is to support inclusive education where children with visual impairments and other disabilities are taught alongside their peers in mainstream schools. They work alongside governments to ensure all children with disabilities have access to quality education.

During the workshop, Sightsavers showed the boys case studies involving school children that they had directly worked with recently. For instance Stella a 16 year old student, suffering from dyspraxia, had never been to school as she was unable to walk the long journey. Sightsavers organised a daily motor bike commute to school for Stella. One year later, she is now top of her class.

The boys also learned about the 17 sustainable development goals of Sightsavers. Activity packs consisting of glasses were distributed to the boys, enabling them to experience the early stages of vision loss as well as developing the boys’ awareness of the challenges children face around the world.