BCNS Learning Toolkits 2023/2024
The new ‘Free Primary School Books Scheme’ enables schools to invest in high-quality teaching and learning resources, including textbooks, for all classes. As part of the scheme, the DES advised that parents may need to buy additional items for children to use at school, such as a minimum number of personal workbooks and stationery for your child’s own use, which cannot be used by another child.
As a school still in its infancy, BCNS is building its resource bank of school rental books. We are catching up with other well-established schools. This is because DES grants have been based on enrolment numbers and our school has grown from 4 children in 2018 to 88 children, today. For this reason, the grants received have fallen short of what was needed to meet our ambitions for children’s learning. We have been gratefully reliant on gifts and donations and the goodwill of our community, to supplement our limited budget and we have received second-hand books when offered by schools updating their resource bank. All of the grant for the ‘Free Primary School Books Scheme’ is being deployed on essential school books and resources for children at BCNS in 2023/2024 (and beyond) including textbooks, reference books (atlases and dictionaries), reading schemes, workbooks, copies (refil pads, folders, ring-binders) and online subscriptions.
A Learning Toolkit has been prepared for each class for the 2023/2024 School Year. For each class, items on the personal Learning Toolkit cost €18-25. The ‘Learning Toolkit’ replaces the traditional ‘Booklist’ and is available available for each class at the links below: