Friends for Life and Fun Friends Training
What are the programmes about?

The FRIENDS programmes are evidence-based anxiety prevention and resilience building programmes, which consist of 10 to 12 sessions and complement the SPHE curriculum. The programme can be run by teachers as a whole class programme, or as a small group intervention. They aim to promote resilience in students by teaching strategies to cope with normal everyday challenges, including worry, stress, change and anxiety. More information can be found on: www.friendsresilience.org

Who should attend?

Class teachers, special education teachers, deputy principals and principals can all benefit from attending training.

Friends training hosted live via Zoom, over four webinars during the School Year 2022/23

Session 1: Tuesday, Jan 17th 2023 (3pm – 5.30pm)

Session 2: Monday, Jan 23rd 2023 (3pm – 5.30pm)

Session 3: Tuesday Jan 31st 2023 (3pm – 5.30pm)

Session 4: Tuesday Feb 7th 2023 (3pm – 5.30pm)

Full attendance at all sessions is compulsory for certification purposes.

This year, the FRIENDS course is being offered to DEIS schools, with priority for schools which are new to DEIS. If you would like to apply for this course, please click on the online registration link below.

Following your expression of interest, all applications will be reviewed and the Education Centre will be in touch in due course to indicate if your teacher/s have been allocated place/s.

Please submit an expression of interest through the following link - here.

Closing date for applications: December 20th 2022

What are the Costs?

There is no cost for training.
After training, the cost of the Activity Book is currently €10. Each student must have their own, original Activity Book.
The Facilitator Manual is between €12- €50 (depending on the book format: printed or PDF) which is available after training from FRIENDS Resilience. One Facilitator Manual must be available to the teacher delivering the programme.
How to order Books?

Only teachers registered as Certified Facilitators with FRIENDS Resilience can order books and access resources (posters, videos, links) for running the programmes in their classrooms. They order books through their online FRIENDS Resilience Hub (details of which they receive at training) and receive free resources following book purchase.

Submit an expression of interest here

The Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) will be commencing Phase 3 of its Formative Assessment Using Digital Portfolios initiative for primary schools in January.

It is envisaged that 18 schools will be involved in this programme throughout the school from January to June 2023. We recommend that a small number of teachers per school participate in this initiative and key learnings can be shared with the rest of the teachers after the initiative has concluded. This initiative focuses on the manner in which formative assessment can be effectively supported and enhanced in the classroom through the use of digital portfolios. Reflection upon this process will form a core component.

Engagement in this project will involve the following key aspects:
Attendance at a face-to-face launch event on January 18th from exploring the initiative and it's key tenets.
Staff completion of a short online digital portfolio course (1.5 hours in duration) prior to the first school visitor from the advisor, delivered through PDST’s online learning platform.

Three school visits per school from a PDST advisor to support teachers in exploring, creating and using digital portfolios for formative assessment, along with a potential online support session.

Attendance at a face-to-face Shared Learning Day on June 14th.

Substitute cover will be provided for two teachers per school to attend both face-to-face events.

If you wish to take part in this initiative, please complete the online expression of interest form here or at tiny.cc/digitalportfolios2023. Closing date for expressions of interest is December 16th at 5pm. Schools will be randomly selected to participate and successful applicants will be contacted in late December.

CLICK HERE TO BOOK

EDelia will also be running a free one hour Webinar : Introduction to Coaching & Mentoring.
The workshop runs for one hour and will take place on Wednesday, 7th of December at 6.30 pm. This course is created for beginners that are curious about what coaching is and how it might be used in both a professional and personal setting. Participants can learn more about how to use a solution-focused approach, gain insight into what motivates people and more.

You can register HERE to secure your place