Cork Education Support Centre

📚 Teaching Othello at Senior Cycle? Looking for fresh approaches to engage your Leaving Cert students?

Join Caragh Bell for a practical, hands-on webinar designed specifically for post-primary English teachers who want to deepen their toolkit and bring new energy to the senior cycle classroom.

In this engaging session, you'll discover:

✅ Practical classroom strategies for making Othello accessible and engaging at Higher and Ordinary Level
✅ Techniques for helping students explore the play's key themes
✅ Exam-focused approaches to support student success
✅ Ready-to-use resources and ideas you can bring straight into your classroom

Whether you're teaching Othello for the first time or revisiting it with a new cohort, this webinar offers valuable insights, practical strategies, and fresh inspiration for your classroom.

👩‍🏫 Presenter: Caragh Bell – English and French teacher, published author, and experienced educator known for her innovative and engaging approaches to teaching and learning.

🎟️ Register now: https://www.cesc.ie/cpd-courses/post-primary-courses/4039-26-9161-aut-teaching-othello-at-senior-cycle.html

EPV APPROVED SUMMER COURSE – 3 EPV DAYS ♟️

Looking for a summer course that's practical, enjoyable, and genuinely useful in the classroom?

Chess for Social & Cognitive Skills is unlike any other summer course. With 386 teachers having completed the course to date, it has earned a reputation as one of the most engaging and hands-on EPV courses available.

Chess is rapidly growing in Irish primary schools, with 1 in 5 schools now part of the Ficheall network. More than just a game, chess is a powerful tool for developing essential social and cognitive skills while supporting the SPHE curriculum from 1st to 6th class.

During this highly interactive course, teachers will learn:

✅ How to play chess from complete beginner level
✅ Fun, games-based methods for teaching chess to primary pupils
✅ How chess can support SPHE through the development of:
• Respect
• Resilience
• Problem-solving
• Decision-making
• Forward planning
• Accepting defeat positively
• Developing a productive disposition towards challenges

✅ How to organise a school chess club, chess team, and in-school competitions
✅ How to prepare pupils for Féile Fichille's fun, friendly, non-competitive chess events

No previous chess experience is required. Teachers learn by playing a variety of chess mini-games with fellow participants in a relaxed, supportive environment.

⭐ "Hands down the most engaging EPV course I've ever attended!"

⭐ "It's the first time I'm sad a summer course is over. SIGN UP! You won't regret it!"

⭐ "As a total chess novice, it was personally and professionally the best course EVER!!"

⭐ "Leaving the course knowing how to play well and how to set up chess in the classroom."

This course empowers teachers to inspire pupils to develop a lifelong enjoyment of one of the world's oldest and most rewarding games, while simultaneously supporting pupil wellbeing, social skills, and cognitive development.

♟️ Approved for 3 EPV Days
📚 Suitable for mainstream and special education teachers
🌞 A fun, practical, and highly engaging week of professional learning

Book your place today and discover why so many teachers are bringing chess into their classrooms: https://www.cesc.ie/cpd-courses/search-result.html?search=chess&layout=table

📢 Diabetes in Schools – Online Webinar for Teachers & SNAs

Many children attending our schools are living with diabetes. This informative two-session webinar will provide teachers and SNAs with practical knowledge and confidence to support students with diabetes in the school setting. The course covers diabetes awareness, blood glucose monitoring, managing emergencies, diabetes technology, mental health, and available school supports.

📚 Topics Include:

✅ What is diabetes?
✅ Types of diabetes and medication
✅ Blood glucose testing
✅ Hypoglycaemia & hyperglycaemia – causes, symptoms and actions
✅ Factors affecting blood glucose levels
✅ Exercise and diabetes
✅ Diabetes coma/shock and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA)
✅ Insulin pumps, Flash Glucose Monitors (FGM) & Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGM)
✅ Loop systems
✅ Assisting students at school
✅ HSE Care Needs documentation
✅ KiDS Diabetes Education Programme for Schools
✅ Diabetes and mental health
✅ Helpful resources and supports

📅 Course Dates:
🗓 Monday 28th September | 7.00pm – 8.00pm
🗓 Monday 5th October | 7.00pm – 8.00pm

👩‍🏫 Ideal for teachers and SNAs working with children who have diabetes.

🔗 Book your place here:
https://www.cesc.ie/cpd-courses/primary-courses/4049-26-9202-aut-diabetes-in-schools-2-session-course.html

Summer Course: Digital Innovation with LEGO® Education & Bee-Bots Summer Course for Primary Teachers 🚀

Ready to bring coding, robotics, AI, and digital innovation into your classroom?

Join us this summer for a hands-on, practical course designed to empower primary teachers with the skills, confidence, and resources to integrate digital technologies across the curriculum.

📅 1st – 7th July 2026
🕤 9:30am – 2:00pm
📍 Cork Education Support Centre

Explore innovative ways to use:
🤖 LEGO® SPIKE Essential
🐝 Bee-Bots
💡 Artificial Intelligence (AI)

You'll discover practical strategies for developing:
✅ Computational Thinking
✅ Creativity & Problem-Solving
✅ Digital Citizenship
✅ Digital Competencies
✅ Inclusive Learning using Digital Tools (UDL)
✅ Coding Activities for All Class Levels
✅ Digital Learning Planning

This engaging face-to-face course will help you enhance STEM learning opportunities, demystify AI, and leave with classroom-ready ideas that can be implemented immediately.

🎯 Facilitated by Oide Technology in Education tutors
🎯 Limited places available

👉 Book your place today:
https://www.cesc.ie/cpd-courses/summer-courses/4003-26-8900-sum-oide-tie-digital-innovation-with-lego-spike-and-beebots.html

❤️ Could you save a life?

Our AED Training & Cardiac First Response (CFR) Course provides the essential skills and confidence to respond effectively in a life-threatening emergency.

You will learn:
✅ CPR and Basic Life Support
✅ Automated External Defibrillator (AED) use
✅ Choking and airway obstruction management
✅ Stroke and heart attack recognition
✅ Recovery Position
✅ Scene safety, communication and patient assessment

🎓 Participants will receive a PHECC/RI Cardiac First Response Certificate, valid for 2 years.

📅 Saturday 10th October
📍 Cork Education Support Centre

Places are limited. Book your place today:
https://www.cesc.ie/cpd-courses/primary-courses/3954-26-9243-aut-aed-training-cardiac-first-response-course.html

📚✨ Spend a Morning with Neil Griffiths – Creator of Storysacks! ✨📚

Are you passionate about supporting children's literacy and helping families develop a love of reading at home?

Join us for an inspiring and practical workshop with Neil Griffiths, the creator of the internationally acclaimed Storysacks programme. This engaging session will provide creative ideas, practical strategies, and renewed motivation to support family literacy in meaningful and enjoyable ways.

📅 Date: Wednesday, 17 June 2026
⏰ Time: 10:00am – 12:30pm
📝 Registration from 9:30am | Lunch served at 12:30pm
📍 Venue: Cork Education Support Centre, T12 KC86

This workshop is ideal for educators, literacy practitioners, family support workers, community educators, and anyone interested in promoting literacy in the home.

🌟 Gain practical tools to engage children and families in reading
🌟 Discover the power of Storysacks in developing literacy skills
🌟 Connect with others who are passionate about literacy and learning

🎟️ Places are limited – register now using the QR code on the poster.

For further information, contact:
📧 Helen Walsh, Family Literacy Lead, Adult Literacy for Life
[email protected]

📢 Assistive Technology for Students with Low/No Vision – Online Workshop

Are you a Primary or Post-Primary Teacher or SNA supporting students with visual impairments?

Join this practical and informative online workshop delivered by Deirdre Madden, Assistive Technology Outreach Coordinator with UCC Disability Support Service, and discover how assistive technology can help students with low or no vision access learning more independently and effectively.

💡 What you'll learn:
✅ What Assistive Technology (AT) is and how it supports learning
✅ Best practices for students using computers with AT
✅ Resources to develop touch-typing skills
✅ Dragon Naturally Speaking and free speech-to-text alternatives
✅ Built-in magnification and accessibility features on iPads and Windows devices
✅ Electronic and hard-copy magnification options, including ZoomText, Optiverso, Eclipse and Liberty Scholar
✅ Useful scanning, OCR, typing and accessibility apps
✅ Screen readers such as JAWS and VoiceOver, plus text-to-speech software
✅ How to access alternative learning materials (electronic, audio, large print and Braille formats)
✅ Information on DARE (Disability Access Route to Education) and HEAR (Higher Education Access Route)

This workshop is ideal for educators who want practical strategies and tools to create more accessible and inclusive learning environments for students with low or no vision.

🔗 Book your place today: https://www.cesc.ie/cpd-courses/primary-courses/4041-26-9168-aut-assistive-technology-for-students-with-low-no-vision.html

🧠✨ Introduction to XMind Mind Mapping – Online Workshop ✨🧠

Are you looking for practical ways to support visual learners, improve student organisation and enhance study skills?

Join Deirdre Madden, Assistive Technology Outreach Coordinator with UCC Disability Support Service, for this engaging online workshop designed for Primary and Post-Primary Teachers and SNAs.

During this workshop, you will learn:

✅ What Assistive Technology (AT) is and how it can support learners
✅ Tips for helping students use technology effectively
✅ What mind maps are and why they work
✅ How to download and use the FREE XMind software
✅ How to create mind maps using templates or from scratch
✅ How mind mapping can support:
• Visual learners
• Essay and project planning
• Note-taking, study and revision

Mind mapping is a powerful tool that helps students organise ideas, make connections and become more independent learners.

📍 Online Workshop

🔗 Register here:
https://www.cesc.ie/cpd-courses/primary-courses/4040-26-9167-aut-assistive-technology-xmind-mind-mapping.html

🔎📚 Pedagogical Raiders of the Past Papers 📚🔎

Are you looking for fresh and creative ways to engage your English students? Join us for Pedagogical Raiders of the Past Papers, a series of three stand-alone webinars exploring the rich pedagogical possibilities hidden within archived Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate English examination materials.

Our experienced presenters, Carmel Hinchion, Rachel Lenihan, and Deirdre Henchy, will share practical teaching strategies inspired by these free and readily available resources, encouraging teachers to become creative "Pedagogical Raiders" of past papers.

📅 Webinar Dates:
• Thursday, October 8th
• Wednesday, October 14th
• Tuesday, October 20th

⏰ Each session is one hour long and will focus on a different theme and pedagogical approach.

Don't miss this opportunity to discover innovative ways to enrich your English classroom practice!

👉 Register here: https://www.cesc.ie/cpd-courses/post-primary-courses/4046-26-9215-aut-pedagogical-raiders-of-the-past-papers.html

🚑 School First Aid Training Course – Build Confidence, Save Lives 🚑

Would you know what to do in a medical emergency at school?

Join our School First Aid Training Course at the Cork Education Support Centre and gain the practical skills, knowledge, and confidence needed to respond effectively in a school setting.

✅ Topics Covered:

Incident Reporting
Concussion
Choking
Bleeding
Broken Bones
Breathing Problems
Wellbeing of the First Aider

This practical and engaging course is specifically designed for teachers and SNAs, allowing us to explore real-life challenges encountered in schools and discuss effective, practical solutions.

🍽️ Lunch Included

📜 Certified by Practical First Aid Solutions

💬 What Participants Said About Our Last Course:
⭐ “Excellent course”
⭐ “Extremely worthwhile course”
⭐ “Excellent trainers”
⭐ “Very informative and related to our profession”

Whether you are new to first aid or looking to refresh your skills, this course provides invaluable training that could make a real difference in an emergency.

📍 Venue: Cork Education Support Centre

🔗 Book your place today:
https://www.cesc.ie/cpd-courses/primary-courses/4048-26-9242-aut-first-aid-in-the-school-setting-face-to-face.html