2026 Online Registration Sponsor
Enabling Every Child to Thrive: Leading Child Agency and Participation
The Primary Curriculum Framework outlines eight Principles of Learning, Teaching and Assessment. One of them, Engagement and Participation, states that ‘Children are active and demonstrate agency as the capacity to act independently and to make choices about and in their learning.
Curriculum experiences provide them with opportunities for decision-making, creativity, and collaboration.’ This seminar provides practical suggestions on how school leaders can enable this central aspect of the PCF.
Available on Wednesday, Nov 18th & Thursday, Nov 19th
Conflict is Inevitable, Combat is Optional
Drawing from the Dealing with Conflict Resource Bundle, this seminar will explore practical approaches to the management of conflict and the establishment of a solution driven culture within the school community.
It will include
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How conflict can escalate
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Managing conflict appropriately
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Facilitating and leading conversations with a view to developing a Dignity and Respect in the Workplace policy and charter
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Communication and interpersonal skill development for all staff in managing conflict situations
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8 step approach to difficult conversations
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Useful resources.
Available on Wednesday, Nov 18th & Thursday, Nov 19th
Essential Law for You - Top Tips for the School Leader in 2026/27
Given the increasing complexity and legislative demands on school management, knowledge of some aspects of law is essential. Your initial response to a scenario could be critical to the outcome. The seminar will address issues of current relevance to schools, with a focus on
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Behaviours of Concern – Physical - Restraint/Seclusion/Suspensions/Expulsions
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Latest Case Law
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Teaching Council/Ombudsman for Children investigations.
Available on Wednesday, Nov 18th & Thursday, Nov 19th
Feeling Overwhelmed? Naming It, Owning It, Changing It
This seminar will focus on the complexity of the role expected of school leaders in today’s system. It will address the core misunderstanding that overwhelm is a character flaw whereas it is a signal that ought not to be ignored.
It will explore what overwhelm is, why principals are particularly exposed to it, why naming it reduces its impact and how owning it leads to capacity to change it. It is anticipated that participants will feel equipped to broaden their perspective on their workload and develop the levers that can make it more manageable.
Available on Wednesday, Nov 18th & Thursday, Nov 19th
PrincipalMeet – Practical ideas that could work in your school
PrincipalMeet is an opportunity to listen to your fellow principals share good practice, practical ideas and personal insights into primary education and leadership, on a diverse range of topics. Each speaker will have approximately 10 minutes to speak on their given topic, so attendees will leave with several examples of good practice that may be relevant to your school context.
Available on Wednesday, Nov 18th & Thursday, Nov 19th
Supports for Leading Curriculum Enactment
This seminar will focus on the leadership of curriculum enactment in schools. Building on the Leading the Enactment of the Primary Curriculum Professional Learning Experience, the seminar will concentrate on the practical structures, processes and supports leaders can use to enable effective enactment.
Through shared reflection and dialogue, participants will explore how to plan for, lead and sustain change across the whole school.
Oide Leadership Team
Available on Wednesday, Nov 18th & Thursday, Nov 19th
Dyslexia Screening: From Complexity to Simplicity
This seminar will address three key issues in relation to supporting dyslexia in primary schools:
•The importance of early and appropriate dyslexia screening
•The importance of consistent evidence-based intervention
•The importance of expertise within the staff group.
We will share case-studies of two students who have similar dyslexia profiles, but who have very different outcomes at the end of primary school. It will be proposed that the difference in outcomes is primarily based on what their school did in terms of the three aforementioned themes.
Available on Wednesday, Nov 18th Only
What Is Mine to Carry? Flourishing Leadership in a Role That Asks So Much
You became a school leader because you care deeply about children, learning, staff and community. Yet somewhere along the way, many principals find themselves carrying responsibilities that extend far beyond educational leadership. In a role where everything can feel urgent and important, how do you decide what is truly yours to carry?
This interactive seminar invites you to step back from the day-to-day demands of school leadership and explore a powerful question: What is mine to carry – and what is not?
Together, we will explore the difference between surviving and flourishing in leadership, challenge some of the common beliefs that keep good leaders overwhelmed, and reconnect with the work that only you, as principal, can do.
Available on Wednesday, Nov 18th Only
Maybe you have to let it destroy you - what’s working well in a DEIS Plus school
In this seminar, the focus will be on practical actions that school leaders can take that support:
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building resilience in themselves and in staff
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improving classroom management skills
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responding to challenging behaviour
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managing critical incidents developing parent - child - staff relationships
by looking at what is working well in a DEIS Plus school.
Available on Wednesday, Nov 18th Only
Inclusion in Practice: Leading a Culture Where Everyone Belongs
This seminar will explore what it means to lead an authentic culture of inclusion in a busy primary school, where inclusion is not limited to programmes, policies or particular groups of children, but is reflected in the everyday experience of the whole school community.
The session will focus on practical examples of how principals can lead inclusion in a way that is real, manageable and understood in the context of their own schools.
Schools are working within real limits and systemic barriers, but school leaders still make daily decisions that can move a school closer to being a place of belonging.
I will share some of my experience in different contexts, what has helped, and what we are still working on. Participants will also be invited to reflect on their own settings and to share examples from their own schools, so that we can learn from each other.
Available on Wednesday, Nov 18th Only
From Many Nations, One School Community - How we welcome every child
At Ballinlough National School, we believe every child deserves to feel safe, welcomed, valued and included from day one. As a ‘Champion School of Sanctuary’, we have built a school community where diversity is celebrated and every child belongs.
Our rural DEIS school has welcomed families from many countries, cultures and backgrounds. Our classrooms now reflect rich languages, traditions and experiences; creating daily opportunities for children to learn from one another. We understand that moving to a new country and school brings both excitement and challenge and we work to make that transition as positive and supportive as possible.
Our sanctuary commitment is lived every day. We use Universal Design for Learning, visual supports, inclusive teaching and restorative practices to remove barriers and help all pupils participate fully. We celebrate home languages while supporting English language development through active, collaborative learning. We foster kindness, empathy and pupil voice through wellbeing initiatives, multicultural celebrations and shared learning.
Being a Champion School of Sanctuary reflects who we are; our values, our daily work and our promise that every child and family feels seen, heard and welcomed. At Ballinlough National School, sanctuary means creating a place where everyone can grow, succeed and belong together.
Available on Thursday, Nov 19th Only
Responding to Adverse Childhood Experiences – Practical approaches for schools
This interactive workshop explores how schools can respond effectively and compassionately to the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) through a restorative practice lens.
The session will prioritise practical, relationship-based approaches to creating safe, connected, and emotionally supportive school communities for both students and staff, fostering a culture of belonging and repair.
Available on Thursday, Nov 19th Only
The Yard Effect – An overlooked lever for sustainable, inclusive schools
As schools navigate curriculum change and rising priorities across wellbeing, inclusion and equity, a powerful driver of change may be hiding in plain sight: breaktime. This 90 minute seminar reframes breaktime as a children’s rights issue (UNCRC Article 31) and equips leaders with practical tools to act.
Breaktimes, around 12% of the school day, are more than gaps between “real” learning. For many children, they are the last dependable opportunity for freely chosen play: to move, connect with peers, take manageable risks, imagine and reset.
Yet outdoor play is shrinking, shaped less by children’s needs than by weather, curriculum pressure, limited funding and supervision constraints. Irish research mirrors global patterns, squeezed free play time, hard-surfaced yards with few natural areas or loose materials, and safety-led rules with limited practical guidance. Schools are pulled into a spiral of tighter rules, narrower play, and rising boredom and conflict, showing up in classrooms often as fatigue, weaker motor skills, dysregulation, fallouts and lost learning time.
In the seminar, we introduce the significant evidence underpinning play rights, policy alignment, insights from collaborative work with Irish schools and play sufficiency criteria (time, space, permission) for enabling play in schoolyards.
Participants will complete a rapid audit of their own context, troubleshoot barriers, and identify low-cost actions (e.g., child-led audits, zoning, loose parts, space tweaks, risk–benefit language). In small groups, we will apply the criteria in a micro redesign task that shifts practice from supervising against risk to creating conditions for play, leaving with open access resources.
Available on Thursday, Nov 19th Only
Leading for Inclusion, stories of hope, courage and the right to belong
Derval will present on the experiences of disabled children in our school system through stories and narratives which provide opportunity to reflect. Through an engaged and interactive session with participants, Derval will explore what needs to change in the system so that all children can be included and receive an ambitious, high-quality education.
The role of school leadership in fostering inclusive cultures will be a focus of discussion. The session will be warm, reflective and empowering. It is designed for leaders who need space to examine with curiosity what is possible for school communities when inclusion is a living value.
Available on Thursday, Nov 19th Only