Resources & Assessments
The following assessments & resources are available to schools to borrow from Clare Education Centre. Please contact
NEW!! Sex & Relationships Education
A Visual Programme for Learners with Autism by Fiona Speirs.
Download the accompanying Digital Companion Page HERE (can only be accessed when you have the pack)
NEW!! Personal, Social and Health Education Resource for Learners with Autism and other Learning Challenges
A highly visual full-colour modular resource that offers a comprehensive PHSE (SPHE) programme to help learners develop an understanding of self and others in social situations By Fiona Speirs.
Download the Accompanying Digital Companion Page HERE (can only be accessed when you have the pack)
NEW!! YARC - York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension (YARC)
A detailed analysis of reading skills for every phase of learning.
There is a York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension (YARC) appropriate to all school age ranges: Early Reading, Primary Passage Reading and Secondary Passage Reading.
This individually-administered reading assessment allows you to closely observe a pupil’s reading behaviours, strengths and areas for development. It breaks down the components of reading so that you can target specific skills to bring about rapid progress. Parallel forms of the assessment allow you to measure the impact of interventions.
YARC can be used independently or as a follow-up assessment, aligning with the Simple View of Reading to provide a balanced profile of decoding and comprehension skills.
LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Essential Set
LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Essential gets primary school students excited about hands-on STEAM learning. This playful, narrative-based learning experience is part of the LEGO Learning System and encourages students to investigate STEAM concepts while contributing to literacy, math, and social-emotional development. This 449-piece set comes with 4 minifigures with their own personalities, who act as storytellers to make problem-solving relatable to all students. Icon- and word-based block coding with simple hardware – including an intelligent 2-port Hub, 2 Small Motors, a Light Matrix, and a Color Sensor – also bring students’ creations to life. The set also includes a colorful selection of familiar and age-appropriate LEGO bricks, replacement elements, and a durable storage box with color-coded sorting trays to ease the building process and classroom management. Part of the LEGO Learning System, SPIKE Essential offers 5 units of 8 x 45-minute, standards-aligned STEAM lessons. Each lesson includes comprehensive online lesson plans with math and language arts extensions. We also provide assessment rubrics and videos to support teachers. To further build teachers’ confidence and prepare them for successful STEAM teaching using the LEGO Learning System, SPIKE Essential is supported by a comprehensive professional development program.
- 4 relatable minifigures with diverse identities and characteristics foster problem-solving and social-emotional learning.
- Includes 2 Small Motors, a Color Sensor, 3x3 Color Light Matrix, and an intelligent Small Hub with 2 I/O ports, Bluetooth connectivity, 6-axis gyro and a rechargeable Li-ion battery with micro USB charging and connection port.
- 449-piece set also includes a selection of familiar LEGO® bricks and replacement elements for intuitive and easy construction.
- Sturdy storage box with color-coded sorting trays for easy classroom management.
- The SPIKE™ App, featuring age-appropriate icon- and word-based coding based on Scratch, helps develop student coding skills.
- 5 units of 8 x 45-minute, standards-aligned lessons encourage independent STEAM thinking through playful, narrative-based problem-solving.
- Comprehensive teaching resources for each lesson give every teacher confidence to deliver engaging lessons.Key learning values
- Develop computational thinking skills, including creating and modifying sequences, testing, debugging, and using loops.
- Explore the engineering design process, including defining a problem, brainstorming solutions, and testing and refining prototypes.
- Investigate the scientific concepts of energy, energy transfer, and collision.
- Strengthen oral communication skills as students discuss their experiences collaboratively.
- Engage in narrative-based problem-solving.
- Develop social-emotional language by helping a main story character solve a problem.
LegoWeDo 2.0
Designed for primary school classrooms, the WeDo 2.0 Core Set is a hands-on solution that enhances pupils' curiosity and skills in computing and science. The set is delivered in a storage bin along with sorting trays, labels, a Smarthub, a Medium Motor, Motion Sensor, a Tilt Sensor, and enough building elements for two pupils. For more information & to borrow the Lego WeDo please contact
Talk Boost KS1 Kit
Talk Boost KS1 is a targeted intervention for 4-7 year old children with language that is delayed, including children in Reception classes. The programme is delivered in primary schools by classroom teachers and teaching assistants and provides a structured programme that boosts children’s progress in language and communication by an average of 9 - 18 months after a ten week intervention.
Children who are selected to take part in the intervention will attend three sessions per week in small groups, each lasting 30-40 minutes delivered by the teaching assistant. The sessions include activities that cover the key elements of language: Attention and Listening, Vocabulary, Building Sentences, Telling Stories and Conversations. In addition, the teacher will run a weekly whole-class activity and there are activities that can be practiced at home. Further introductory information can be found HERE.
WIAT-III
Wechsler Individual Achievement Test® | Third Edition (WIAT®-III) is an individually administered achievement test for use in a variety of clinical, educational, and research settings.
WRAT-5
The WRAT5 is easy to administer screener that provides an accurate way to identify possible learning disabilities, assess and monitor reading, spelling, and maths skills in people aged 5–85+ and helps to identify possible learning disabilities.
Test 2R
TEST2r is a tool to assist teachers in the classroom to devise a programme to meet the learning needs of each pupil. This test is based on the literature regarding reading development and sub-skills required by children to become competent and flexible readers. As such, the tool is designed for use by children at the age of 5/6 years.
The British Picture Vocabulary Scale - BPVSIII
BPVS3 is a one-to-one test in a simple and easy to administer format. For each question, you say a word and the pupil responds by selecting a picture from four options that best illustrates that word's meaning.
Please See Below for A List of Some Very Useful Online Resources:
- https://www.esci.ie/news/208-substitute-teaching-resource-toolkit.html
- https://padlet.com/reception21/wo6df8j6irz6
- https://padlet.com/reception21/5a7qs25rb5w6
Ready, Set, Go - Maths
'Ready, Set, Go – Maths' was produced by The Northern Ireland Steering Group for Numeracy to address the question, ‘How can the quality and effectiveness of early learning in numeracy be improved for children who find maths difficult?’ Eunice Pitt led the project from September 1999 – August 2001.
It was based in ten primary schools and followed the children in their first two years at school.
Books can be purchased & collected from Clare Education Centre for €20. (Postage can be arranged for an additional fee)
Please contact
Bee-Bots
Bee-Bot is an exciting programmable floor robot, designed specifically for use by young children. This colorful, easy-to-operate, and friendly little robot is a perfect tool for teaching sequencing, estimation, problem-solving, and just having fun! To enuire about the Bee-Bots please contact
IZAK9
iPads
We also have a number of Ipads available to rent to schools. Please contact
The Bronze Age Handling Box
Take a step back in time
The Bronze Age Handling Box Project arose an ambition at the National Museum of Ireland to enable young people to learn about the past through the study and handling of objects.
It enables young people to work as historians and archaeologists and encourages them to engage with the past in a thought-provoking and fun way. Using an enquiry-based approach, it provides opportunities to develop literacy, language and problem solving skills and appeals to a range of learning styles and ability levels.
The Bronze Age Handling Box is available for loan to schools on a rotational basis for a period of up to two weeks subject to availability. Please contact
