Knockevin School acquire Social School Award

Congratulations go to Knockevin Special School who acquired their Social School Award for their reflective and needs-driven approach to using social media.

Knockevin School Social Schools Award

Knockevin had just two years of social media engagement under their belt, however their experience and evidence submitted for the award was deemed impressive. Under the leadership of Principal Sara Liddell, the team at Knockevin demonstrated a clear understanding and belief in the role of good communication as a tool for inclusion.

A key feature of Knockevin’s story is how their journey and learning seems to have been accelerated in the last year by the pandemic. The school involved
parents in order to focus school effort in the optimal places, to understand what the different platforms could offer. Facebook, YouTube with Twitter served wider connectivity goals during several lockdowns, offering parents and children consistency while also supporting their own professional networks.

Knockevin’s submission told their story very well and highlighted the strengths of the school’s approach among which, as an example, is the use of Makaton. Although this is a part of daily life at school it could easily have been overlooked in the context of using social media.  The school’s confidence to experiment and learn new things with social media, such as developing a YouTube channel, can be attributed to a positive culture where Governors and parents show a lot of belief in the school leadership.

Sara Liddell, Principal, Knockevin School commented,

“I'd really like to highlight the important role social media played in helping us as a school retain our sense of 'togetherness' during lockdown. It was a great way to share photos and videos of pupils engaging in home learning, hold virtual events such as sports day and host whole school challenges. Staff also created content such as a Makaton signed video of 'We'll Meet Again' to show the pupils that they were thinking of them. We have learned a lot from this experience and have plans to further develop our ability to connect, promote and engage online.”

 

25 May 2021