Paradise Place ETNS

Paradise Place ETNS is a DEIS Band 1 primary school in Dublin’s north inner city, on Upper Dorset Street, close to Parnell Square. The school has a diverse population: 240 children on roll, there are 35+ languages spoken and nearly 90% of children speak English as an additional language. In April 2024, the school was the first school in Ireland to change from Catholic to multidenominational Educate Together patronage. Check out their website here.

As a DCU Changemaker School, we embrace the pillars of empathy, creativity, leadership and teamwork. We want to nurture our children to be passionate about creating positive change in our community. As a Changemaker School, we empower our students with the skills, mindset, and opportunities to tackle real-world challenges, promote sustainability, and drive social impact. Being part of the network enables us to expand our initiatives, connect with like-minded, forward-thinking schools, and strengthen our commitment to community engagement and social innovation.

Restorative Practice

Relationships are at the heart of everything that happens in Paradise Place ETNS. The school is committed to the building of positive and healthy relationships that support the wellbeing of all so that everyone in the school community feels valued and connected. As a restorative school, there is a culture of kindness, care and respect that allows everyone to flourish and connect in community. Relational thinking and practices encourage high expectations and there is an empathetic approach to work with learners to meet their immediate needs. The school uses daily morning circles in every class to teach values explicitly, to build strong relationships and to share key messages with children. 

Language Explorers Programme

Paradise Place ETNS create strong links between celebrating linguistic diversity and creating a sense of belonging and pride in your heritage and culture and was the first school in Ireland to run the Young Interpreters programme. Children explore their creativity through the Language Explorers programme. Parents/carers are invited to share their languages as part of these sessions and artists and storytellers from different traditions are invited to visit too. Children become aware of their own language abilities and learn something new about one other and about the people who live in their local community. The school has shared its language work widely and examples are included by the NCCA in its support material for the Primary Language Curriculum, were acknowledged by the Department of Education’s Inspectorate as exemplary practice and in 2021, the school won the European Language Label for their work on linguistic diversity and language awareness.
 

Children as Leaders

Children at Paradise Place ETNS are actively encouraged to make decisions about what happens in their school. They learn about the part they can play in making decisions and how to speak up for the rights of children around the world. The school has a number of children’s teams so that children can have a voice in how the school is run and how new ideas and projects are developed. The team of Anti-Bullying Ambassadors and Friendship Keepers focus their efforts on promoting kindness and care for one another. The Young Interpreters work with children who are new to English to support them in their first few days and months in a new school. Lámh Ambassadors visit classes across the school to share and teach Lámh signs to everyone. They work alongside the Diversity Team to promote diversity and inclusion in the school community. The Playleaders team lead games and activities at lunchtime while the Green Schools team look after the gardens spaces and all things sustainability. Each of these teams then have a representative on the school Student Council.