Ms Noreen O'Mahony:

I have been a SNA in a special school for the past 15 years and I love my job. Every day it can be vastly different and it always keeps us on our toes. Over my time there I have worked with wonderful children who have additional needs but no matter what challenges some of the children may face, our school community is committed to keeping the needs of each child at the centre of all that we do. That is why in our school, and in schools throughout the country, SNAs cater for much more than care needs on a day-to-day basis. We help to carry out speech and language, occupational therapy and physiotherapy programmes. We help the children to access the curriculum through resources, games and extra help. We help with programmes such as Literacy Lift Off, Edmark and many others. We support children emotionally and partake in positive behaviour sports strategies. We work together as a team to ensure that all our children receive an excellent education and to help them reach their full potential. We can do this because we are supported by the school to partake in learning opportunities and accredited courses that will support and enhance the lives and education of those children with whom we work. Our school is not unique. SNAs throughout the country are highly skilled professionals but we need the Department of Education to recognise this and raise the entry qualifications so that this is the standard across all schools in Ireland because every child deserves to have access to professional and qualified staff.