‘An Choill Mhór’ is the name of the senior ASD class in Ballymitty N.S. The name means ‘The Big Forest’.
An Choill Mhór was opened in September 2019 and caters for the senior ASD pupils in our school.
Our daily routine within our classroom includes lessons in Living Maths, Literacy and Occupational Therapy. For these lessons the class have the advantage of working in a small group setting, with the support of the class teacher and the SNA.
Our pupils are integrated into the mainstream classroom as much as possible throughout the school day for curricular subjects such as SESE, Art, Drama and PE - with support from the SNA, where needed.
As in An Choill Bheag, we also have timetabled daily sensory breaks for our pupils.
The highlight of our week is when we join with An Choill Bheag for a social activity together, for example Cookery or Movie Day. Often these are out-of-school activities where we head off on the bus to places like Leisure Max, horse riding, the cinema, the playground, the pool or the beach.
This year An Choill Mhór is based in the school’s General Purpose Room. However, we look forward to moving into a state-of-the-art purpose-built unit in the coming years.