Eglish NS (SN na hEaglaise) is a small rural school in the west of Ireland, with a very high proportion of pupils from the travelling Community and also a high proportion of pupils with special needs ranging from mild learning and speech and language difficulties to Autism. Alongside these pupils we also have a number of very high-achieving pupils and non-nationals, presenting with little or no English. It is a huge challenge to meet the needs of such a diverse cohort of pupils. We have a very dedicated and committed staff of teachers and SNAs who would like to improve their skills in order to ensure that the pupils in our care are helped to achieve their full individual potential, holistically. We have identified a number of courses in areas we feel will make dramatic improvements in the educational development of the school, and will allow our staff to gain vital skills and competences which would not, necessarily have been available at home. These areas are School Management, Special Education, European Diversity, Drama in Education, Brand New Teaching Methods, PISA literacy course, and basic language courses to allow staff to gain the maximum benefit from the courses attended. These courses take place in Latvia, Finland and Croatia. We hope to send a total of 25 staff over a two-year period, to attend these courses. The skills acquired will be shared, not only with the remaining staff in the school, but through CPD training days/ evenings, we hope to share these skills with other local schools and our colleagues who work as substitute teachers in the school, and any new staff who may join the school in the future. We hope to use Europass to ensure that the courses attended and skills acquired, are recognised throughout Europe. These courses have been identified as the areas which will provide the maximum improvement possible, in the teaching and learning methods used in the school, in order to best meet the diverse needs of our pupils. Historically, some of our pupils have tended to leave school before completing the Leaving Certificate cycle. We feel that this may partly be due to underachieving at primary school level, especially in areas such as Literacy, leading to lack of self confidence, fear of unfamiliar subjects such as foreign languages, bullying, etc in Secondary school. We hope that by improving the skills of staff in the school in the areas mentioned above, pupils will feel the benefit. It will improve their educational experiences in Primary school, thereby allowing our pupils to achieve success and self confidence in areas such as Literacy, European Languages, Identifying with other European cultures and seeing their own place as part of the wider European community, and Drama as a tool to improve language skills and as a tool in the campaign against Bullying and intolerance. In doing so, we hope to increase the competences of our pupils, not only academically, but also in areas such as self-esteem and self-confidence and a sense of belonging to a wider community. This should give them the skills and confidence to continue with their secondary level education and remain in school long enough to complete the Leaving Certificate cycle. We also hope that by improving the teaching and learning in the school at Primary level, pupils will have a much more enjoyable time at school, achieving success and increasing their skills in a relaxed and enjoyable way, where teachers employ modern and effective teaching methods and resources, including IT, through use of e-twinning, skype, powerpoint etc. so that pupils gain the maximum benefit from their time in school. If we are successful in this project, the impact on the school will be immense, with improvements in the Special needs skills of all staff, improved school management skills, Use of Drama as a very effective tool in Language development- an area of crucial importance to our school, and as an effective tool against bullying and intolerance, wider and deeper understanding of our place in Europe and as part if the rich diversity of culture and achievement in Europe, brand new teaching methods, ways to improve PISA scores and raise our literacy and numeracy standards, language skills, computer skills- all giving our pupils an extra boost to help them achieve success in secondary skills and in their own personal development, thereby reducing the risk of early school leaving.