DEIS Plus

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In 2026, North Monastery Co-educational Secondary School was awarded DEIS Plus status.

1. What is DEIS?

DEIS stands for Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools. It is a Department of Education & Youth programme designed to address educational disadvantage and help ensure that children and young people have an equal opportunity to succeed in education.

The DEIS Strategy to 2035 explains that educational disadvantage can be connected to poverty and social circumstances. Its overall aim is to help students overcome barriers, remain engaged in education, achieve their potential and progress into further education, employment or other meaningful pathways.

The strategy’s vision is summed up through four ideas:

  • Dream – encouraging students to have high aspirations.
  • Empower – giving students confidence, skills and a voice.
  • Inspire – creating positive and motivating learning experiences.
  • Succeed – supporting students to achieve their academic and personal goals.

DEIS also provides schools with targeted resources and supports based on the level of educational disadvantage within the school. The new strategy moves towards a more flexible system where resources can reflect changing levels of need.

2. What is DEIS Plus?

DEIS Plus is an enhanced level of support within the new DEIS system.

The DEIS Strategy describes the system as a continuum of support:

Universal Supports → DEIS Programme → DEIS Plus

DEIS Plus is intended for schools with the highest concentrations of children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage.

The purpose is to provide additional support beyond the standard DEIS programme. The strategy says DEIS Plus aims to:

  • address barriers caused by intergenerational poverty and disadvantage;
  • strengthen connections between schools, families and communities;
  • give school staff additional capacity and time to support students;
  • improve educational outcomes; and
  • help more children and young people break the cycle of poverty and disadvantage.

So, in simple terms:

DEIS supports schools experiencing educational disadvantage, while DEIS Plus provides an enhanced level of support to schools experiencing the highest levels of need.

3. How does DEIS Plus benefit North Monastery Co-educational Secondary School?

This is particularly relevant because North Monastery Co-educational Secondary School was awarded DEIS Plus status in 2026.

For North Mon, DEIS Plus means that the school can receive additional resources and supports to address the needs of its students. The benefits can be understood in several areas.

A. More support for students

DEIS Plus is designed to provide schools with additional capacity to support students who may experience barriers to education because of disadvantage. The strategy specifically states that the scheme will provide additional support to improve educational outcomes.

For North Mon, this can help students to:

  • remain engaged with school;
  • overcome barriers to learning;
  • develop confidence and aspirations;
  • achieve better educational outcomes; and
  • progress successfully through school and into further education, training or employment.

B. Improving attendance and retention

One of the major DEIS priorities is attendance. The strategy identifies regular attendance as essential for academic achievement, wellbeing and social development.

This is particularly relevant to North Mon because its existing DEIS plan already has targets to:

  • reduce lateness;
  • reduce the number of students missing 20 or more days;
  • increase full-day attendance; and
  • identify students who are at risk of leaving school early.

DEIS Plus can therefore give the school greater capacity to work with students and families where attendance or engagement is a concern.

C. Improved wellbeing and inclusion

The DEIS Strategy places a strong emphasis on creating schools where students feel valued, respected and included. It also identifies wellbeing as an important part of achieving successful outcomes.

For North Mon, this can mean greater opportunities to provide targeted support for students’ mental health, wellbeing, engagement and sense of belonging.

This fits closely with the school’s own aim of creating a caring environment where students can reach their full potential.

D. Stronger relationships with parents and the community

Another major part of the DEIS Strategy is developing stronger partnerships between schools, families and communities. The strategy says these partnerships can reduce barriers to participation and improve access to services and opportunities.

North Mon already has a Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) role, whose purpose includes improving attendance, participation and retention through stronger relationships between parents, teachers and the school community.

DEIS Plus can strengthen this type of work and allow the school to provide more coordinated support to students and their families.

E. Higher academic achievement

DEIS is not simply about providing welfare support. A major objective is to improve educational attainment.

North Mon’s existing DEIS targets include increasing:

  • students taking higher-level English, Irish and Maths;
  • Junior Cycle pass rates;
  • the number of students achieving 300+ Leaving Certificate points; and
  • distinctions in Leaving Certificate Applied.

Reports

Every few years the Department of Education Inspectorate conduct inspections of schools which look into the work being done within our school to implement DEIS initiatives. You can read our 2018 inspection report here.

North Monastery Co-educational Secondary School – DEIS Plan

Our Attendance targets:

· To decrease the numbers of students arriving to school late

· To reduce the number of students who are out for 20 days or more.

· To increase the number of students who have a full day’s attendance.

· To reward those students with excellent attendance.
Our Retention targets:

· To increase the % of students retained within our school community for both junior cycle and leaving cert.

· To increase the % of students who ‘I like coming to school’ in school surveys.

· To identify and support those students who would identify as the greatest risk of leaving school early.
Our Literacy targets:

· To improve student’s oral literacy and presenting abilities.

· To increase the number of students who read for pleasure.

· To improve student’s exam literacy and understanding of exam vocabulary.

· Students will have a relevant understanding of ‘keywords’ appropriate to each subject area.
Our Numeracy targets:

· To increase the number of students who say they ‘like math’s’.

· Numeracy for living, where our students will understand the numeracy concepts of everyday life.

· To increase the number of students passing ordinary level math’s at junior cycle level.

· Our Exam attainment targets:

· To increase the number of students sitting higher level English, Irish and Math’s at Junior Cycle level.

· To increase the pass rate at Junior Cycle Common level.

· To increase the number of students who achieve more than 300 points in the Leaving Cert.

· To increase the number of students who receive a distinction in LCA.
Our progression and transitions targets:

· To monitor each student’s progression form from 1st to 6th as they journey through school and support them where necessary.

· To continue the uptrend in excellent exam results.

· To ensure that first year students settle into life in the Mon.

· To develop each student’s intellectual and emotional needs as they journey through their time here in school.

· To allow our students achieve every chance of success after completion of 6th year.

· To grow the student voice within our school community.
Our targets for partnership with parents and others:

· To maintain and develop links with the community.

· To maintain and develop links with organisations that will assist with the needs of our students.

· To enhance our communication abilities with parents with the aid of digital technology.

· To grow the parental voice within our school community.

· To maintain and further develop our relationship with local primary schools.