LISTEN New audio documentary ‘The Power of DEIS’ explores the community of Moyross

The Power of DEIS artwork above was designed for the documentary by artist Rachel Meaney.

LISTEN New audio documentary ‘The Power of DEIS’ explores the community of Moyross

A new audio documentary ‘The Power of DEIS’ is centered around Corpus Christi N.S School and the DEIS programme which ran in the school since 2005. The documentary not only focuses on the impact of the programme within the school, but how the programme impacts the entire community of Moyross. The entire documentary has been produced, edited and narrated by Limerick lady Claire O’Dowd. 

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The DEIS programme was launched by the Department of Education and Skills in 2005 to provide extra resources and funding to schools located in socially disadvantaged areas. There are currently 896 DEIS schools around the country. The DEIS action plan aims to assist children from disadvantaged communities achieve their potential and in doing so break the cycle of disadvantage. All DEIS schools receive additional resources such as additional staffing and funding, access to literacy and numeracy programmes and assistance with school planning. Interventions such as Home School Community Liaison Teacher and School Completion Programme are also available to DEIS schools. Corpus Christi has been a DEIS school since the programmes launched in 2005. However, only 10% of the school’s budget is provided by the government. The other 90% is accumulated through public fundraisers within the community, voluntary contributions and philanthropic funding. Even though DEIS is a huge part of the school, it is the determination and hard work from the staff  that allows the access to the resources that the students and community need and make the school the success story it is. 

The first half of the documentary focuses on the work that happens within the school that benefits the students, this includes the discussion of the three year DEIS plans, talking with students about the school, a discussion with the school psychologist, and the struggles the students face once they leave Corpus Christi. The second half focuses on the community aspect, where I talk to the adult education co – ordinator in Corpus Christi and talk to parents of students about their own experiences with the school, both as students and parents of students and the impact of the school in the community. The documentary closes by asking why Corpus Christi is such a success story in the community of Moyross and should all schools implement DEIS or elements of DEIS into their own school community. 

Aisling and Richard from I Love Limerick pictured with audio documentary filmmaker Claire O’Dowd.

The documentary includes interviews from staff within the school, students (Johnny Ryan and Orla Leonard) and parents of students (Sonya Ryan and Deirdre O’Driscoll) . Staff interviews include the schools vice principal (Jan O’Sullivan) , school psychologist (Kate Clifford), adult education coordinator (Josephine Sheedy) and school liaison officer (Hilary McAlea).  

Claire O’Dowd said, “I made this documentary as it was an assignment that had to be done for two of my modules this year in college. I have been studying Advanced Radio and Media Production in LCFE for the past year. I chose to base my documentary on Corpus Christi and their DEIS programme because my Mom actually works there. My Mom has been working as a play therapist inside Corpus Christi for the past five years. She would constantly talk about the community aspect within the school and how she had never seen or experienced anything like it before in an educational setting. It seemed like a no brainer when we were told that we had to produce a radio documentary in college, that I would share the story of Corpus Christi. I was excited to experience the energy of the school for myself and now I’m excited to share this energy with everybody else.  Even though the documentary was made for educational purposes, very quickly it became a passion project and I was determined to get the message across of how amazing this school and the people who work are.”

“The documentary was definitely challenging to make. Colleges closed due to COVID – 19 the week I had started my post production process. This meant that I had to do all the editing and narration from home. Although it was really challenging at the time, I’m really grateful that they were the circumstances I had to work under. I feel if the post – production process was to take place in college I would’ve been way more concerned with my grade, whereas at home, I became completely immersed in the story of the school. Very quickly, my main goal was how can I tell the story of Corpus Christi in the best way possible. The passion for this project definitely overtook the consideration for my grade.” 

“I am so excited to be sharing the story of Corpus Christi and the amazing work they do for their students and the community of Moyross. During these crazy times, I think it’s very uplifting to hear how the school has turned into this community hub for Moyross. They use their platform within the community to help and look out for those who need it the most. We can all learn something from the good will of the school and apply it to our own lives.

For more information on the DEIS programme, click here 

For more stories on Moyross, click here