School’s Programme

Saint Joseph’s Shankill

Cherished Memories Art Competition.

Explorium; The National Sports and Science Centre hosted the inaugural Cherished Memories Art Competition Prize giving on Tuesday the 18^th of June as a part of Saint Joseph’s Shankill primary schools dementia awareness programme; the first of its kind in the country.

Mark Langtry the Science guy and Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor were on hand to present the students with their prizes.

Forty local primary schools were invited to enter and over 600 students took part in one of the five categories.

The “Cherished Memories Art Competition” focused on cherished memories, and what memories mean to primary school children. Children took part by drawing their cherished memory and wrote a few words about that memory explaining why it is important to them.

Thanks to Lidl Shankill and Explorium for their support.

saintjosephsshankill@sjog.ie or call 01 282 3000

Saint Joseph’s Shankill, the only care home in Ireland solely dedicated to dementia care. Our vision is to lead the way in dementia care in Ireland through innovation, education and community engagement. We want to ensure families and communities are supported, engaged, and empowered to enable people living with dementia to enjoy the quality of life they deserve.

With 11 people diagnosed with dementia every day in Ireland there is a great need in society for specialised dementia care. Everyone knows someone living with this devastating illness which is indiscriminate in its onset and the effects on people and their families can often be overwhelming.

Today, we are so proud of the care we know everybody enjoys at Saint Joseph’s Shankill. People are loved cherished, occupied and safe and we all are a part of one big family. We are privileged to work in their home ensuring that they know they truly matter to us. People don’t come here to die, they come here to live. We could not achieve this without the support of our community.

Classroom Resources;

We have compiled some international resources that you may find interesting for classroom discussion.

BOOKS

‘Dear Grandma’ published by the Alzheimers Society of Ireland

This publication is a story book for children aged 8 years and over to help to explain dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The book focuses on two children and their experience with their grandma and the changes that her condition brings.

‘Feathers in my Brain’ by The Crystal Project

This book sensitively addresses how a diagnosis of dementia can be felt by all the family and how inclusion and openness can help everyone. We hope that families will read this book together and gain insights into ways in which children can continue to connect with their loved ones with dementia.

GAMES & WORKSHEETS

Check out The Brain, from the Fantastic to the Forgetful Workbook; A dementia awareness programme for junior cycle and transition year. Published by Dementia Services Information and Development Centre.

For more information about dementia in Ireland check out;

The Alzheimer Society of Ireland

Understand Together

These Teachers’ toolkits for 5 – 7 and 7 – 11 years from the UK, includes memory, brain and puzzles games, plus teacher’s notes in the “Creating a dementia-friendly generation” lesson ready resources.

For 5-7 year old children; Alzheimer’s Society – Key Stage One

For 7-11 year old children; Alzheimer’s Society – Key Stage Two

This ‘Generations Working together’ work-pack has some interesting games and links for the upper age group of primary school students.

There are some age-appropriate explanations of dementia along with games and videos and a ‘memory board’ on the Alzheimers Research UK website for juniors and pre teens below;

For younger children; What is Dementia?

For ages 7 – 12; Which illnesses cause Dementia?

VIDEOS

Find out how memories are made and what you can do to help your memory.

Here is Saint Joseph’s Shankill’s video

FreeDem Films is a series of short, easy to watch videos about dementia.

This video explains “How does memory work?”

Alzheimer’s Society’s UK ‘Memories with Grandma’ is a new animation to help raise awareness of dementia for 7-11 year olds. Schools and youth groups can also use this short film with an accompanying lesson plan to create Dementia Friends.

Mr Alzheimers And Me follows three young people who tell their very personal stories of living with grandparents who have dementia.

Kids4Dementia: What is the one memory you wouldn’t want to forget?

Kids4Dementia: What is it like having a parent or grandparent with dementia?