Overview of Doodle Den
Doodle Den is an evidence based, afterschool literacy programme developed by the Childhood Development Initiative (CDI) in Tallaght. It runs for 32 weeks, three afternoons a week during the academic year where 15 pupils attend for 90 minutes of reading, writing and playing. It is facilitated by a primary school teacher and youth/community/SCP worker. The programme is very structured with each section carefully laid out in ten to 15 minute segments. The child is assessed at the beginning of the year and again at the end, thus providing evidence of the child’s progress.
The programme has been independently evaluated by Queen’s University in Belfast. The findings were very positive:
‘Not only did the programme improve children’s overall literacy ability, but there was evidence to suggest that it also had a positive impact on improving on concentration and reducing problems in school, family library activity, and the child’s reading at home.’
Further reading on the Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Childhood Development Initiative’s Doodle Den Literacy Programme can be located on the CDI website (twcdi.ie).
Doodle Den first came to Limerick City in September 2012 and has been running in six DEIS primary schools by three School Completions Programmes (SCP). Here at SMILE SCP, there are two school which avail of Doodle Den; Corpus Christi PS and Thomond PS and it has become embedded in the afterschool structure for this age group.
Smile School Completion Programme GLG 