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Simon Lewis

@simonlewis.ie
801 followers 433 following 598 posts

👨🏼‍🏫 If I were the Minister for Education Podcast Subscribe ➡️ Anseo.net/subscribe 📌 About me: simonlewis.ie 🖋 Views mine, no one else would

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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 10/01/2026
1/9 If you grew up in Ireland, January 6th was untouchable. The Feast of the Epiphany marked the true end of the holidays for Irish primary schools. It was not debated, negotiated, or questioned. Schools were closed because the Catholic Church said they were closed.
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 06/01/2026
Did you know until 2014, Irish primary schools never opened before 7th January as the 6th is a Catholic Holy Day of Obligation? The history of how the church ceded control after some schools rebelled is an interesting one.
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 05/01/2026
iPads or Chromebooks? I made this interactive quiz to help you decide for your school www.arukas.ie/whichdevice/
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 02/01/2026
On the Disappointment of Almost Meeting my Hero and a Story of a Plastic Cup This is a story I wrote in 2022 that has nothing to do with education. I hope you enjoy it. Happy New Year. simonmlewis.substack.com/p/on-the-di...
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 01/01/2026
A clip from my annual review of primary education in Ireland. Listen to the full episode here: pod.fo/e/36e0c5
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 01/01/2026
To be honest, the whole thing seems way too similar to...
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 01/01/2026
The National Convention for Education is going to happen this year thanks to an announcement from Helen McEntee in July, that probably surprised her civil servants. I decided to write a jingle for it.
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 01/01/2026
The Department of Education tried a catchy slogan back in July to try and convince people to choose teaching. I covered this in my review of the year. Full episode: pod.fo/e/36e0c5
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 09/12/2025
@NotebookLM has added a new feature called Infographics, which creates really interesting graphs and images based on published sources. I thought I'd try it out with Religious Control of Irish Primary Schools. This is what it got:
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 30/11/2025
🧵 The Primary Ethos Survey is missing one very important option in all three questions. It's the option of "I don't care." I think this is a massive omission and here's why.
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 23/11/2025
6/12 His use of the word sectarian is also misleading. If all schools are multidenominational, then the system is hardly sectarian, because no school is divided along religious lines. I'm also baffled by his stance, in which he's not alone, regarding Christian Values.
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 23/11/2025
5/12 For example, this line is misleading. Multidenominational schools are not secular or atheist for that matter. Considering his profile, I struggle to believe that he doesn't know this already.
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 19/11/2025
1/ Less than a week ago, Helen McEntee told a thousand principals she was fully invested in education because her own child starts school in September. A few days later she was gone. No goodbye.
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 16/11/2025
Very happy to have a letter published in the Sunday Independent. www.independent.ie/opinion/let...
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 14/11/2025
Then and now. We're all on a journey I guess. m.independent.ie/opinion/com...
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 13/11/2025
Interesting analysis of AI in education from Keith Young at #IPPN25
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 13/11/2025
Expo_sing Schoolpolicy.Ie for the first time. Come upstairs at IPPN and win a free year subscription
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 13/11/2025
A really good first day at IPPN conference.
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 04/11/2025
simonmlewis.substack.com/p/whats-the...
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 26/10/2025
This is Google Notebook LM's brief analysis of the School Inclusion Model Pilot. It doesn't even mention that the therapists don't work directly with children and it's still pretty scathing.
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 16/10/2025
I'm going to try something different - a LIVE podcast (eek) It's on from 3pm on October 22nd and you can tune in here: riverside.fm/studio/anse... It all about Special Education and we're doing it live so you can ask questions while we're chatting.
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 04/10/2025
Here's the cover image of this week's Anseo.net newsletter. Coming this Tuesday!
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 20/09/2025
Took part in a poetry slam for #culturenight25 with a piece on sourdough starters dying, gym bros fighting and a scene from the Rose of Tralee while trying to tell schoolkids not to get addicted to TikToks. Needless to day, in the background, my son was cringing.
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 07/09/2025
Ha! That's true. But it lets me make images like this
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 01/09/2025
Preview of new podcast: simonmlewis.substack.com - the complacency of the Department of Education regarding the strike action
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 29/08/2025
1/6 Every year I check the Leaving Cert points for primary teaching in DCU. Every year the result is the same. You need fewer points if you’re Protestant.
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 17/08/2025
Not a can of Dutch Gold to be seen #oasis25
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 16/08/2025
This you? Drowning in paperwork? Let schoolpolicy.ie help you. Free early access available now.
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 14/08/2025
Over 50 schools have signed up to schoolpolicy.ie in its first 24 hours. Thank you 🙏 Early access gives schools a chance to play around with the site with a limited number of policies. All feedback is welcome. I want the site to be as useful as possible for leaders.
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 10/08/2025
How you can support the secretaries' / caretakers' strike before August 28th open.substack.com/pub/simonml...
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 30/07/2025
Over the last few months, I built a web app I thought might be handy for schools. It’s called RotaMate.ie — and it creates and manages staff rotas fairly, instantly, and with zero spreadsheets.
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 12/06/2025
You can have as many people on any yard zone as you like. Simply drag and drop them in. With a bit of creativity, you can develop a timetable for any set up. If you're stuck, just ask!
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 12/06/2025
You can drag and drop, delete and add staff members around the timetable. In order to make sure everyone is getting a fair number of minutes per week, a handy live tracker shows you who is doing what each week. Too little or too much, it's marked in red!
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 12/06/2025
And as if by magic... You can export the timetable as a PDF or Excel file....but before you do...
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 12/06/2025
Set up your yard times... then click GENERATE!
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 12/06/2025
Then add in the various yard zones. (If you need more than one person in each area, for example, 2 teachers needed on the basketball court, set up B'ball 1 and B'ball 2 as different zones. This ensures 2 teachers will be assigned the courts.
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 12/06/2025
Next, add your staff, including those job-sharing!
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 12/06/2025
The app is simple to use. First, you can choose to generate a weekly timetable for the year or divide the year into 3 separate terms
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 12/06/2025
You asked for it... Introducing the Yard Duty Rota Generator after weeks of coding, tweaking, and relentless going around in circles! Get ready to revolutionise your yard duty management 🌟 Check it out for free: anseo.net/yard-duty-t...
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 11/06/2025
Pulp @welovepulp in Dublin What a night! Almost 30 years since these two tentatively walked through the doors of the SFX in Dublin All the memories were there as well as some new ones.
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 09/06/2025
I gave a short talk about growing up in the Jewish community in Dublin, my links to the communities in Belfast and Cork (and Cavan, randomly) I read some poems from my @doirepress collection, Jewtown and then answered some questions.
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 09/06/2025
What a treat it was to be asked to give a talk in the Irish embassy in Copenhagen! It was part of the Jewish Cultural Festival in Denmark jkfestival.dk/program-202...
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 05/06/2025
Seamus Mulconry, CPSMA, talked school finances on Morning Ireland on RTE. He did well despite the lack of time given to the segment. This image sums up the government response
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 31/05/2025
Working on my Yard Duty Timetable Generator. Progress so far: it’s generating a very unfair timetable!
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 26/05/2025
My 10-year-old is finding Maths word problems a bit tricky so I decided my next project would be to harness AI to help me develop an app that will motivate him. He's mad about planes at the moment so that's the theme. This is what it looks like so far with sample data:
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 11/05/2025
It can also generate a job share calendar for teachers
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 11/05/2025
Simply copy and paste your dates from your favourite spreadsheet into the app and it will turn it into a calendar, calculating if you've reached your 182 days!
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 11/05/2025
Introducing my latest tool Generate your 2025-26 calendar for the primary school year and set up job-sharing effortlessly with my new web app. Check it out now: t43dvuyl.sibpages.com
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 20/04/2025
You can try it out at arukas.ie/barcelona. Be aware that if more than one person is using it at the same time, it will probably go wonky, so you'll need the code for it to work. I'd say it can be adapted for any timetables, perhaps yard duty?
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.ie · 20/04/2025
Next, click on daily view and it outlines the day as well as providing links for directions between each point.
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