For schools
Everything a principal needs before saying yes
No brochure language. The practical answers a Board of Management actually asks for, in the order they get asked.
Start here
Which programme fits your school?
Three questions. It answers which programme suits the class groups you have in mind, how long a session runs, and what the arrangement would look like. No email, nothing recorded, nothing sent.
Three answers and this tells you which programme fits, how long a session runs, and what to do next. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Any start date
There is no term you have to wait for
A block can start any week that suits your school, including the middle of a term. Put in a date and this counts out every session, works around the weeks you are closed, and tells you when it finishes.
Pick a date and this counts out every session, including what happens when your school is closed that week.
At a glance
- Who it is for
- Junior Infants to 6th Class, complete beginners included
- When
- Straight after school, groups running one after another
- Who pays
- Parents, as standard. Or the school, for sessions in class time
- What the school gives
- A room with tables and a named contact. Equipment is agreed before anything starts
What an afternoon looks like
Running more than one group is not an upsell. It is the only way a Junior Infant and a 6th Class pupil both get a session written for them, and it means chess is available to the whole school rather than to one year group.
- 13:15Junior & Senior InfantsFirst Moves, 45 minutes, 8 to 16 children, target 12
- 14:151st & 2nd ClassPlaying the Game, 50 minutes, 8 to 16 children, target 14
- 15:153rd to 6th ClassThinking Ahead, 60 minutes, 10 to 18 children, target 16
Times are an example of a typical after-school afternoon. Your school sets the real ones.
What you receive
A block, in writing
Before a block starts, a written plan with aims and how each is measured. After every session, a four-line note. At the end, a report on every child. All three are shown filled in for an imagined class, so you can see the shape before agreeing to anything.
See the sample plan, note and reportThe other way to run it
Chess in class time, for every child in the year
An after-school club reaches the children whose parents saw the form. A session inside the school day reaches the whole class. It runs as part of the school’s own programme, with the class teacher present, and the school pays for it rather than families, which is how DEIS schools and schools with a wellbeing or numeracy budget usually take it.
- 45 minutes
- with one class, the class teacher in the room
- By the morning
- two, three or four classes back to back
- Everything provided
- boards, sets, the floor board, and one invoice to the school
Garda Vetting goes through the school and takes four to six weeks, so a block is planned a term ahead. If this year’s activity budget is already settled, ask to be on the list when next year’s is planned: that is how most of these start.
Growing, not committing
Any block can be extended while it is running
Schools rarely know in week one what they will want in week six. A block can be extended at any point before it finishes, at the same rate per session, without starting a new booking or a new set of forms. Children keep the same group, the same day and the same instructor.
Extending past twelve weeks opens the equipment option
If a six or eight week block is extended so the total reaches twelve weeks or more, the chess sets are included from that point rather than the school sorting out sets. Nothing is backdated and nothing is clawed back.
Children carry on where they stopped
An extension is a continuation, not a repeat. The next weeks pick up from the position the group actually reached, which is often not the position the plan expected.
Moving up a programme between years
A child who finishes First Moves in Senior Infants moves into Playing the Game in 1st Class rather than starting again. That is the whole point of having three programmes instead of one.
Stopping is just as easy
A block that ends, ends. There is no rolling contract, no notice period and no automatic renewal on anybody's calendar.
The equipment rule, once, plainly
Teaching materials come with the programme whatever the length of the block. For blocks of 12 weeks or more, the chess sets are included as part of it: boards, pieces, transport, storage and replacing anything that goes missing. Below that the school provides sets, hires a set for the block, or buys a classroom kit that stays the school's property. Whichever applies to your school is confirmed in writing in the quotation.
Who would be standing in front of your pupils
Primary Education degree
Bachelor's Degree in Primary Education with a specialisation in English.
Early Childhood Education degree
Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education.
Garda Vetting
Completed in Ireland, most recently in 2026 through the Archdiocese of Dublin, Educate Together and Early Childhood Ireland. A disclosure is granted to a relevant organisation and does not transfer between organisations, so each school arranges its own, at no cost to it.
Children First training
Introduction to Children First, Tusla, October 2025.
Teaching chess since 2017
Educational and competitive chess taught in schools and clubs since 2017, from complete beginners through to competition preparation.
Master's in Bilingual Education
Master's Degree in Bilingual Education, awarded 2026.
Professional educational experience in Ireland
Early Years Educator in Dublin, working to the Aistear and Síolta frameworks and to Tusla Early Years regulations.
Before you ask anyone
How many groups could your school actually fill?
Move the two sliders. Every assumption behind the answer is printed underneath them, and all of them can be changed.
The assumptions, in the open
- Pupils are spread evenly across eight year groups.
- A group runs only if it reaches its own minimum: 8 for Infants, 8 for 1st and 2nd, 10 for 3rd to 6th.
- No more than two groups per band, because one afternoon has limits.
- The take-up figure is a starting assumption, not a prediction. Nobody has data for your school, and anyone who tells you otherwise is guessing too.
On these numbers
1 group, about 10 children
- Junior & Senior InfantsFirst Moves, 45 minutesWould not reach a minimum on these assumptionsabout 5 interested of 60
- 1st & 2nd ClassPlaying the Game, 50 minutesWould not reach a minimum on these assumptionsabout 5 interested of 60
- 3rd to 6th ClassThinking Ahead, 60 minutesOne groupabout 10 interested of 120
Even one group is a normal way to start. A block can be extended and a second group added later without starting again.
Ask what this would look like at your schoolAn option, not part of the deal
A group in your hall can play a group in another country, on a Tuesday afternoon, for nothing
Chess is one of the few school activities where a group in Dublin can play a group in another country on a Tuesday afternoon, at no cost, with nothing installed. These are friendly events between clubs and schools, arranged for the fun of it and for practice before anything competitive.
A closed event, arranged in advance
A private tournament room with a joining link that only the two groups have. Children are not playing whoever happens to be online, and the event does not appear anywhere public.
Everybody is roughly the same age
Groups are matched by age and by how long they have been playing. A 3rd Class group plays a 3rd Class group. Where a school wants a harder game, an older group can be arranged instead, on purpose rather than by accident.
It costs nothing
The platforms used for this are free and there is no entry fee to a friendly event. It is included in a block rather than sold as an extra, because charging for it would be charging for an afternoon of arranging emails.
It happens in your room, in your session
The normal arrangement is that it replaces one session of an existing block, on school devices, in the same room, with the same supervision as any other session. No homework, nothing at home, nothing after hours.
Nothing is installed
It runs in a browser. Schools that block new software do not need to unblock anything unusual, and a tablet is enough.
Somewhere else in the world
Years of teaching chess in Spain left a list of clubs and coaches who are happy to arrange a friendly. For a child in Dublin, playing somebody their own age in another country and then hearing how it went is the part they talk about at home.
The part a principal is actually reading for
Two rules that are not negotiable
A closed event, and chat switched off. Everything else below is arrangement. Those two are the reason this can be approved at all, and they do not get relaxed for anybody.
- Chat is switched off
- Every event, without exception. Children play chess and nothing else. There is no message box, no comment, no way for anybody in the event to write to a child.
- No child's name goes online
- Accounts use a handle the school chooses, not a real name. Nothing identifying a child is entered anywhere, and no account is ever created by Little Chess Explorers.
- Accounts belong to the school or the family
- The school creates them, or a parent does. That way the login is never held by an outside adult, and it stays with the school when the block ends.
- The room is supervised as normal
- It is a session like any other. Your staff are present, your policies apply, and the devices are yours.
- Every game is visible
- The organiser of a closed event can see every board while it is being played and afterwards. Nothing happens in private.
- The school decides, in advance and in writing
- No event is arranged without the school agreeing to it first, and any school can run a whole programme without ever doing one. It is an option, not part of the deal.
What this is not
- This is not affiliated with any chess federation, and it is not a qualifying event for anything.
- It is a friendly game arranged between two groups. Nothing about it is official and no result is recorded anywhere that matters.
- No event has been run from Dublin yet. The experience behind the offer is Spanish, and the contacts are real, but the first Irish one will be the first.
The awkward questions
What happens when something goes wrong
Every provider is asked these and most answer them only after they have already happened. Here they are in advance.
- What if you are ill?
- One person teaches these sessions, so there is no substitute to send. The school hears that morning rather than at the door, the session is not lost, and the week is added to the end of the block at no charge. Families are told by whoever normally tells them, which is usually the school.
- What if a child will not settle?
- They are not sent out of the room. The first answer is a shorter task, a job to do, or a different partner, because the usual cause is a task that is too long rather than a child who is being difficult. If it keeps happening the school hears about it from us before the parent does.
- What if not enough children sign up?
- The group does not run and nobody is charged, including any family who has already booked. There is no attempt to run a group of five at a higher price per child: it changes what the session can be.
- What if the room is not free?
- It happens: a concert, a parents evening, a burst pipe. Told the week before, the session moves. Told on the day, the week goes to the end of the block instead. Either way the school is not charged twice and the block still runs its full length.
- What if it is not working?
- Say so. There is no notice period and no automatic renewal, so a block that is not working stops at the end of the block and that is the end of it. A written review of what actually happened is sent either way, including the parts that did not go well.
- What if a child is collected late?
- Children are handed over the way your school already hands them over at the end of an after-school activity, and never released to anybody the school has not agreed. Nobody is left waiting alone with one adult: that arrangement is agreed in writing before the first session.
To forward internally
Four documents, ready to send on
Decisions like this rarely get made by the person who found the website. All four are written for whoever reads them next.
- Programme cataloguePDF, six pages, A4The three programmes, what a session looks like at each stage, who does what, and how a block is put together. Built to be read by somebody who has never seen this website.
- A sheet for familiesPDF, A4, one pageFor the noticeboard, the newsletter or the schoolbags. The day, time, dates and cost are dotted lines, because they are different for every school and a wrong price on a flyer is worse than a blank.
- Child Safeguarding StatementPDF, five pages, A4Prepared under section 11 of the Children First Act 2015: the written risk assessment, and the seven procedures the Act requires, each marked with the subsection it answers. This is the document a Board or a Designated Liaison Person asks for.
- Board of Management briefingPDF, three pages, A4Written for a Board of Management meeting: what is being proposed, what the Board is being asked to approve, and the honest limitations.
Prefer to read it on screen? The same overview as a web page.
Questions schools ask
17 questions.
Who is the programme for?
Primary pupils from Junior Infants to 6th Class. There are three separate programmes because a five year old and an eleven year old need different lessons, not the same lesson with easier words.
Can complete beginners join?
Yes. Every programme is written for children who have never touched a chessboard. Children who already play are given harder versions of the same task rather than a different lesson.
Can we run more than one group?
Yes, and it is usually the better option. Consecutive groups on the same afternoon mean Infants are not sitting in a lesson designed for 5th Class. A typical afternoon runs Infants at 13:15, 1st and 2nd at 14:15, and 3rd to 6th at 15:15.
How long is a session, and how long is a programme?
45 minutes for Infants, 50 minutes for 1st and 2nd Class, 60 minutes for 3rd to 6th. Programmes run as a block: a six week introduction, or a full term. Blocks are booked as a whole rather than week by week.
Who pays?
Parent-funded is the standard option, so it does not come out of the school budget. Families book and pay for the term and the school provides a room. The other way is chess in class time, which the school pays for: a session with a whole class during the school day, booked by the morning and invoiced to the school.
Do you run sessions in class time?
Yes. A session inside the school day, with the class teacher in the room, reaches every child in the year rather than the ones whose parents saw a form. It is 45 minutes with a class, booked by the morning as two, three or four classes back to back, with everything provided and one invoice to the school. Garda Vetting goes through the school and takes four to six weeks, so it is planned a term ahead. Costings are sent on request.
What does the school have to provide?
A room with tables for the group size, and a named contact who is reachable during the programme. Teaching materials always come with the programme. Chess sets depend on the length of the block, which is explained in the next answer.
Are chess sets included?
From twelve weeks upward a full equipment service can be arranged as part of the programme: boards, pieces, transport, storage and replacing anything that goes missing. Below twelve weeks the school provides the sets, or buys a classroom kit that stays the school's property, or hires a set for the block. Buying and carrying a full class kit only makes sense across a long enough programme, and pretending otherwise would just mean charging for it somewhere less visible. Whichever arrangement suits your school is confirmed in writing in the quotation before anything starts.
What are the group sizes?
Infants run from 8 to 16 with 12 as the target. 1st and 2nd run from 8 to 16 with 14 as the target. 3rd to 6th run from 10 to 18 with 16 as the target. A group that does not reach its minimum is not run, and nobody is charged.
Garda Vetting?
Garda Vetting has been completed in Ireland, most recently in 2026 through the Archdiocese of Dublin, Educate Together and Early Childhood Ireland. A vetting disclosure is granted to a relevant organisation and does not transfer between organisations. If your school vets through one of those three, say so when you enquire and the existing application can be passed to your vetting contact, which can save the school a form. Otherwise vetting is completed through your Board of Management before the first session, at no cost to the school. It takes four to six weeks, so it sets the start date.
Child safeguarding?
Children First training completed with Tusla in October 2025, alongside professional early years experience working to the Children First Act 2015 and to Tusla Early Years regulations.
Insurance and documentation?
Public liability insurance is in place, and the certificate goes to your school before a booking is finalised. Vetting confirmation and anything else your school requires are provided in writing before the first session. Send the list your Board of Management works from and it comes back completed rather than partially.
When can a programme start?
Any week that suits the school, including the middle of a term. Once the timetable, the room and the equipment arrangement are agreed, a block can usually begin quickly. There is a date calculator on this page that counts out the sessions from whatever start date you have in mind and works around the weeks you are closed.
Can we extend a block once it has started?
Yes, at any point before it finishes, at the same rate per session and without a new booking. Children keep the same group, day and instructor. If extending takes the total to twelve weeks or more, the equipment service can be arranged from that point. A block that ends simply ends: there is no rolling contract, no notice period and no automatic renewal.
Do you teach individual children privately?
No. Little Chess Explorers is deliberately focused on group programmes delivered through schools rather than private one-to-one coaching.
Is there a pilot option?
Yes. A six week block is the normal way to start. It is long enough for children to reach full games and short enough that the school is not committing a full year to an untested activity.
Do we need to own chess sets?
Only for blocks shorter than twelve weeks. From twelve weeks upward the sets come with the programme and go home again at the end. Teaching materials are included whatever the length.
Anything not answered here goes to littlechessexplorers@gmail.com.