Castlewellan’s Irish Language Primary School, Bunscoil Bheanna Boirche, are celebrating after their school was recently awarded the prestigious ‘Digital Schools Award’. They have become the first Irish Medium School in Northern Ireland at either primary or post-primary level to receive the award and have been designated as a mentor school.
Digital Schools Awards is a national awards programme which aims to promote, recognise and encourage a whole school approach to the use of digital technology in primary and secondary schools.
Digital Schools assessor, Avril Allen, who visited the school to present the award stated, ‘The ICT coordinator Máire Uí Bhuadáin, with the support of the principal and staff, has effectively created an atmosphere to share innovation and good practice and digitally confident pupils’’.
In Ms Allen’s report, she commented specifically on the challenging range of programs and technology that are used across all year groups from primary 1-7 including iMovie Magic, coding, creating ebooks, Easi-Speak microphones, Scratch and Scratch Junior applications, Beebots, Probots, symmetry programs, Fronter and Collaborate.
The school have also participated in the BT ‘Barefoot’ coding scheme and plan on reinforcing coding in the curriculum this year by delivering a new after-school coding club for pupils. Principal Aingeal Nic an tSábhaisigh stated, ‘It is important that today’s children are empowered with the skills needed for success in the digital world. Our pupils become bilingual because they are exposed to the Irish language from a young age. Similarly, they become digitally literate from a young age through our school having an integrated approach to using ICT in the classroom as part of their literacy, numeracy and topic work.’’
The school’s ICT coordinator Máire Uí Bhuadáin praised the innovative digital technology culture that exists within the school leadership and thanked the parents for their continued support in helping to purchase the relevant technologies.
Picture thanks to Chris Halpin/Mourne Observer
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