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History of Castlebar CD Launch a Huge Success.
To view our Gallery of Ken Wright's photos - click here
It was a red-letter day for St. Patrick's B.N.S. recently when we launched our very first CD - a compilation of children's work on local history entitled "History of Castlebar". This was the culmination of two years work, a project given the green light in November 1998 by the National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE) the body given responsibility for implementation of IT2000, the Department of Education and Science's schools ICT programme. This project came under Phase 3, which was called Schools Integration Projects (SIP) and involved schools submitting proposals with an ICT element. The "History of Castlebar" project was co-funded by Castlebar Information Age Town.
TWELVE CLASSES
Twelve classes in St. Patrick's participated in the project, with work from infant classes centring on "The History of Me", first /second classes put on "My Family and Me" while older classes worked on areas as diverse as "Churches of Castlebar", Streets of Castlebar, "1798 and The Races of Castlebar", "Michael Davitt", "Turlough House", "The Famine" and "Ceide Fields". The CD also includes fifth classes' interpretation of radio play entitled "Coranna", which focuses on the horse that won the Chester Cup during the Famine and also an offline view of their project website, also called "History of Castlebar", for those that do not have Internet access.
ATTENDANCE
The launch was a huge success with a large attendance of parents and invited guests. The displays on the night were very impressive and colourful, aided by the excellent display boards from Nomadic Displays, a company based in Louisburgh.
PRINCIPAL'S ADDRESS
Dr. Vincent McHale welcomed all to the launch and had a special welcome for Ms. Breeda Meleady, SIP Project Officer with the NCTE, who had travelled from Dublin. He thanked the NCTE in general and Ms. Meleady in particular for assistance received on many occasions during the previous two years.
ICT CO-ORDINATOR SAYS THANKS
Adrian Keena, SIP project co-ordinator, in his address, expressed satisfaction that the CD was finally completed and that commitments given two years previously were honoured in full. He pointed out that the school now had a very large website, part of castlebar.ie, which is updated frequently. He pointed out that the highlight of the project was the participation of the school in the Young Scientist Exhibition on two occasions. In thanking the parents, pupils, principal and the entire staff of the school, including non-teaching staff, he pointed out that the CD would not have seen the light of day without the full commitment and support of all. He thanked the NCTE and Castlebar Information Age Town, represented on the night by Regina McGarrigle and Finian Joyce, for their generous sponsorship of, and assistance with, the project. Art O'Suilleabháin, ICT Co-ordinator for Mayo schools, was thanked for his technical advice, which was required on many occasions. Denis O'Boyle, director and all the staff of Mayo Education Centre were thanked for their long-standing and very successful ICT partnership with the school. Mr. Keena expressed regret at their departure from the Parish Centre, which is immediately in front of the school, but wished them well in their new premises. He thanked Rory Casey of Fibrepulse for his sponsorship of the school's network. For their very valuable assistance right through the project and in preparing for the launch night he thanked Orla Uí Dhomhnaill, John Culhane and Jean Coffey, all teaching in the school and Rosarie Tiernan, SIP co-ordinator with St. Patrick's N.S. in Westport. A final special word of thanks was addressed to St. Patrick's Parents Committee and Carmel Hughes, the school's secretary, for organising the catering for the night.
JOHN, ORLA AND ART
John Culhane then outlined the layout of the CD and Orla Uí Dhomhnaill spoke about the structure of the history website which she explained was still being added to. It had started out as a simple five or six webpages but has grown to match the main school site in size - now a whopping seventy-eight webpages. It can be viewed at www.castlebar.ie/education/stpats . The history site can be viewed by clicking on the History of Castlebar link on the front page. Art Ó Suilleabháin, ICT advisor with Mayo Education Centre, pointed out that the two SIP schools, St. Patrick's in Castlebar and Westport, had now attained a very impressive level of ICT expertise and that both schools were excellent examples of ICT integration at it's best.
PUPIL'S PRESENTATIONS
The highlight of the night were the presentations by the pupils of the school, Andrew Butler and Shane Ruane on Turlough House, David Walsh and Killian Murphy on The Ceide Fields and the pupils of fifth class who re-enacted a scene from "Coranna" under the guidance of Ms. Stephanie Gaughan, their teacher. However, the greatest round of applause was kept for Sean O'Beirn, a pupil in Mr. John Mahon's sixth class, whose extraordinary computer graphics were showcased in a project entitled "Saint Brendan the Navigator". A special limited CD was created for this project. All present on the night were amazed at the quality of his work. Copies of the CD are to be forwarded to the designer of the software program and to Craggaunowen, where the boat used by Tim Severin in his re-enactment of St. Brendan's voyage to America is now housed. The night concluded with refreshments and an opportunity for parents and visitors to view and discuss the children's work with them in both the school hall and computer room. Sales of the CD (£5) were brisk but a limited number of copies are still available from the school shop.