StMary’s claim Digital Distinction award

SAINT Mary’s Parish Primary school has plenty of reasons to celebrate, as they have recently been awarded the prestigious Digital School of Distinction Award.

And if that wasn’t enough, they also have a winner from Mr Herron’s 5th class who has gone through to the Regional Finals of STEM championships, which will take place in Blanchardstown IT (Intel Mini Scientist Competition 2018).

“We are all delighted in the school, and the teachers are all very proud of the pupils,” says teacher Mags Leonard, who is the iCT co-ordinator in the school.

“We are the lead school along with Aston Village Educate Together in a three-year project to promote STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Maths) subjects in school, and we really impressed the visitors from INTEL to came to look at our project.”

The projects were so impressive, such hard work and creativity went into each one. The visitors said the future is bright in the hands of these Mini Scientists.

Each of the projects included visual displays, digital projects books and practical experiments based on a scientific area aligned with the national primary science curriculum.

The judges chose Mr Herron’s Scientists to go through to the regional finals. Their project ‘How clean is our classroom?’ explored germs. The children struggled to find germs in the room because our cleaners do such a great job!

“We are seeking local sponsors and ambassadors from local businesses to get involved in our drive to promote STEM, especially amongst our girls,” adds Mags.

“They have been working on pre-coding, and a robotics competition, and it is all super-exciting stuff.”

The school was also honoured with a Digital School of Distinction Award. The judges said St Mary’s Parish Primary School is living proof of effective, democratic and inclusive integration of ICT and Digital Technologies in everyday school life.

The expertise and thoughtfulness displayed and demonstrated by all involved in their use of ICTs and mobile technologies is to be highly celebrated and was exceptional!

The standard of utilising and integrating ICTs was most impressive, innovative, transformative and inspiring” ( Validator’s Comments).