Tag Archives: primary schools

A total of 114 primary schools in County Clare are to benefit from the Minor Works Grant for the 2016/2017 school year. Minister for Employment and Small Business Pat Breen, commenting on the announcement, said, “This grant is worth €5,500 per school plus €18.50 per mainstream pupil and €74 per special needs pupil to 114 schools in Clare. This means €6,425 for a 50 pupil school and over €11,000 for a 300 pupil school. The schools will receive the funds over the coming weeks.” The works that can be undertaken under the Minor Works Grant include improvements to school buildings and grounds, improvement or replacement of mechanical and electrical services, the purchase of standard furniture and physical education equipment, the purchase of floor coverings and window blinds and the purchase of IT related equipment. Minister Breen said, “This grant allows schools to maintain and improve their environment and facilities is a timely manner without needing to deal directly with the …

PRIMARY and secondary schools across Ireland are being challenged by NUI Galway to produce an entertaining and educational short science video for this year’s ReelLIFE SCIENCE competition. Supported by the Science Foundation Ireland Discover programme and the CÚRAM Centre for Research in Medical Devices at NUI Galway, ReelLIFE SCIENCE will award €3,000 directly to the winning schools for science promotion. Since launching in 2013, more than 5,000 students in almost 200 schools around Ireland have taken part in ReelLIFE SCIENCE, while the videos produced have been viewed 70,000 times in over 100 countries worldwide. Director general of Science Foundation Ireland, Professor Mark Ferguson said, “We are delighted to support this initiative, which cleverly combines science literacy and creativity, provides a great opportunity for students and teachers to engage with science in a novel way. ReelLIFE SCIENCE encourages young people to connect with the science and technology in their everyday lives, and to bring that knowledge to a wider audience, while …

Clare Education Centre held its annual science fair for primary schools in the Auburn Lodge Hotel this week. In excess of 420 pupils participated from schools across the county. The evening was the culmination of a series of evening workshops delivered in Clare Education Centre by primary science expert, Michael Browne. Michael, a Crusheen native, is the author of a range of science books for the primary school curriculum and has worked closely with Clare Education Centre for a number of years. The teachers from the participating schools attended five evening workshops during the term, in preparation for the science fair. Schools looked at all aspects of the curriculum and devised suitable experiments to demonstrate various concepts. The emphasis was very much on the practical and ‘learning by doing’. At the science fair, pupils demonstrated their knowledge and understanding of the subject to their parents, teachers and all who attended. Director of Clare Education Centre, Pat Hanrahan, acknowledged all the …

SMALL primary schools facing the threat of losing a teacher due to falling numbers have been given some breathing space this week, as a result of a decision by Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan. Affecting schools mainly in rural parishes, new retention regulations will give a slightly improved pupil/teacher ratio in two to four-teacher school scenarios. Nationally, close on 60% of primary schools have four teachers or less. Minister O’Sullivan revealed that the new retention schedule for the 2015/16 school year will be 19 pupils, rather than 20, to retain a second teacher; 53 pupils, rather than 56, to retain a third teacher and 83 pupils, rather than 86, to retain a fourth teacher. While generally supportive of the decision to reduce the number of pupils required to retain teachers in small schools, Labasheeda National School principal, Liam Woulfe, said the change “will not greatly aid two-teacher schools”. Following two appeals, Labasheeda was able to show that it had the required …

Primary schools  in Clare are being urged to sign up by next Friday for the Blue Star programme. Blue Star is an exciting education initiative for primary school students across Ireland. The programme aims to introduce pupils, teachers, parents and the wider community to the EU, what it means and how it works. It has already been rolled out successfully in over 200 schools since 2011, and the intention is to increase this over the coming three years. All schools are eligible no matter how big or how small. Joe Bishop of European Movement Ireland, who manages the programme said, “We want to encourage schools to sign up by next week’s deadline, so that we can start to send all the information out as soon as possible. We have lots of free resources, advice and support available, including a great curriculum guide developed by teachers themselves. “We’re delighted that previous participating schools have been so positive about the Blue Star Programme. …