Offaly national school in pioneering North/ South venture with Belfast school

The link between Holy Cross Girls’ School in Ardoyne and Daingean National School facilitated teachers and pupils from both schools to explore the science of the shared issue of climate change and the  wide range of differences in their community, environment, and schooling.

Thanks to funding from the  Department of Foreign Affairs Shared Island Civic Society Fund, which supports practical North-South co-operation,  Midlands Science was able to work with the Goliath Trust in Belfast to provide best practice STEM outreach workshops with teachers and students and to link students in Northern Ireland with students in the Republic of Ireland.

Midlands Science is a not for profit company which works to create greater interest in STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths] education and skills among students, teachers and members of the public in the Midlands.

The  Goliath Trust seeks to raise funds to help address the persistent problem of educational underachievement in Northern Ireland’s most disadvantaged areas.
This project allowed fifth class students in Daingean and their counterparts in Holy Cross Girls’ School in Belfast to share their experience about their schools and their environment with a focus on the joint topic of climate change.

CEO of Midlands Science Jackie Gorman said: “Midlands Science is delighted to partner with the Goliath Trust to share best practice in STEM outreach on an all-island basis.

“Exploring science allows young people to understand their world and their place in it and provides the opportunity to share their own learning with others. It has been great to see this project develop and we look forward to other initiatives in cross-border cooperation which we may develop from this work.”

Daingean NS coordinator and teacher David Mullery said his class enjoyed working on the project and urged other schools to get involved.  “Our students  were so lucky and privileged to have taken part in this project. They learned so much about the local environment, their everyday life in school and how it compares or contrasts to our school environment.“We were the partner school working with Holy Cross on this project. As the teacher, I tried to allow the children to direct and guide the presentation as much as possible.“There were even more benefits to this partnership than first thought. The class loved making and presenting to the other class over Zoom.“There were brilliant teamwork skills being demonstrated throughout as the class knew the importance of it. Also, the Workshop that was provided by Críodán    Ó Murchú from Midlands Science during his visit to our school demonstrating fun with STEM was a real bonus for us. We would like to thank them for the opportunity.”
Holy Cross teacher Laura McCann added: “ This project empowered our pupils to think positively about the community that they belong to. Furthermore, it generated great excitement and enthusiasm when sharing their project digitally with the pupils of Daingean National School.  “It enabled the pupils to focus their lens on their own locality and environment and highlight the positive projects and initiatives that exist in their community, Ardoyne. Secondly, they widened their lenses, they appreciated the similarities and differences of the community of the pupils’ at Daingean Primary School – it also further developed their skills in geography!

“This programme provided the pupils with the opportunity to research and share information about their school’s locality and its history. The pupils shared this information with a more rural school, Daingean National School, County Offaly. This enabled the pupils to compare and contrast rural and inner-city school settings.”
Alan Abernethy, Chair of The Goliath Trust said: "This was a wonderful project helping the pupils from both schools using STEM subjects to compare their day-to-day environment.“While the schools are based in rural or city locations, they were excited to share their experiences. Midland Science brought the two classes together and they established a connection between the schools which we hope is beneficial to all.”