Portal to creativity in school
Build it and they will come, they said. And they did turn out in huge numbers – educators and artists, and kids too – for the launch last week of a big leap into joined-up thinking for arts in education.
The newly built Arts in Education portal is a big website project that works as a resource for teachers, as a point of contact about the myriad ways of working creatively in schools, and as a showcase for some terrific artwork.
It's a tangible start to the era of the Arts in Education Charter. Teachers, artists, students and interested others will find a mine of possibility here, and are encouraged to explore it and register for its newsletter. artsineducation.ie
Go east
Here's a chance for students to visit or study in China. The Shanghai Education Exhibition is on June 2nd in Cork City Hall. More than 25 Shanghai universities and eight secondary schools want to meet Irish second- and third-level students, offering a chance to study in China – for a term, a year or even a school exchange. Email y.xia@ucc.ie. Video by Cork student on her language immersion course in China https://youtu.be/KBT1wRP5yIw
Count the winners
SciFest national champion Christopher Carragher, a sixth-year at Our Lady's Secondary School, Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, has come second in the computational biology and bioinformatics category of the world's largest international pre-college science competition, Isef, in Pittsburgh. Carragher won the SciFest national final in November with his project to help people with memory loss. His Memory Buddy alerts users about appointments and medication through flashing lights, sound and TV, and includes a remotely controlled medicine drawer.
Also, eight students were crowned this year’s Mathletes Challenge champions at the all-Ireland final in Dublin City University after a four-month-long tournament involving 13,000 students. The eight winners were: Nathan Keenan; Darragh Glynn; Tom McCarthy; Leon Keating; Brendan Alinquant; Archie Connolly; Han McKenna; and Richard Sheahan.
The winning schools were Holy Family Junior National School, Swords, Co Dublin, and Cloghans Hill National School, Tuam, Co Galway (primary); and Fingal Community College, Swords, Co Dublin, and Ramsgrange Community School, New Ross, Co Wexford (secondary).
