Presentation Secondary School in Castleisland has just been declared the first in Kerry to be granted the Centre of Excellence Award for IT.
The award was presented on Wednesday by Billy Breen of Prodigy Learning to Annette Leen, I.T. teacher and Principal, Katherina Broderick.
Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification is the leading IT certification in the world. More than 1 million MOS exams are taken every year in over 140 countries. Students in Presentation, Castleisland have been studying MOS for a number of years.
“We are absolutely delighted with the award, which recognises the hard work of the students of Presentation, Castleisland and the high level of I.T. skills they develop here.” said Ms. Leen.
The school recognises the importance of I.T. in modern life and supports this with dedicated I.T. classes. Such is the level of uptake in the school that plans are underway to develop another state of the art multimedia lab in the school.
Currently all students are encouraged undertake I.T. certification. Just last year a Presentation Secondary student was a semi-finalist in the Doodle for Google competition, which was in itself a significant achievement.
“Our staff has embraced new learning methodologies and integrate I.C.T. daily in their lessons. Students have been introduced to Edmodo, which is a Social Learning Platform, so that educational information can be shared by teachers and homework can be submitted electronically“, according to Ms. Broderick.
Along with these developments the school is ever mindful of the importance of educating students on responsible use of social media. Recently, students and staff have received training in Internet Safety from Dr. Maureen Griffin, Forensic Psychologist.
The school also has a Safer Internet Day Ambassador, Ellen Sheehan (Transition Year), who is currently receiving training via webinar in how to promote safer Internet use among her peers.
As part of the Transition Year (TY) programme in Presentation, Castleisland, students attend Animation Workshops in the I.T. in Tralee, as well as participating in the Transition Year teaching Programme which involves courses such as: Creative Programming, Games Development, Digital Graphic Design and Music Technology.
“This award recognises the quality and standard of IT programmes afforded to students of Presentation Secondary School, Castleisland. Furthermore, it recognises the hard work which our students have undertaken to complete the certification and the commitment of their teacher, Ms Leen to its success. They certainly have reason to celebrate,” said Ms. Broderick.
