YR Woodwork

Youth

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FAI ETB graduates Boyle & Horgan on Ireland call-ups

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MARTIN O’Neill’s decision to name Dundalk duo Andy Boyle and Daryl Horgan in the provisional squad for Ireland’s FIFA 2018 World Cup Qualifier against Austria has gone down well with those who worked with the pair as youngsters on the FAI ETB courses.

Harry McCue, FAI ETB Co-Ordinator, is particularly pleased to see the pair included in the wider squad for the game in Vienna on November 12 as they are the first graduates of the FAI ETB programme to win senior call-ups.

“I am delighted to send my congratulations to the two lads. It’s a great achievement for both of them and hopefully the start of many caps,” said McCue.

“It’s a great boost for all FAI ETB courses and the SSE Airtricity League as they’re the first lads from the courses to make the senior panel. Daryl was at Salthill Devon and Andy at Shelbourne when they both started on the courses in Castlebar and Dublin respectively.

“They were both very dedicated and focused and deserve all the honours they’ve received. They’ve been very consistent in recent seasons.”

Dundalk are in St Petersburg, Russia, today preparing for tomorrow’s their UEFA Europa League Group D Matchday 4 against Zenit St Petersburg. They were pictured outside the Church of the Savior in St.Petersburg.

The FAI in partnership with a number of Education and Training Boards throughout the country and supported by the European Social Fund are operating Local Training Initiatives that provide a unique blend of educational and football development for talented young footballers.

The renowned programme enables participants who are interested in developing a potential career in football or the sports and leisure industry as well as their level of education enhancing their job opportunities.

Kishoge C.C. named ‘Best Educational Building’

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Kishoge CC was named ‘Best Educational Building’ at the LAMA Community and Council Awards 2017 held on Saturday 4th February.This is a national award organised by all of the county councils in Ireland. Kishoge CC had strong competition from the other shortlisted buildings from Wicklow, Cavan and Cork.

Principal Niall Hare, speaking on behalf of the school community, expressed delight at winning the award:
‘The school community – students, parents and staff – are very conscious of how fortunate we are to have a beautiful, state-of–the-art educational facility. We believe that the design team of McCullough Mulvin Architects have brought a lot of imagination to bear on the design of the building.
We like the brightness: no opportunity to bring light into the school was lost – big windows, ground-to-ceiling glass panels, skylights.
We like the modern design – the funky tilts and twists of the corridor ceilings, the creative uses of concrete in pillars and walls, the attractive signage, the clever use of wooden panels.
We like the generous proportions of the social spaces especially our soaring PE hall. This sense of proportion is added to by the height of ceilings, width of corridors and size of internal doors.
We like the way in which outdoors and indoors are blended, indoor spaces wrapped around the sensory garden and internal courtyard.
We find that the building contributes to an environment that supports high-quality teaching and learning.”

Mr Hare thanked Cllr William Lavelle, South Dublin County Council, for nominating the school for the award and Deputy Principal, Maeve Joyce, who took to the red carpet on the night to collect the award

Grad day at Gormanston Army Camp

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The ‘Employment Support Scheme’ was a joint initiative run by the Department of Defence, the DSP and DDLETB Baldoyle Training Centre.

Twenty-five learners aged 18 – 24yrs from the wider Dublin North area and Drogheda area took part.  This involved 10 weeks of residential training which included a variety of formal and informal learning and facilitated learners enhancing their skills for life.  Learners graduated on 26 August 2016 in Gormanston Army Camp.

Minister of State Mr Finian McGrath TD presided over the parade, addressed the participants and both the Minister and Mr Paddy Lavelle, Chief Executive of DDLETB presented certificates to the graduates.  The Mayor of Drogheda Oliver Tully was also in attendance.

iTunes U service for schools, further education & training

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Pupils and students of Dublin & Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board across 16 schools, colleges and further education centres will benefit from a new approach to learning with the launch of iTunes U Site on Monday 7th
December 2015. https://vimeo.com/149277581

DDLETB’s iTunes U courses are now live on iTunes. This new education platform was launched at an impressive exhibition of digital learning projects in Tallaght involving students from Community National Schools, Colleges, and Further
Education centres who are piloting the initiative.

iTunes U is Apple’s collaborative learning app which can house multiple resources in a streamlined learning environment. An initial group of over 70 teachers in 16 centres of learning have undertaken professional training in using iTunes U to
create, edit and manage entire courses for the iTunes U platform. They are also sharing their ongoing course work with each other.

A library of iPads has been made available for teachers to use. Resource materials prepared specially by teachers will form the content of the iTunes U Courses. Students will be taught using a mix of traditional and digital means. Teachers and students can collaborate in an open learning environment.

iTunes U provides user-friendly technology with a wide choice of options to suit the needs of a class. Courses on the app can vary in length depending on the needs of the learner. Teachers can deliver classes in an organised and streamlined manner with a new easy-to-use app which learners can access on their iPads. iTunes U allows users to access courses and notes at any time, receive course updates directly onto their iPads and submit assignments to their teacher and get direct feedback.

Paddy Lavelle, CEO of the DDLETB launched the programme and said: “This is exemplary of the forward looking approach to skills development that we want to see for every pupil and driven by our teachers. It’s truly exciting to be at the
forefront of the merging of traditional teaching methods with advanced digital technologies that will underpin and support the skills of our teachers and are easy to use for our students. It’s going to be really interesting to see how students react
to the initiative and the long term results iTunes U will impact on teachers and students”.

The iTunes U project is now running an initiative in maths and science in 7 schools across DDLETB. If you are a 1:1 school or an iPad class set school and are looking for a virtual learning environment please contact sconroy@ddletb.ie.

Visit the DDLETB iTunes U Site
https://itunes.apple.com/ie/institution/dublin-dun-laoghaire-education/id1004374997

DDLETB Further Education Colleges and EUCOPP

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Teachers from our Further Education Colleges are currently involved in a European project with education partners in Norway and Estonia.  The project known as EUCOPP (European Communities of Professional Practice) aims to build communities of professional practice for teachers within DDLETB and at a European level.  The focus of the project is on the Healthcare and Childcare vocational areas and includes examining how our European partners incorporate core non vocational subjects into vocationally specialised courses.  The project was launched in October 2017 and in November, teachers from 8 DDLETB colleges became involved in the first stage of the programme.

EUCOPP is a two-year project during which teachers from Estonia and Norway will visit Ireland to spend time job shadowing our teachers in a number of different FE colleges.  Teachers from DDLETB will travel to Trondheim in Norway and Haapsalu in Estonia to learn about vocational education in these countries and observe teaching methodologies and practice.

On the 13 th  of November a group of seven teachers and managers from two vocational colleges in Trondheim, Norway (Kristen Videregående Skole Trøndelag (KVT) and Orkdal Videregående Skole) came to Dublin for a three-day job shadowing visit with our FE colleges. During the visit, teachers exchanged a lot of ideas and information about their specialist vocational areas, their teaching practice and of course, their students.

Before their departure the Norwegian teachers thanked DDLETB for the warm welcome they received and the quality of the programme planned for their visit.  They reported positively on what they had learned from practice observed in the classes they visited and were particularly impressed with the relationships evident between.

Adult Education Service pilots tours of local library services

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As part of a new national protocol for co-operation between LGMA/ County Library Services and ETBs, students and staff of South-West Dublin, Adult Education Service have been attending tours of the County Library Tallaght. This protocol is still in its pilot stage, but already the Tallaght Library and DDLETB Adult Education Service have benefited from staff and students becoming members of the library and increased usage of the library to
facilitate adult education classes.

Luttrellstown CC iPad Rollout

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Luttrellstown Community College continued with its exciting project rollout in August 2016, ongoing for the past 2 years. They have now rolled out iPads to all years. Their aim is to develop the higher order skills that their students will require throughout their life, facilitated by the many opportunities students will have to personalise their learning and manage additional resources to create their own learning profiles.

From a staff perspective it has been an enjoyable and enthusiastic learning curve in terms of getting familiar with a new educational tool in terms of teaching and learning and opening other channels of communication with students in terms of sharing educational apps and ideas. The school is striving to become a paperless community. Ideas, resources, exam materials, minutes of meetings etc.. are now shared using google docs. Students and teachers accessibility to resource sharing forums such as ‘edmodo’ and student/staff gmail is so much easier and flexible using the iPad device.
‘Wildfire Productions’ visited the school in May 2016 as part of their ‘Digital Literacy’ production to be aired on national television end Oct/beginning Nov 2016. LCC were honoured that Lord David Puttnam was on hand experiencing the schools’ digital journey so far.
Lord Puttnam was appointed as Ireland’s Digital champion in 2012. He got first-hand experience from talking with students and teachers and visiting classrooms of how iPads as an additional tool can benefit teaching and learning and make learning a more enjoyable and rewarding experience for all.Students have expressed how such a tool makes knowledge readily accessible and how eager they are to engage and demonstrate use of so many useful apps:-‘The iPads are great. They have a good note taking facility by using apps such as showme and evernote’. Robert, First year
‘ Because all our books are in the iPad you don’t have to worry about carrying heavy bags and worrying about losing hardback books’ Sam, First year

‘Its great having my iPad when I want to research something for homework. Everything is at my fingertips’. Chevonne, First year

‘My iPad is great. I can download apps that help with school work. I use ‘picolage’ for example that is very useful for presentations’. Cherry, First year.