Ringsend College will be offering new initiatives for the incoming First Years in September 2014. The two new schemes are iPads instead of text books and GAA Sports Scholarships. NewsFour spoke to both the principal, Donnachadh Clancy and the new deputy principal, Tommy Brown, who expressed great enthusiasm and eagerness about the new plans for the school.
“We’re really excited about the new initiatives we’re offering to incoming First Years. The iPad Initiative is going to be of huge help to students in so many different ways and will help get some students to be more interested and engaged,” said Brown.
iPads could be the new era of e-learning within the classroom. Textbooks will still be available in the classroom and some classes will still be handwritten but now students won’t have to break their backs with heavy bags.
The iPads will have educational apps to help students learn in new and exciting ways. There will be a reduced-cost iPad for each student and they can be paid for over three years so that there’s not that entire expense upfront. If students have their own iPads, these can be used but they must be theirs and not belong to anyone else in the household.
GAA Sports Scholarships will also be offered to pupils starting in September 2014. The programme enables students to be coached in football, hurling and camogie for boys and girls as part of their timetabled classes each week. They will receive training, classes on tactics, team play, nutrition and diet. Improving the basic skills of the game for students which can help them in their GAA club is the aim.
They will be coached by All-Ireland winning coach, deputy principal Tommy Brown. Brown managed the Dublin Ladies Senior Football team from 2006 to 2010 and in 2010 they won the all-Ireland against Tyrone. “The GAA Scholarship is close to my heart due to my GAA background and it’s only the start of the sporting relationships we want to build in the area. We have every sport conceivable on our doorstep in Ringsend and we want to help any students with a talent in sport to get some extra help. Trying to build a very strong and diverse sporting culture in Ringsend College will be an important goal for the school over the next three to five years. We want to be competing with the best and indeed bringing home plenty of silverware, whether it is in GAA, soccer or any other sport we take part in.”
For students who don’t like school, this new GAA Scholarship scheme might offer a complete turnaround for them. They may have some behavioural issues at home or in the classroom but this could give them that new focus and way of learning. Learning about their diet and nutrition along with the physical exercise that the pupils will be participating in will only give them a healthier mind.
With these new schemes in place, Ringsend College is moving forward in the right direction, providing encouragement and more opportunities. Present and incoming students have the right support in a school that is caring, student-centred and changing with the times.
For more information, please visit their website www.ringsendcollege.ie
Pictured: Niall Nolan teaches the students of Ringsend College using iPads and a digitial projector with screen.
By Donna Dunne
