Global Village

Each year, a number of schools come together and take part in the Global Village project. Lectures and presentations are delivered at the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology. Secondary level students participate and cooperate with Third Level University students. The purpose of this competition is to make students more culturally and economically aware of other countries throughout world. The project is partly funded by the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council and the Children’s Hope Charity. St. Brendan’s pupils were assigned Canada and Tanzania as their focus countries. As part of the project, the students were encouraged to create a presentation on their focus countries.

The pupils were able to avail of the newly refurbished ICT Centre in St.Brendan’s. The students encountered a number of difficulties in their endeavour, not least the commitment they were attaching to their social outreach programmes, and this led to the pupils realisation that due to these commitments they would not be able to attend the presentation evening. They used their initiative to record their presentation on the school’s video recording equipment and to organise for this to be shown in their absence. The global village exhibition will be held in the Pavilion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire on the 6^th and the 7^th of March this year. It involves a colourful and varied presentation delivered by the students of the participating schools on the countries they were assigned as part of their projects.

	The photograph above shows Mrs. Donavan, a local Senior Citizen working with Junior Madide, a TY Student at St. Brendan’s.

TY Students - Log On and Learn

A Computer Training Programme for the 65’s and over: 

Transition Year students at St. Brendan’s College are offering free, one to one computer training for those aged 65 and over. A total of 32 participants are being coached by 32 Transition Year students. These courses are being held on Wednesday from 11:15am to 12:45pm and on Friday evening between 2:00pm and 3:30pm. The course encompasses areas such as; how to book flights, surf the Internet, send e-mail to a friend, or even to purchase shopping online. This programme is currently being run in over 100 schools nationally and St. Brendan’s College is delighted to offer this programme to local senior citizens. St Brendan’s College strongly believes in integrating Transition Year education with the local community and this programme follows on from the Bray Clean Up Project and their Social Outreach Programmes launched last September. These Programmes involves the students from St Brendan’s working in Nursing Homes and Primary Schools in the Bray Community.

The Social Outreach Program

Every Tuesday the students contribute to the local community in a variety of ways. They participate in this programme, which involves the students building awareness of the roles Nursing Homes, Primary Schools and Gardening Centres play in the local community and realising the changes or contributions that they can make as active members of the community. The school has received great feedback. The school is proud to say that they make a great difference in the local community. Many students would not have been aware of or have been to a nursing home, hospice or care centre before and has been an important learning experience for all involved. The work carried out involves the students organising/contributing to activities and games with the elderly such as bingo or simply to accompany and enjoy the company of the sick or elderly on walks. The elderly have someone to talk to which is often of great benefit to them. In the primary schools, the children have the opportunity to take part in physical activities such as football and basketball, as well as being helped in homework clubs. In the gardening centres the students help by planting, weeding and by participating in general gardening activities

Top Photograph: Lee Walsh, Cian McGoldrick growing an interest in Gardening. Bottom Photograph: Sean Kennedy, Eoghan Kennefick and John Armstrong taking residents for a walk.

Bray Coastal Clean

St. Brendan’s Transition Year group has been involved in a number of Social Outreach Programmes to date this Year. A number of students were concerned that although they were building a good relationship with Hospices, Hospitals, Care Homes and Schools, they were not as involved with other important areas of local concern. The pupils felt that they could contribute to environmental issues in the Bray/Shankill area.

A guest speaker invited to address the pupils and to give them a starting point for their venture. A key figure from the Coastal Clean Up and Awareness Group visited the school to provide the students with information on the nature of our fragile coastline habitat, equipment that they would need to help improve and safeguard it and the ethos that should support work.

The school applied for Local Area Grant and was successful in its bid. The school was able to purchase a number of litter pickers, storage equipment, high visibility vests, and needle awareness packs with the funding it received. The pupils have also decided to extend the scope of their venture and to include local litter hotspots such as Bray Main Street, Castle Street and the Little Bray area. Work will begin after the mid-term break

Trip to Canadian Embassy

The pupils felt that a trip to the Canadian Embassy would furnish them with a wide understanding and appreciation of the directions in which they could take their projects. The purpose of this trip was to give the students a better view and understanding of Canada’s historical, cultural and social traditions. They were greeted and addressed by the Canadian Ambassador Patrick. G. Binns. Mr. Binns is a Canadian Diplomat who was named Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland in 2007. Born in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, he worked as a local representative for many years before going on to become Premier of Prince Edward Island. While holding office from 1996 to 2007, he became the leader of the Prince Edward Island Progressive Conservative Party. The students felt it was a great honour and privilege for the Ambassador to spend over 90mins talking with such passion and detail about Canada. After the presentation, the students were weighted with and a mass of questions for the Ambassador born from genuine interest. They were then given a taste of a long held Canadian delicacy. Tim Horton’s, a multi-national Canadian company, supplied the pupils with an array of their choice doughnuts. The doughnuts were enjoyed by all with many pleading for the product to form part of their presentation on the evening of the exhibition.