Tag: Microsoft

Top 20 Winners Ireland’s Future Is MINE Project for 2022

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Clontuskert is a Top 20 Winner of the Ireland’s Future Is MINE Project for 2022.

We were invited to DreamSpace in One Microsoft Place today for the Prizegiving from Microsoft and RTÉ.

Feedback from the Judges-
We knew you guys would do incredible things (as always) but you and the class should be really proud of yourselves for placing so highly with the judges scoring 😊

Thanks to Corey and Neeve for a super day. Check out the fun day we had!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

For Ireland’s Future is Mine we have made our school even more sustainable. We already have solar panels on our school. This produces 42% of our school’s electricity. In Minecraft we installed LED lighting all around the school which will save energy and funds. We have recycling, landfill and compost bins everywhere. We have an environmentally friendly sewerage treatment plant. At our school garden we sow vegetables, flowers and have composters and bee hives. This is part of our outdoor classroom. Our school bus is electric and runs on solar energy. We have installed a safe cycle path from the church to the school so that we can start a Cycle Bus for our students. We have electric charging points for teacher and visitor cars.

Our world is built in a flat world. This meant that we needed to code a 4 block height grass tower that we stretched across the whole parish to give us more build options. This meant we could build down as well as up. The other world landscapes would have interfered with what we wanted to build. We used a slash fill command which quickened this build.

Old Clontuskert school was closed but still occupied in 1958. Our modern school opened in 1959. There were two class rooms and two toilets in the school at that time and was also used as a local youth club. There were 120 boys and girls in the school at the time of its opening. In 1970 the school free transport system started but only applied to people two miles from the school.
An extension to the school was built and opened in 1999. Now we have three modern classrooms, two SEN rooms and a large general purpose hall. This year we started a Breakfast and Afterschool Club. We have a huge playing space, games courts and pitches around the school. For the road we used an agent to code so that it would be built faster.

Check out our twin Wind Turbines.
They are taller than the average wind turbines and are vertical axis to generate more electricity so that they supply not only the school but the whole parish with electricity. The extra energy is being sold back into the national grid. The money we earn from this is being donated to charities to help students across the world to receive an education under Sustainable Development Goal 4- Quality Education. The turbines move using 49 Command Blocks.

Welcome to Clontuskert Parish Church
This is our Sustainable church and community pitch with solar panels, charging points, playground, coffee shop, walking track and flower patio. There are wind turbines here too.

Welcome to Clontuskert Pitch:
We have a new modern clubhouse for the community to gather.
We built irrigation pipes under pitch. This both drains the pitch and supplies water to our community allotment gardens which supply vegetables and fruit to each family in the parish.
Wind turbines supply the energy for the lights here.

This is Clontuskert’s Old School:
The old school is in Chapel park near the Church. It was opened in 1836. There is a plaque on the wall that says Clontuskert National School AD 1833. Helena Coen, a great granny of a current 4th class student was the principal of the old school and some of the teachers were Mrs. Eileen Fenton, Mrs. Coen and Mrs. Kitty Bleahen.
There were at least three hedge schools in Clontuskert before they built the school building. This school was built on a ringfort. The people called the school Crossconnell school but the name was changed to Clontuskert National school on September 21st, 1852.
The school started as a mixed school on the 1st of July 1836. There was an old staircase near the door of the old school. There was a stage in it made from old doors.

To rethink how the old school can function for the future we have turned it into a kids museum where the community can gather. Clontuskert’s history is told at the museum with VR and AR experiences. We also have a library underground. We built an aquarium filled with beautiful fish and visitors can learn about the fish here.
There is an attic with large windows to maximise the views of Clontuskert parish. This is our new Clontuskert Observatory. At night the balcony can be used for stargazing. Because Clontuskert is in the country it is the perfect place for astronomy, away from the light pollution in towns and cities.

❤️Kindness Rocks at Clontuskert with Mark Sparvell❤️

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Mr. Gohery and Mrs. Murray’s rooms connected with Mark Sparvell from Microsoft on Kindness Day to discuss Kindness and Social and Emotional Learning.

Mark Sparvell is an award winner educator with over 25 years experience leading improvement for schools, systems, higher-ed and professional associations.

Mark has taught both pre-service and post-graduate studies in Universities in Australia and US.

As Education Leader with Microsoft, Mark led the Global Leader audience strategy and exapanded the global Showcase School program.

In his current role Mark has championed the Thought-Leadership strategy for Education Marketing and led the publication of research into the Class of 2030 , Emotion and Cognition in the Age of AI and the latest, Staff of 2030 and recently, Education Reimagined.

We were delighted to share our learning with him and find out more about how social and emotional learning affects us all in school and in the wider world.

Virtual Tour of Clontuskert National School in Minecraft

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This year some of our new students have been unable to visit St. Augustine’s National School Clontuskert before they start school, so we ran a competition to design a Virtual School Tour in Minecraft for Education.

We had many amazing entries. The winning video stood out for its attention to detail and close mirroring of the real school in Clontuskert.

Check out the winning submission from our 4th class student here and take a tour of our beautiful school in rural Co. Galway.

#ClontuskertStrong
#ASchoolWhereLearningComesAlive

Clontuskert on ‘What’s New in Edu?’

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Clontuskert students appear on the international film series, ‘What’s New in Edu?’ with Mark Sparvell this week.

Mark is Education Leader with Microsoft globally and is an award winner educator with over 25 years experience leading improvement for schools, systems, higher-ed and professional associations.

In his current role he partners directly with researchers, education leaders and organizations globally to identify innovative leading and teaching practice, building community and capacity by leveraging digital solutions.

He visited Clontuskert in January and was impressed with the students’ style of and enthusiasm for learning. He joined our Remote Learning lesson on Microsoft Teams on the 26th March to listen to some of our latest writing pieces. He gave valuable feedback and encouragement to the students. Thanks Mark!

#Sparvellous

Visit from French Inspectorate to Clontuskert

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From the 2nd to the 7th of February we hosted the French Primary Inspectorate and Professional Development Service from Nantes. (Départementale Education Prioritaire- IEN Circonscription 1er degré- Departmental Priority Education – IEN Constituency 1st degree)
They visited Clontuskert to observe teaching practices particularly in the field of mathematics.

During their visit, we had the opportunity to
-exchange and discuss math teaching practices in Ireland and France
-give new insights into different teaching methodologies and approaches we use in Clontuskert
-pick up good practices especially in the subject of mathematics

They especially focused on teaching problem solving, numerical systems and mental arithmetic.

On Monday our French visitors were hosted by Dr. Deirdre Butler in St. Patrick’s College Drumcondra and Mrs. Murray led a lesson on robotics and showed how this field seamlessly integrates with real-world math.

On Tuesday the inspectors and trainers were guests of Richard Ryan, Microsoft DreamSpace Lead in DreamSpace at One Microsoft Place. There they explored hands-on mathematics and problem solving with a STEAM approach to Hacking STEM. They learned how to code using Microbits and were shown how this relates to the field of math and can be incorporated in a primary classroom.

On Wednesday they visited Clontuskert school and were extremely impressed with our differentiated approach to the teaching of mathematics and especially how formative assessment is built into our everyday classes and used for and as learning. We showcased our Team Teaching approach to various strands in the mathematics curriculum and showcased our work in robotics and how that feeds into math problem solving, collaboration and critical thinking.

Mark Sparvell visits Clontuskert

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We often invite educators and thought leaders from other schools and countries to see how we use technology in our school, to share good practice and pedagogies and enhance the learning culture in our school. In January 2020, Mark Sparvell and Richard Ryan visited Clontuskert.

Mark is Education Leader with Microsoft globally and is an award winning educator with over 25 years experience leading improvement for schools, systems, higher-ed and professional associations. In his current role he partners directly with researchers, education leaders and organizations globally to identify innovative leading and teaching practice, building community and capacity by leveraging digital solutions. During his visit to Clontuskert he was impressed with the students’ style of and enthusiasm for learning.

Richard is DreamSpace Programme Manager for Microsoft Ireland and has worked with us in Clontuskert over many years to aid our work as a Microsoft Showcase School.

Visit to Microsoft DreamSpace in Dublin

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Today we visited Microsoft DreamSpace at One Microsoft Place in Leopardstown in Dublin. We left Clontuskert dark and early at 7.00 am. There was much excitement on the bus with German, Irish and English songs all getting an airing at that early time!

We arrived on time at 9.30 am and were met by the amazing Amanda Jolliffe who brought us into DreamSpace. We were delighted to have a fruit and juice break after our long journey from the Whest!

We revised coding skills and directional language before learning the coding ropes on Minecraft Education Edition. Many of us are Minecraft Pros but we hadn’t experienced Code Builder or Agent Programming before. Both Noobs and Pros loved the new challenge.

Next we explored Paint 3D to create shorts that we will share as part of our work on the this year’s Climate Action Project!

Special congratulations to Ms. Scott and Ms. Egan who have recently been awarded Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert status for their work using technology to pave the way for better learning and student outcomes. They have joined this exclusive group and have been recognised as global educator visionaries. Comhghairdeas!!!

We were delighted to be visited by Irene Cormican during the morning. Irene is from Laurencetown originally. Her cousin Ciara Cormican teaches in Clontuskert and her dad Mike was the 2019 recipient of the Parker Cup. Irene is Principal Program Manager for MS Office. Wow!

Thanks to the team of Amanda, Richie, Ian, Corey and Niamh for organising such an amazing day. Today a new group of Creators, Collaborators, Communicators and Critical Thinkers were inspired!

Visit from Caitriona Murphy Cisco

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Caitríona Murphy, UX Designer from Cisco and parent in Clontuskert NS visited today to help us with our So You Think You Can Recycle Project. Caitriona visited us in the school to talk about her job as part of Health Promoting Schools and you can read about her previous visit here.

We are going to build an app with Caitriona’s help that will scan plastic packaging and tell us if it can be recycled in our local Waste Mangement and Recycling plant. We hope that thhis prototype idea will be useful to help the issuees surrounding Waste Management in Ireland. Read about the issues here.

Read student reports of her visit below:
Today Catriona from Cisco came to talk to us about the app that we are creating. What we plan to do is have QR codes at the back of all products and when we go into the app and scan the QR code and it will tell you whether it is recyclable or not.
She showed us an impressive demo app that she made and told us that it might look hard to make a app but really its very simple using the MIT app maker which allows you to make apps for free. We are now brainstorming ideas for what the app will look like and do. I very much enjoyed the chat with Catriona and thought it was very interesting.

Caitríona Murphy from Cisco came to us to talk about how we can make our new app for the www.soyouthinkyoucanrecycle.com project.
Caitríona showed us this amazing MIT App Inventor. This app can make any kind of app like games to scanning QR codes. This app made it all very easy. So Caitríona showed us all an app she made, a basic outline on what our app will become. We came up with ideas for the app like a recycling game and what kind of plastic the product is as well as the scanner.

Here is one of the ideas designed by the students:

#NoMorePlastic Project Week 1

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The #NoMorePlastic project involves more than 401 schools globally across 68 countries, covering six continents. During 3 weeks students in Clontuskert have focused on the problem, solutions and how to take action.
We have had the opportunity to explore, brainstorm, discuss, create, connect, reflect and share our findings via weekly videos and pictures which will be shared at the website. www.no.moreplastic.info
As part of the project we have focused on single use plastic, microplastics and the plastic soup.

This week for Week 1, we are looking at the problems caused by plastic, globally.