Funding boost for Derry school’s Irish language project
November 12, 2015
A Derry school has been awarded funding for a major project to encourage more pupils to study Irish beyond the age of 16.
St Mary’s Grammar School in Magherafelt is celebrating winning a British Academy Language Award.
The scheme is designed to support schools to implement imaginative new ways of encouraging more young people to take language learning to higher levels.
It also strives to address the social imbalance in the profile of language learners when they leave school.
The award scheme seeks to identify and stimulate good practice in this area which can be shared more widely.
A panel of judges assessed the originality, credibility and potential replicability of the proposals, with particular emphasis this year on building partnerships.
St Mary’s was the only school from the North to win the award this year.
It won the award for its Gaeltalk project, which will involve 40 sixth form pupils who are learning Irish or from an Irish-medium background. It will enable them to develop media skills by creating Irish language videos and radio broadcasts, an online blog and a YouTube channel.
The funding is be used to purchase media equipment to help young people work collaboratively to produce a series of short promotional clips pertaining to the use of Irish in the locality.
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