1,000 children attend Dept of Education & Skills funded Irish language summer literacy camps
July 19, 2012
This month, some 1,000 children are taking part in Department of Education and Skills week long Irish language literacy summer camps- Campaí Samhraidh. A further 1,512 children will be attending English language literacy camps in August.
The Campaí Samhraidh initiative, which commenced in 2007, has catered for over 4,000 children so far, including the 1,000 seven to eleven year olds taking part this summer.
The courses, most of which are taking place this week, are in 29 schools across the country including in Dublin, Cork, Mayo and Louth. A number of these schools are hosting camps for the first time.
A new feature this year is the inclusion of a numeracy element, in line with the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy.
The Programme for Government emphasises the Government’s commitment to improving students’ skills in the areas of reading, communication, writing and mathematics.
Last year, the Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn, TD, introduced the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy which sets ambitious targets and describes the actions that must be taken to improve the teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy. From last September, primary schools have had to spend 90 minutes on literacy and 50 minutes on numeracy each day.
The Minister said, “I am delighted to see the continued popularity of the Campaí Samhraidh.
“The camps are a fantastic way of taking lessons out of the traditional classroom setting, so that learning literacy and numeracy can be done in a fun and participative fashion.
“They also help to bring the Irish language alive for children in the context of their everyday lives.”
Children taking part in the camps are 4th to 6th class students from DEIS band 1 schools. The schools nominate pupils aged 7- 11 years who would benefit most from the initiative, with up to 36 participants in each camp.
The Department is providing funding of €335,000 in 2012 for the Irish and English camps, with €145,100 for the Campaí Samhraidh Initiative.
EDUCATION.IE
