Spring 2021 Webinars Schedule

In Kilkenny Education Centre, we have finalised our January and February 2021 Spring schedule of supports for Primary, Post Primary and Special schools, as well as the PDST Technology in Education supports, which you can view here. The range of supports we have put in place is continually being added to, in response to needs identified by school communities. The Professional Learning Opportunities we are offering are for Principals, Management, Teachers, SNAs, School Secretaries, and we have further extended our supports to include those for Parents/Guardians. Many of our Spring 2021 webinars, such as those in March and April 2021, are live for bookings on our website here.

Supports for Schools with School Closures

Additionally, in response to the current school closures, we have expanded our Spring 2021 provision in the short-term by adding the following webinars, which are also live for bookings; 

• Supporting Teachers with Seesaw Webinar – Thursday 14^th January 2021, 10.30a.m.
• Microsoft Teams for Schools Webinar #1 - Microsoft Teams as an Online Learning Platform – Thursday 14^th January 2021, 12p.m.
• Supporting Teachers with Google Classroom Webinar – Tuesday 19th January 2021, 12p.m.
• NEW!! An Introduction to Seesaw for Parents Webinar - Tuesday 19^th January 2021, 12p.m.
• NEW!! Seesaw Questions and Answers Webinar - Thursday 21^st January 2021, 10.30a.m.
• Microsoft Teams for Schools Webinar #2 - How to Set up Class Notebooks – Thursday 21^st January 2021, 12p.m.
• NEW!! Getting to Grips with Teaching Remotely Webinar, Monday 25^th January 2021, 12p.m.
• Microsoft Teams for Schools Webinar #3 - How to Set up a Video Call Using Microsoft Teams – Thursday 28^th January 2021, 12p.m.

We continue to update our Resource Page for Teachers and Resource Page for Parents with various resources that may be useful for teachers and Parents/Guardians at this time. If there is a particular resource/s you have found useful please do not hesitate to let us know and we will add same to our Resource Page/s.

Please encourage your teachers, School Secretaries, SNAs and Parents/Guardians to register for our Newsletters and updates; I believe that the range and quality of learning experiences and resources on offer are of a very high standard.

We are available to serve our school communities and hope to provide you with any support/s you require over the coming weeks, months and beyond. We will keep you informed via email, our website, and Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Should you have any questions/queries please do not hesitate to contact us by email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or phone 056-7760200. 

Take care and stay well,

John O’ Sullivan,

Kilkenny Education Centre Director

The Irish Film Institute has launched its comprehensive 2020-2021 IFI Schools' Programme. For the first time, the programme will be available to view nationwide online on the Institute's brand new IFI@Schools platform available here. Films to feature as part of this year's offering include Greta Gerwig's Oscar-nominated Little Women, Bo Burnham's Eighth Grade, Neasa Hardiman's Sea Fever, and three films from Cartoon Saloon, Kilkenny's beloved animation studio.

The entire programme is available to view for schools through an annual subscription for either the Primary or Post Primary programmes. With the generous support of the Arts Council Capacity Building Grant, the IFI has been able to heavily subsidise costs so that an annual Primary subscription costs €100, and annual Post Primary subscription costs €250. Each subscription allows 10 teachers per school to watch 10 screenings each. Unlike booking student groups for cinema screenings, the subscription allows the teacher a greater degree of flexibility as to when material is viewed in the classroom and will encourage increased media literacy across a wide range of ages.

For English this year, Senior Cycle students can look forward to Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence in Debra Granik's Winter's Bone, and Paddy Breathnach's acclaimed drama Rosie, starring Sarah Greene and Moe Dunford. For Junior Cycle, there's a hugely entertaining and thought-provoking slate of films including Taika Waititi's Hunt for the Wilderpeople, The Peanut Butter Falcon starring Shia LaBeouf, Ken Wardrop's touching Irish documentary His & Hers, and Saudi Arabian coming-of-age drama Wadjda.

IFI is delighted to present a particularly strong line-up of Irish films, and as part of their ongoing commitment to support Irish filmmakers, IFI has confirmed a number of special guests to speak as part of this year's online programme, including Oscar-nominated animators Nora Twomey and Tomm Moore, documentarians Brendan J. Byrne and Ross Whitaker, and Vivarium director Lorcan Finnegan.

This year's Primary programme features a fantastic range of titles for younger pupils including the charming Little Women with Saoirse Ronan and Emma Watson, Irish drama A Shine of Rainbows, plus animations Minuscule, Dreambuilders, and the Cartoon Saloon trio of Song of the Sea, The Secret of Kells and The Breadwinner.

Finally, the IFI is delighted to announce the 2021 edition of its hugely successful Careers in Film Day events next March, in association with the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival. IFI will also run special events in association with Screen Skills Ireland, which will allow students to engage directly with filmmakers and their craft; these Q&A and 'First Steps' events will be held in January.

For more details and to download a full IFI Education 2020-2021 Programme, click here. For more information and booking, please contact Richard or Amy at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Full details of the programme can be found here.

The Minister for Education, Norma Foley T.D., and the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris T.D., have announced the launch of a new initiative that will see three new education programmes to upskill registered Post Primary teachers to teach Mathematics, Physics and Spanish.

• To view the joint press release by the Ministers please click here.
• To view the Press Release by the Higher Education Authority please click here.

Three Level 8 programmes have been selected for funding, as follows;

• Professional Diploma for Teaching Physics, DCU (lead institution), UL and NUIG
• Higher Diploma in Spanish for Teaching (Post-Primary), UCC
• Professional Diploma in Mathematics for Teaching, UL (lead institution), NUIG, DCU, TUD, CIT, LYIT and WIT

The application processes will open shortly and applications should be made directly to the appropriate HEI. Further information on the programmes and the application processes, including closing dates for applications, are available below.

• Professional Diploma for Teaching Physics
• Higher Diploma in Spanish for Teaching (Post-Primary)
• Professional Diploma in Mathematics for Teaching

Recently the 2020 Region Three Annual Education Research Conference, hosted jointly by the three Education Centres in the South East, Waterford, Kilkenny and Co. Wexford, took place online. The theme this year was ‘Supporting EAL Students: What Works?’. A number of experienced teachers and researchers who work with and support international students in learning English presented papers on this essential and challenging education topic.  Over eighty teachers participated in this online event.

The opening address was given by Narrell Byrne, EAL Co-Ordinator at Mount Sion Secondary School, Waterford, followed by Aoife Merrins, Primary teacher and PhD student in DCU, Caitriona O' Reilly, Principal, Good Counsel G.N.S., Ferrybank and Marie Delaney, Co-Founder of Trauma Responsive Education. The keynote address was presented by Dr. Fiodhna Gardiner–Hyland, Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. In order to introduce student voice to the proceedings, students from Mount Sion Secondary School shared their experiences of being supported with EAL through a video link. 

During the proceedings the 2^nd Annual Louise Madigan Memorial Research Bursary was presented in memory of Louise Madigan, former Project and Course Administrator at Waterford Teachers' Centre, who co-ordinated this Conference from 2016 – 2018. This annual award is jointly funded by the three Education Centres and presented to a teacher based in Region Three pursuing a Postgraduate degree at Masters or Doctoral level.

This year, the applications were once again adjudicated by the independent panel comprising Dr. Gerard Farrelly, PDST Advisor, Dr. Pauline Egan, Director of Schools, KCETB and Chairperson, Dr. Helen Murphy, Head of School of Lifelong and Education, WIT. The panel decided to award the bursary jointly to Grainne Mulcahy, a secondary teacher at Gorey Community College who is carrying out Doctoral research at TCD into the impact of Junior Cycle reform, and John Murphy, a PE teacher at St. Mary's Secondary School, New Ross, and doctoral student at DCU. John’s 'Physical Activity and Wellbeing Study' seeks to examine the associations between physical activity and mental health outcomes in Irish adolescents. 

The recipients were congratulated by the Directors of the three hosting Centres, John O' Sullivan, Kilkenny Education Centre, Lorraine O' Gorman, Co. Wexford Education Centre and Assumpta O' Neill, Waterford Teachers' Centre. John and Grainne both expressed their thanks and delight in being chosen as Bursary recipients for 2020 and also their appreciation to Louise’s family; her husband, Tom Carroll and children Cormac and Orla, for the opportunity to benefit from this award in her name. In accepting her award, Grainne stated ‘I am honoured to receive the bursary this year. Louise was a lovely person and it is humbling to receive the bursary in her name. Though a small comfort for her family, friends and colleagues, her memory is alive in the projects this bursary supports. In a very tangible way, she contributes to build a better world for students and teachers’.

The former Director of Waterford Teachers' Centre and Conference organiser, Dr. Celia Walsh, congratulated John and Grainne and also paid tribute to Louise’s significant talents and skills and her friendship and good humour which are sadly missed by all Centre staff and teachers in the WTC region. The 2019 Bursary winner, Michelle Bolger, a teacher Knockbeg College, Carlow, presented the participants with an update on the progress of her Master’s Degree research.

In bringing proceedings to a conclusion, Dr. Walsh thanked all those presenters who shared their experience and expertise in the area of EAL and also those who assisted in the organisation of the Conference, particularly Laura Zalcmane, Conference Co-Ordinator, who ensured the smooth running of all presentations. The Conference ended with a beautiful performance by the Mount Sion Choir under the guidance of their Director, Colette Kearney.