Northern Ireland - eTwinning project scoops award

News | Published in The TES on 17 July, 2009

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St Brigid’s College in Derry is the first school in Northern Ireland to win a prize in the UK’s eTwinning Awards.

The Getting Closer project, set up by a Year 9 class last June, twinned St Brigid’s with schools in Spain and the Czech Republic, and won third prize. The three partner schools regularly communicated via the internet to learn about each other’s cultures and their day-to-day lives.

Pupils gave PowerPoint presentations to the other schools and devised quizzes to test their knowledge. Each school then compiled a digital album about their e-partners.

Brid Ui Uait, a class teacher and eTwinning ambassador at St Brigid’s, said: “This prestigious prize is testimony to my pupils’ hard work and commitment to their eTwinning project.

“It is particularly gratifying that St Brigid’s College is the first school from Northern Ireland to receive this accolade.”

The judges for the fourth annual awards commended the project for its cross-curricular relevance. One said it was an example of how eTwinning could “lift the range of activity and learning opportunities available in a school”.

There are currently 40,000 European schools registered as part of the eTwinning project, 4,500 of which are in the UK and 60 in Northern Ireland.