Four Laois schools have taken part in ‘Creative Clusters’ – an initiative of the Department of Education and Youth and the Education Support Centres Ireland (ESCI).
Creative Clusters forms part of the Government’s Creative Youth 2023-2027 programme which aims to enable the creativity of Ireland’s young people.
The four Laois schools who collaborated were:
- Castletown Primary School,
- St Fintan’s Boys NS, Mountrath
- Scoil Fionntáin Naofa, Shanahoe,
- Tobar an Léinn NS, Raheen.
They came together in September, 2024, as a ‘Creative Cluster’ to collaborate in designing and implementing a two-year STEM project.
The project is entitled ‘IZAK9 to Develop Playful and Meaningful Approaches to Undertaking Cognitively Challenging Tasks’.
IZAK9 is an innovative educational resource designed by Franz Schindlwein in Northern Ireland, to make maths engaging, interactive and enjoyable for students.
The main area of the project saw the fifth and sixth class pupils in the four schools using IZAK9 to design their own tasks for pupils in the younger classes.
IZAK9 includes a range of tasks aimed at developing key mathematical skills such as problem-solving, reasoning, and fluency while fostering creativity and supporting pupil wellbeing in a positive, collaborative and low stress learning environment.
Child agency and voice was very much to the fore as the fifth and sixth class students assumed responsibility themselves for designing the tasks for their younger counterparts.
As well as designing the tasks, the older students worked with their younger counterparts to familiarise these pupils with the IZAK9 Cubes.
The teachers from each of the four schools met on various occasions throughout the year to plan and work collaboratively to progress the main aims of the project.
Teachers involved from the four schools included:
- Castletown Primary School – Ms Fiona Cuddy (deputy principal) and Ms Anna Hayes (fifth and sixth class teacher);
- St Fintan’s Boys NS – Ms Edel Parkinson (principal) and Ms Roberta Connolly (fifth and sixth class teacher);
- Scoil Fionntáin Naofa – Mr Barry Whelan (Principal and fifth and sixth class teacher);
- Tobar an Léinn NS – Ms Niamh Campion (principal) and Ms Rose Breen (fifth and sixth class teacher).
The project was supported from the outset by Creative Facilitator Ms Frances Harney, who provided guidance and insights from her extensive experience working in the fields of primary education and the creative arts.
An integral part of the work of the Creative Cluster this year was the Transition to Post-Primary Project organised in conjunction with Mountrath Community School.
IZAK9 was used as a bridging tool to facilitate a transition project for the fifth and sixth classes in the four aforementioned primary schools, all of which are feeder schools for Mountrath Community School.
Fifth and sixth classes in the four respective schools, collaborated with the Transition Year Students in Mountrath to undertake cognitively challenging tasks using the IZAK9 cubes resource.
This ensured that very meaningful and purposeful cross-age and cross-sectoral approaches to teaching and learning became a tenet of the transition project.
The transition project was fully supported from the outset by Principal of Mountrath Community School, Ms Kathryn O’Brien, and Maths Teacher in the school, Ms Evelyn Geary.
All four primary schools involved also came together for a large-scale Cubeathon event in Mountrath Community School, facilitated in person by Mr Franz Schindlwein.
Through active and collaborative problem solving, students in the participating schools have developed more positive and productive dispositions and attitudes towards Maths as a subject area.
Students involved have become more confident and proficient in using mathematical language and this has in turn enhanced their capacity to articulate their thought processes in relation to their learning across different key concepts and topics in Maths.
The students involved have also developed their leadership, communication and teamwork skills which can in turn be transferred to other areas of the wider curriculum and indeed life in general.
SEE ALSO – Laois nine-year-old undertaking 1km swim to raise funds for Irish Cancer Society
