Twenty-first West Belfast Partnership Board Easter School at St Mary’s
Tuesday, 23rd April – Friday, 26th April 2019
The twenty-first West Belfast Partnership Board (WBPB) Easter School took place in St Mary’s University College from the 23rd to the 26th of April. Attending this year were over 200 pupils, divided into seventeen class groups from ten schools, including an Irish-medium school. There were seventeen fully qualified teachers and twenty support assistants working with the pupils. The Easter School offers additional support to Year 12 pupils at risk of not achieving the required Grade C in their GCSE mathematics and English language examinations in the summer.
Schools involved included St Dominic’s, St Louise’s, Corpus Christi College, St Rose’s, St Genevieve’s, De La Salle, Christian Brothers’ School (CBS) St Mary’s Glen Road, Colaiste Feirste and St Malachy’s College.
Pupils attended classes in the College each day from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. A thirty-minute lunch break included a hot meal and a soft drink. The classes mixed genders and combined schools, dividing students into classes by the particular topic or theme taught.
Pupils were selected using the following criteria:
- They must be year 12 pupils who are borderline Grade C or below.
- They must attend a school or be a resident in the West Belfast Constituency.
Each pupil’s regular class teacher had indicated the student’s particular areas of weakness in mathematics and/or English, so the support provided could be targeted and could be more effective. There were also opportunities on days three and four to explore examination preparation strategies and study techniques. Pupils wore casual clothes instead of school uniforms, and the atmosphere generally was more informal than in the normal school environment.
The following student ambassadors from St Mary’s worked at the 2019 school: Aisling Johnston, Niamh Kelly, Michael Warwick, Paula O’Neill, Ruairi Hegarty, Bronagh McGilligan, Lauren Elliott, Emma Campbell, Elizabeth Daly, Katie Sweeney, Ellie O’Hanlon, Ciara Marshall, Ciara Rafferty, Anita McKeown, Corrie Murray, Laura McCann & international student, Carol Liu.
The student ambassadors were recruited by Susan Morgan, Widening Participation Officer at St Mary’s, who was on campus to support all aspects of the Easter School.
More information is available in the West Belfast Partnership Board: Press Release.