Longford County Council throw weight behind schools showcase

A major educational exhibition will take place next week aimed at making Longford the first county in Ireland to offer Computer Science as a Leaving Certificate subject.

Microsoft Dream Space Showcase 2023 is the brainchild of Longford County Council and is scheduled to take place on the grounds of Edgeworthstown Community Campus on May 26.

No fewer than 12 primary schools from across the county are expected to take part in an event that is being likened to the BT Young Scientist awards.

Local councillors were given an overview of the upcoming showcase at lastWednesday's meeting of Longford County Council by Longford County Council Head of Information Technology Danny Lynch and County Librarian Martina Needham.

“They (students) might not go and study computer science at third level but it will give us a massive competitive advantage,” said Mr Lynch.

“Schools were really keen on this but the one thing they did say was they can’t assign teachers and equipment and rooms in the hope that kids, when they come through the junior cycle they will look to do computer science.”

Mr Lynch told of how a large slice of the financial support aimed at turning the idea into reality came on foot of a €44,000 funding boost via the State's Public Service Innovation Fund.
He said despite the promise of around 400 children being present on the day may be “mayhem” for some, on the flip side it offered up untold benefit for the county as a whole.

“Our objective is to get every primary school in the county involved in this,” he added.
Ms Needham supported those claims by stressing the focus behind the event was also geared on addressing a much wider and, at times, jaundiced perception.

“One in four people have an issue with numbers and people have a perception that number based subjects like science, technology and engineering actually difficult subjects and people don’t try them leading them to get a really bad rap, but what if we were to turn things around and introduce these subjects at primary school level,” she said.

“Instead of having it with a teacher that doesn’t want to teach the subject, have a creative, expert facilitator that comes in with hands on experience instead of being text based.
The event is scheduled to take place at St Mary's Edgeworthstown Community Campus on May 26.