Primary school honoured for introducing students to Italian

BUSINESS group IBEC has honoured a primary school on Cork's northside for teaching Italian.

It has also called on the Government to expand such programmes to all primary schools.

IBEC said the Modern Languages in Primary Schools pilot programme, through which the fifth and sixth class students of St Mary's on the Hill, Knocknaheeny, are learning Italian, should to be integrated into the mainstream curriculum and made available in all schools.

IBEC's assistant director of enterprise Caroline Nash said: "According to the latest OECD indicators, Ireland rated last in a list of 11 countries in terms of the foreign language skills of primary school students.

"Ireland continues to underachieve when it comes to the teaching of foreign languages and this needs to be addressed.

"Currently there are 394 primary schools offering foreign languages as part of the primary schools project and this needs to increase.

"Younger children are very receptive to new experiences and the earlier they can be introduced to new languages the better," she said.

Nowhere is this more evident than at St Mary's on the Hill, she said.

She praised staff and students for their "whole-school approach" to the teaching of Italian.

Principal Kevin O'Callaghan said the school began teaching Italian eight years ago. They won a European award in 2004 for the scheme.

And while Italian is taught one-and-half hours a week to fifth and sixth classes, it is a key feature of the school environment, with school signs displayed in English, Irish and Italian, Mr O'Callaghan said.

"The students enjoy the process of learning. It is a very positive experience for them. They are very confident in the classroom using Italian phrases," he said.

Ms Nash said the enthusiasm with which the school has embraced the project is fantastic to see.