Irish pupil tops in global problem-solving challenge

A pupil at a West Cork primary school has come in the top 1% of 750,000 children worldwide who took part in an online problem-solving challenge programme.

In all, 13 pupils at Saint Matthias’ Church of Ireland National School in Ballydehob received certificates for their high placings in the worldwide Bebras Challenge, which introduces children to the basics of problem solving and computer science.

One student came in what school principal, Ian Haseldine, said was the “first percentile” worldwide, while other pupils came in the top 26th percentile and others in the top 36th percentile.

The achievement comes after the school carried out fundraising to buy 14 iPads to be used by pupils in third to sixth class, with the school placing a special focus this school year on problem solving and numeracy.

Of Bebras, which originated in Australia and which is now played in more than 40 countries, Mr Haseldine said: “We just started it this school year. They have enjoyed it.”

He said the school had almost done away with school books this year and was instead focussing increasingly on the use of iPads to teach skills that could be applied in areas such as IT in the future, following a decision by the board of management to increase the focus on those elements of the curriculum.

There are just 26 students in the whole school at Saint Matthias’ and Mr Haseldine said he had just placed orders for another four iPads that can be used by other pupils.

According to the bebras.org website: “Bebras is an international initiative whose goal is to promote informatics (or computer science, or computing) and computational thinking, especially among teachers and pupils of all ages, but also to the public at large by extent.”

Meanwhile, a new second-level school in nearby Skibbereen is one of four on which construction has been started under the Department of Education’s latest public private partnership (PPP) deal.

Skibbereen Community School will be a new co-educational school created by the amalgamation of Mercy Heights Secondary School, St Fachtna’s De La Salle College and Rossa College.

The project is expected to be completed next year, and will accommodate around 900 students.

The other three projects will see existing buildings replaced with modern facilities for St Joseph’s Secondary School in Tulla, Co Clare; Comeragh College in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary; and St Mary’s College in Dundalk, Co Louth.

Under an agreement signed by Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan and Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin yesterday, BAM Group Ireland have designed and will build, finance, operate and maintain the schools. The cost is spread over a 25-year-period, with annual payments expected to be around €7m for the new schools, ranging in size from 6,500 to 10,000 sq m.

PPP projects place responsibility for building and site maintenance on the private partners, allowing teachers and principals to focus on educational duties.