Welcome to the Education Section of our website where you can explore all aspects of the Saint Patrick Centre Education Initiative

If you are planning a visit with your school or community group you can download our schemes of work and a booking form to fill in!

You can also access our bi-annual education reports and view forthcoming events!

For further information contact the Education Officer, Stuart Leathem at education@saintpatrickcentre.com

Summary
The last academic year has been one of very positive progress for the Education Programme. We have been delighted to continue our status as a premiere location for the delivery of the Education for Mutual Understanding and Community Relations programmes.

Our December programme of work proved immensely popular as children of all ages took part in our Community Relations Christmas art and craft workshops and then met St Nicholas himself in our wonderful grotto. It is an interesting fact that you never see St. Nicholas and Dr. Campbell in the same place at the same time. Moving into the new year we were very pleased to work with many schools from across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland as they came together to learn about their Patron Saint.

Our drama workshops have become extremely popular from primary groups who have heard through word of mouth the energy and fun we put into the work we do in our Education Room. The Education Department has taken opportunities to try different exhibition trail materials with groups and these have largely been met with praise and constructive advice. We have also developed important partnerships with the SEELB, BBC and Northern Ireland Numeracy Commission which will stand to us in striving to deliver an exemplary Education Programme.

In an effort to expand our Education Programme, the Centre now has a complete set of worksheets designed completely for use in the Cathedral Garden, within which a space is being developed for exclusive Educational use.

This forthcoming year brings with it many challenges, not least the challenge of working against cuts in funding. Our goal for the next academic year is to continue to develop our relationships with schools, securing repeat bookings from everybody we have worked with this year. On top of this we will strive to deliver a series of workshops within schools that have not yet come to us, giving them a “taster” of what they can experience on a day to our Centre.

The summer of 2007 also gives us the opportunity to work very hard to build up the area of adult education. We have already forged close links with several community groups, but would very much like to develop this much further. It is a realistic aim to formulate and deliver an education programme geared towards adults from all backgrounds that will take the Community Relations ethos of the Centre to new generations. We were very pleased that the BBC followed us on one such workshop quite recently for a documentary to go out in the new-year.

Despite the current educational climate there are many reasons to be optimistic about the forthcoming academic year. It will however take a lot of hard work and there will be periods where necessary workshops in schools ensure we are always making the best use of our time, even on days when groups are not coming through the doors.

We would particularly like to express gratitude to DENI, our invaluable source of funding. The Department of Education is always kept abreast of out ideas and innovations through the year. We aim to exceed their expectations through the delivery of our extended Education Programme.

The Centre staff are to be commended on their help with large education groups and the support and attention to detail and progress from Dr. Campbell ensures we can all move into the future with the same vision