Bridging the Digital Divide at St. Malachy’s GNS

In 2021, St. Malachy’s Girls' National School was awarded a grant under the Irish National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), part of the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility and funded by NextGenerationEU. This funding supports initiatives designed to address the digital divide and assist learners at risk of educational disadvantage.

With this grant, we invested in sets of Chromebooks, all enrolled through Google for Education. These devices help us create a more inclusive and accessible learning environment, enabling students to engage with the curriculum in ways that meet their individual needs. Features such as translation tools, text-to-speech, and magnification allow every child to access content confidently and independently.

The Chromebooks are used daily to support literacy and numeracy through programmes like Accelerated Reader and Mathletes, among others. In addition, digital tools enhance our teaching of subjects such as History, English, and Gaeilge through engaging methods like digital storytelling.

This initiative continues to play a key role in enhancing learning outcomes and promoting equity for all our pupils.