B2C Graduation 2013
220 excited and happy students participated in the Bridge to College graduation ceremony on Wednesday morning in the Old Dining Hall here in Trinity College. Along with teachers, parents and representatives from TCD, they came together to recognise and celebrate their great work and achievements at Bridge21 throughout the past year. Our esteemed guest, Professor [...]
Learning Circles 2013
Over the past two weeks, 52 Transition Year students have taken part in our Learning Circles workshops. This activity involved learning Leaving Certificate material without a teacher, and then creating learning experiences for your peers. Initially, each team discussed and presented about how they like to learn. This included learning experiences they enjoyed both in [...]
An Exploration of Bridge21 in the Classroom: Case Study Report for NCCA
Last year we engaged in an exciting initiative with teachers and pupils in 8 schools around Ireland, as they brought the Bridge21 model of 21st century (21C) learning to life in their classrooms. At a time when many schools were beginning to think and talk about what Junior Cycle 2.0 might look like, our School [...]
Merry Christmas!
We would like to wish a very merry Christmas and a happy new year to all of the students, teachers, mentors, supporters and friends of the programme that made 2012 such a great year for Bridge21. See you in 2013 folks!
Mentoring at Bridge21
Would you like the opportunity to make a difference? Do you like working with teenagers and having fun? Wondering how to put some free time to good use? Are you looking to learn new competencies and gain real hands-on experience in leadership? Bridge21 seeks to bring together a diverse team of mentors with a broad range [...]
Bridge21 Overview Video
Another video on Bridge21 from the excellent One Productions. This is one is an overview of what we do and how we do it. Enjoy!
Bridge21 Video Première
Over the last while, we’ve been working with the wonderfully creative team at One Productions to tell the Bridge21 story in a series of short videos. In this first one, some Bridge21 students (and staff) share their personal experiences of the programme and talk about the difference learning with us has made to them. If you [...]
Educate Together and Second Level education are finally a match
The announcement by Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairi Quinn, that Educate Together will be involved in the patronage of two new second-level schools planned to open in 2013 and 2014 has brought great excitement and joy to the whole Educate Together family and organisation . Bridge21, sharing a similar educational philosophy and having been [...]
Festival of Education
Last weekend, Ciarán and Kevin attended the Festival of Education at Wellington College, near London. There were a huge number of talks and activities taking place during the day so the flight over was spent working through the schedule, picking out the most interesting and planning who would see what. Wellington College is a stunning [...]
It takes two…
Earlier this year, we asked two of our senior mentors to lead three weeks of Bridge21 activities. They did a fantastic job and have written a little about their experience…. “When given the opportunity to take over the Computer Science Transition Year (CSTY) workshops this year, Jake Byrne and I (Claire Hayden) were delighted, but [...]
Bridge21 Primary School Programme
During the last five weeks, over 400 students from 15 schools have taken part in the Bridge21 Primary School Programme. It was a one day programme for each group which included an introduction to the Bridge21 model of teamwork and the chance to pick up some new technical skills. The day began for each group [...]
Pasi Sahlberg Newstalk Interview
Pasi Sahlberg is Director General of CIMO (Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation) in Helsinki, Finland. He has global expertise in educational reforms, training teachers, coaching schools and advising policy-makers. He has worked as teacher, teacher-educator, policy advisor and director in Finland and served the World Bank (Washington, DC) and the European Commission (Torino, Italy) as [...]
Lord Puttnam talks about education
Before a recent visit to Trinity College, David Puttnam spoke to Today FM’s Matt Cooper about education. It’s here in three parts and it’s about twenty minutes long in total. Well worth a listen…. David Puttnam Radio Interview Part 1 David Puttnam Radio Interview Part 2 David Puttnam Radio Interview Part 3
Kevin and Ciarán meet Lord Puttnam
In the most recent Open Minds talk hosted by John Bowman, Science Gallery and McCann FitzGerald, Lord David Puttnam, presented “Technology, Education and Ireland: How new ways of learning can assist economic recovery”. It was an great opportunity for the Bridge21 team to meet first hand with Lord Puttnam who has long been an advocate [...]
Changing Roles at Bridge21
Our Director, John Lawlor, was recently appointed Chief Executive Officer of Scouting Ireland and will shortly be taking up his exciting new role. While, sadly, this means that John will be stepping down as Director and his day-to-day commitments to the programme, it is by no means a final farewell. John remains very committed to [...]
A new Director for Bridge21
We are seeking to recruit a new Director to lead Bridge21 in developing and scaling-up our innovative team-based educational model for 21st Century learning in Irish secondary school classrooms through research, advocacy and building exemplars with partner schools. We are seeking to recruit a Director who will: •Develop and articulate the Bridge21 vision and strategy; [...]
Bridge21 @ Mount Anville
Over the last two weeks, the Bridge21 team were working with the first year girls, and their teachers, in Mount Anville Secondary School in Dublin 14. Over 100 students got to take part in a two-day introduction to technology and teamwork. Planning, decision-making, creativity, communication and collaboration were all required as the girls completed a [...]
Seasons greetings from the Bridge21 team!
To our partner schools – students, teachers, principals & parents, to our wonderful team of volunteer mentors and all those who generously gave their time to work with us this year, and to our funders and supporters… we would like to wish you and your families a very happy Christmas. As Vince Lombardi puts it, “individual commitment to a [...]
Bridge21 welcomes radical reform of the Junior Cycle
We are delighted with the exciting announcement from the Minister for Education and Skills, Ruarí Quinn, of radical change at Junior Cycle. Over the past 18 months, we have followed (and participated in) the NCCA’s consultation with great interest and it is encouraging that the Minister has now backed the Council’s proposals for the existing [...]
On the radio!
Our own John Lawlor appeared on Global Village on Newstalk with Darren Ryan from Social Entrepreneurs Ireland to talk about Social Entrepreneurship in general and Bridge21 in particular. If you’re interested, you can listen to it here: http://media.newstalk.ie/listenback/199/saturday/1/popup/ They start about 8 minutes into the programme and their section lasts about 15 minutes. Check it out!
A 21st Century education revolution
We recently came across this video from PBS Teachers. Its theme centres on the words of John Dewey, the American educator, psychologist and philosopher (1859-1952): “If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow” These words still ring true today and are a powerful reminder of the responsibilities of teachers [...]
TAP Summer School
Last week, about 70 students took part in the TAP summer school, a week-long programme based in Trinity College. They took part in sporting, social and academic activities. 22 of the students came to Bridge21 each day to learn a bit about Animation and Gaming. They made some stick animations using Pivot and used Scratch [...]
Back to the Bridge
Last week Jenny May crossed over the Irish Sea to return to Oriel House and spend a week at Bridge21. We were thrilled to welcome back a good friend and true champion of the programme! During her final two years of undergraduate study at Trinity College, Jenny volunteered as a mentor on a weekly basis. [...]
B2C Graduation
Over 280 Transition Year students attended the Bridge2College graduation ceremony in Trinity College. The ceremony was held in the old dining hall and special guests on the day included the Pro-Chancellor of the University, Professor Petros Florides, and Mr. Paddy Cosgrave.
