St Kevin’s College Lisnaskea has become only the second school in Northern Ireland to be awarded with Google Reference status.
The award recognises the Co Fermanagh college's use of Google’s suite of products to enhance learning at the school and means St Kevin’s will be used as an example for others to follow when implementing Google products.
Leading the programme for the school was Psychology and Drama teacher John Conlon, who said the school was ahead of the curve when the Covid 19 pandemic struck and staff and pupils had to deliver and attend classes online.
John told MyFermanagh: “For me personally it’s been a big thing to see come from start to finish and I’m really proud of everybody in St Kevin’s, from the teachers and the parents and the students and everybody in between.
“For a lot of our students that were impacted by Covid 19, it didn’t become a hindrance at home and they were able to access their education easily.
“They were able to have that relationship with their teachers where they were still being supported, whether they were at home or in school.
“They were able to progress with their education and it wasn’t really a stumbling block for them.”
School principal Gary Kelly presented Year 13 students at St Kevin’s with Google Chromebooks to use as part of their studies.
All students in the year group received the laptops, with St Kevin’s investing £36,000 in the technology.
Mr Kelly said: “It is something that we saw we needed to help communication in our school and help participation of pupils, and of parents and of staff.
“Never in a million years did we think we were going to be locked down from March right through to September time and have to deliver online lessons.
“But when it happened in March, we were ready. We weren’t fully ready but we managed to deliver 50% of our lessons online.
“We also seen a big increase in the number of pupils using online learning, but also parents became much more involved in the school.”
