Prestigious title for Kilruane NS pupils
Pupils from local primary school Kilruane NS are celebrating an impressive achievement, having been awarded the prestigious ‘Teamwork Champions’ award at the VEX Robotics Regional Final held at the Dell Technologies Campus Limerick last week. After months of preparation, the talented team competed against schools from across the region, culminating in Kilruane NS securing their place in the All-Ireland VEX Robotics Final in Cork, later this month.
VEX Robotics is an internationally recognised STEM Education Programme that encourages students to develop skills in computer coding, engineering, critical thinking and problem-solving, skills which will stand to them in secondary school and far beyond the classroom. Pupils who compete at this high level, are not only judged on their team performance on the day but also on their ability to communicate the robot design process to the judges and to articulate the very substantial body of work undertaken at the school, in preparation for the event.
Kilruane NS Principal, Mairéad Kirby, praised the pupils for their dedication and enthusiasm over the past number of weeks. “We are particularly proud our pupils have been declared Teamwork Champions this year. They worked incredibly hard and represented the school with great pride.” She also expressed a heartfelt thank you to teaching staff Maria Butler, Bill O’Flaherty and Gene Maguire for “embracing the project so enthusiastically once again this year”.
STEM Co-ordinator and Kilruane NS Deputy Principal, Gene Maguire, added: “We are thrilled for our pupils, especially as this is the third time our school has reached the VEX All Ireland Final. It is so rewarding to see our students so engaged in science and technology, they are not only wonderful ambassadors for our school but for STEM Education at primary level.”
Sixth Class pupil and team captain, Caitlin Madden, describes the experience as “a really fun way to learn about computer programming and robot construction and even what a future career in engineering might look like”.
Kilruane NS will now turn their attention to the national stage and the VEX Robotics All-Ireland Final , where they will compete against some of the biggest schools from across the country.