Partner Success

For Holy Family Community School, with a mixed demographic of students, they knew that in order to fully engage all students in learning and prepare them with the skills they would need for life, they needed to give all students access to an iPad each (a model known as 1:1 digital learning).

See the phenomenal impact this has had on students’ learning in our school video diary series.

All students can access the learning they need now

When the new Junior Cycle curriculum came in, Holy Family Community School knew that the need for each student to have access to a digital device would be too great to stick with computer rooms and trolleys of devices. With previous experience of using iPads for learning, Ingrid Fallon, Principal of the school knew that giving each student access to an iPad for learning would unlock students’ potential and allow all students to access learning in the way they need to.

“If you look at a child with additional needs, a couple of taps of a button on an iPad and you can instantly make that content more accessible for the child” says Ingrid Fallon.

Delighted with the possibilities to present learning in multi-modal ways, Maths teacher and deputy principal of the school, Derek Maher, cannot visualise teaching without the iPad now.

“I can go and take diagrams I’m using in maths class and turn it into a 3-D digital diagram with Geogebra which really helps the student who is a visual learner to understand  it” explains Derek Maher. “All of the formulae and workings of problems are there on the iPad so students can go back over them and refer to them when they need to. You’re really maximising learning for the students.”

Teacher Workload is Decreased

The school have seen a huge shift in positive school culture and teacher efficiency since introducing iPads.

“The more streamlined your work is, the more efficient it’s going to be” says Ingrid Fallon. “Teachers can collaborate at a level that would never be possible without a digital device and that collaboration instantly impacts the experience for the learner in the classroom. In any given day you might work with up to 200 students via online collaboration.”

“In terms of my workload it has dramatically decreased” agrees Derek Maher. I’m not printing off worksheets or diagrams. I just bring one device home and everything is there at the click of a button that I need.” 

Student’s are Empowered and Safe

Students are empowered with the digital skills they need in a safe, managed environment.
“What I really like about the iPad is the amount of resources at your fingertips. Having my iPad managed the way Wriggle does for us in the school means that there’s less distraction and you don’t have the negatives of social media that you get otherwise with a mobile device. Teachers and students are learning together so it’s always a fun process.” says student Sophia.

Complete School Support for Digital Learning

“When you embark on a journey like this you are going to face push back because change brings that out” declares Ingrid. “Wriggle really supported us on every step of that journey. They came out and delivered training to our digital leaders and supported us on the senior management team. The purchasing part of the iPad is completely managed by Wriggle and when students log to their iPad all of their eBooks and apps are there. We’ve just always had a really positive experience.”