Starting fresh with SMART
Listellick Primary School opened its doors for the first time in February 2023, moving from an old three-building rural school into a state-of-the-art building for its 200 students. With the new build came the need for refreshed technology in every classroom.
Principal Annette Dineen led the charge in selecting the new classroom EdTech. Dineen and her team decided that every classroom deserves the interactive tools that SMART Boards bring. Now, teachers have come to love and expect this level of technological interactivity and ease of use.
“The teachers just love those SMART Boards,” Dineen said. “For their planning for their teaching, they use it every day. It makes their teaching lives easier, and it helps with their well-being which is very important.”
School secretary and IT lead, Paula Sweeney, said that they chose SMART because they learned how important it is to select products that last the long haul.
“We chose SMART Boards because of the product's longevity. We did have a lot of outlay on projectors and lamps [before], so it's been a very positive change for us.”
Delivering teaching tools whenever educators need it
Rachael Donnellan, a 5th-class teacher at the school, said that it's the variety of options that SMART offers that keeps her coming back for more. SMART Ink has proven to be a go-to for her.
“We use SMART Ink a lot in our classroom. For example, let's say in English, we'd have a page of the book up on the screen, you can write over it, highlight it, and the kids love it.”
The ability to effectively highlight topics, in the moment, was transformational for teachers at Listtellick Primary. Having the ink perform how you would expect it enabled more teaching moments and fewer technology frustrations.
Special education teacher, Micheál O’Sullivan, shared his views on how neurodivergent students can leverage technology in a variety of ways.
“Sometimes, I invite children to come to the board to take part in the activity. It might be a drag-and-drop activity. It might be a matching activity. It might be a numbering or ordering activity. There are loads of different activities you can use with the children using the SMART Board.”
O’Sullivan expressed his enthusiasm for student-driven learning. With lessons created in SMART Notebook and Lumio, students take charge of their own learning, controlling their pace and progress.
“It's not a case of me presenting the children. It's a case of children engaging with the lessons that I prepared.”
Delivering meaningful learning experiences to each unique Listellick student
“The most important thing for us here in Listellick, for the teachers and myself, is that we instill a love of learning in the children.”
~Annette Dineen - Principal
Selecting sustainable technology at Listellick Primary School is a transformative step toward enhancing student outcomes. By equipping classrooms with SMART Boards, the school ensures that both teachers and students benefit from cutting-edge tools designed to last.
For the teachers of Listellick Primary, the SMART Boards not only make their jobs easier but enrich the classroom experience. These teacher tools facilitate real-time student engagement and cater to diverse learning needs.
Learn more about how SMART is transforming teaching and learning experiences with innovative EdTech in our Customer Stories: