Microsoft Showcase School
Rathmore was honoured to host two visiting delegations from the Microsoft Corporation in Richmond, Seattle. The group of Microsoft leaders wanted to see first hand how the school was excelling in the use of digital learning to support pupils in their education.
The first visit from members of the Microsoft Education team took place in October 2019 and this was followed by an even larger delegation who visited the school in January, which included the Principal Product Managers for Microsoft Teams and Microsoft OneNote, Justin Chando and Mike Tholfsen.
The teachers and pupils, who have been piloting the use of Microsoft Teams and OneNote, were able to showcase how the school had been utilising these pioneering e-Learning tools to support learning and teaching across the curriculum.
The team were exceptionally impressed by the pupils and teachers and their enthusiasm to extend learning beyond the classroom and to support every learner to reach their full potential. They were especially impressed with the ways in which pupils were able to engage with their teachers and peers through Teams and OneNote and to direct their own learning and revision.
Rathmore continues to explore ways in which it can support pupils to embrace independent learning through e-Learning and how best digital strategies can be embraced to assist pupils to consolidate and extend learning beyond the classroom.
The success of the school’s journey as a leader in digital learning was highlighted when the school was selected as one of two schools in Ireland to showcase their pioneering use of Microsoft Teams and OneNote at a global conference –the Microsoft E2 Education Exchange in Sydney, Australia - later this year.
In presenting a pupil’s view of how Teams and OneNote had supported individual learning, Head Girl Mary-Kate Kelly said: "Microsoft Teams is very student friendly and easy to use. Everything you need is at your fingertips from booklets and essays to videos and quizzes; Teams supports a wide range of learning. The message board in Teams ensures open lines of communication between teachers and pupils ensuring we all remain connected and that teachers are available to answer any questions you have even when we are not in school. It also has benefits for the environment as it avoids printing off paper! "