EDUCATION: Centre for Academic Achievement (third level)

Colm O’Reilly, Bronagh Duffy and Eleanor Cooke of overall winner the Centre for Academic Achievement at Dublin City
University, at the presentation of the Living Dublin Awards.

Ajoint initiative from Dublin City University and the Irish Centre for Talented Youth, the Centre for Academic Achievement was piloted in May 2006, bringing 20 gifted primary school students from disadvantaged areas to special after-school classes at the university campus.

Since then, a further 180 students between the ages of nine and 12 have attended the classes, which last for 1½ hours and cover subjects including sports science, medicine and engineering.

Those who attend are nominated by teachers who choose the students they feel will most benefit from further academic stimulation, in the hopes of combating a tendency by gifted children to play down academic achievements in order to fit in with their peers. The initiative also provides those attending with access to science equipment and other facilities that are not always available in their schools. At the end of each term of classes, teachers and parents are invited to attend a graduation ceremony in order to celebrate the students’ achievements, and emphasise the importance of rewarding academic endeavours in disadvantaged communities. The project is run by the Centre for Talented Youth with DCU Access Services. Subjects lined up for next year’s classes include zoology, forensics and maths magic.

Highly commended in third-level category:

• Dublin Institute of Technology St Vincent de Paul Society
• Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland’s Red Cross branch