Ballyboy N.S.

Scoil Bhride has been involved in the cross border initiative for the past five to six years. We have been twinned with two schools over that time. The first was Hill Hall Primary School in Lisburn, just outside Belfast. The current school is Garryduff Primary School, Co.Antrim. THe project is funded by the government education departments North and South of the border. The University of Maynooth in the south and the University of Coleraine in the north oversee the co-ordination and progress of this liasion.

Our school has been provided with a video phone, I.S.D.N. line and computers. For the first two years contact by phone/video link was totally funded by the organisers. Also funds were made available to facilitate face-to-face meetings with our northern counderparts, so the senior pupils had free school tours for a number of years.

On the ground, at school, the project is kept alive by regular video-conferencing, literally talking face-to-face with our friends up north. THe children also email on a safe monitored site. No home addresses are given. The aim of this interaction is that children with diverse backgrounds build on similarities and develop open communication with another community, fostering mutual respect and knowledge of each other.

Christmas and Easter cards and calendars were exchanged between the students. All in all it has been a very busy year so far.

Just click here to go to the Dissolving Boudaries website

Just click here to go to the Garryduff Primary School website