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Our school has, over the years, tried to provide computer facilities for our children.  Back in 1985, a computer room was set up with 8 Commodore 64's.  These were linked using a shared disk drive through a Vicswitch.    The system worked well for a short while, but soon problems began to arise.    Some days computers wouldn't boot up, or would not be able to read the drive, or the software wouldn't load etc.  Those of us who were prepared to play around, swopping leads to get machines working, continued to use the room.  Many teachers became disillusioned with all the problems and stopped using the room altogether.    Eventually, the room became redundant.

Around the same time, we bought 2 BBC B's, which gave very good service, indeed, one of them is still in use in a classroom.

But Darndale is a disadvantaged area, and funding for any other computers was not possible until April '97.  In that month we were informed that Regeneration of Urban North Dublin (ROUND) were making a grant available to set up a computer room in the school.  ROUND was set up to help combat and eliminate disadvantage in three areas of North Dublin - Finglas, Ballymun and Darndale.    Under this initiative, taken by the Commission of the European Communities, over £20 million was made available for suitable projects.  Of this, £60,000 was available to the 2 schools in Darndale for the provision of computer facilities.

A proposal was prepared during April and May, submitted in June and we got the good news of approval in July.  A lot of groundwork already had been completed by June, but due to Summer holidays the project was put on hold until mid September.

Then the work began in earnest.  A dedicated phone line was installed in June for Internet access.  When the contract was awarded in September to Accounting & Computer Systems in Malahide everything was put into motion.  The room was cabled with Cat 5 cabling for the network system.   The computers (assembled by Tara Computers, Tallaght) were delivered by the end of October, and the network was configured.   Software was purchased from Diskovery in Liffey Street and loaded on workstations (operating on Win95).  Administration work on the server (operating on NT4) involved setting up user groups for teachers, pupils and adults.

Classes began even before the software was installed, introducing the pupils to Windows '95, looking at the Network and setting up their own folders to hold their work.  And did they love the room and the computers !!  The difference in their motivation and enthusiasm is already obvious.

We installed another system called Classnet on top of the network.    This allows the teacher to control the room in a number of ways - broadcast screens, darken screens, reboot, isolate keyboards and mouse(s!) and give audio communication from the Master station to all workstations.  This system is available from Ambassador Electronics.

Classes are timetabled to give each class 1 hour per week in the room.  We have 3 adult education classes running in the Senior School and now we are running a class for local children from 2nd level schools.  Many of these are our own past pupils.

With such a well appointed room with the most up-to-date facilities, we applied to the I.N.T.O. to become a Magnet School.  Thankfully, our application was successful, and we were given the additional honour of being asked to host the official Launch of the Magnet Schools on April 2nd.   Thanks to Telecom's involvement, we will now have an ISDN line for full multi-user access to the Internet.

I have no doubt that our Computer Room will enhance the children's learning to a great extent in the years ahead.  Through the use of the computers in a cross-curricular approach, their computer skills will prepare them for a future in the technological world of today.

Here is what the children think:                                                       

As part of the project, we contacted local businesses and related companies to get sponsorship, which is vital to the long term viability of the room.  We would like to acknowledge the generous response from the following companies:

Mr. Fintan Keating has worked in the Computer Room for the first year as the Computer Resource Teacher.  He was responsible for the project proposal and the setting up of the room.  As part of his own training he undertook a 21 week Internet Skills Certificate Course run by John Hurley and Michael Hallissey from Ednet. "I myself, and the school, are indebted to these two guys for a fabulous course, without which this website would not exist" .............. F. Keating.

From August 17th to 21st, our school 'hosted' one of the NCTE Phase I Introductory Courses for Primary Teachers.  A very full schedule gave the participating teachers a sample of what is available in software and internet resources, as well as developing their personal computers skills and word processing skills.  We look forward to the Phase II courses when teachers will be able to consolidate these skills.

Denis Breen, Colette Linnane and Fran Falkiner get to grips with 'Arthur's Teacher Trouble'.	Liz Shannon, Mona Mc Neice and Peter Mc Nally get great enjoyment from 'The Map Detectives'.	'Explorapedia of Nature' gives plenty of scope to Nuala Drury, Joe Lally and Dermot Levey.