Bell Time Magazine Autumn/Winter 2015 | Page 32

BellTIME BellTIME Students from Ballybay Community School with artwork done for the launch of Irish Independent supplement series. 2016 is a very important year in Irish history and plans are well underway to mark this significant moment through a year-long initiative called the Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme. Ireland 2016 is a once in a lifetime opportunity to remember the events of 1916, to reflect on our achievements over the last 100 years and to reimagine Ireland for future generations. The programme, which is divided into seven programme strands, involves a diverse range of historical, cultural and artistic activities designed to facilitate commemoration, celebration and discussion. Children and young people are at the heart of Ireland 2016 and the Department of Education and Skills has developed a fantastic programme of participation-led activities and projects to engage students and teachers, across all aspects of the curriculum, in 2015/2016. Whether your passion is History, Irish, Art or English, or you are working with this year’s Transition Year students, there is a wealth of resource material, 62 James Hughes from Ballybay Community School playing at the launch of the Irish Independent supplement series. lesson plans and class ideas in the Ireland 2016 Youth and Imagination strand. Whether it’s inspiring your students to create a brilliant art piece, or challenging them to write their own ‘Proclamation for a New Generation’, or helping them to discover their family’s hidden histories, there is something for every interest in this specially curated education programme. The events of 1916 were a seminal moment in Ireland’s history. The annual all-island schools’ history competition has a special focus on these events for the centenary year. Local education centres will also run a range of history competitions for all ages, full details available at www.ateci.ie or at your local centre. The Department of Education and Skills in partnership with the Royal Irish Academy has developed a special series of post-primary history lesson plans focusing on a selection of special 1916 objects from the ‘Ireland in 100 objects’ series. These will be available at http://www.100objects.ie/portfolioitems/post-primary-lesson-plans. Ireland 2016 is encouraging everyone to become a detective for a year and trace their family’s history in 1916! Help your students to discover the secret stories of their family, their community or their local area and embark upon a trail of discovery using the resources of our national cultural institutions. The Military Archives has come together with NUI Maynooth to develop a major Transition Year Unit and resource for schools, based on primary source material held in the Military Archives and in the Letters of 1916 project. Check out http://dh.tcd.ie/letters1916 and http://www.militaryarchives.ie. As part of the 1916 ancestry project the National Archives has developed a special resource to show teachers and students how to engage in ancestral research. This will be hosted on www.Irishgenealogy.ie and will go live 1916 Artwork done by students from Ballbay Community School for l