On Wednesday, 15 April, 8 members of the Wellread Award team travelled to the Killeshin Hotel, Portlaoise to attend the National Wellread Award ceremony where we received our award on behalf of the school. Scoil Mhuire is now officially recognised nationally as a Wellread School! On the day 15 post primary schools across Ireland received this award and Scoil Mhuire is now one of the 75 schools in Ireland recognised as promoting literacy both within school and within the wider community.
The students who attended were K McCarthy, L Koegler Sirijotaviciute, E Gibson and E Mitchell – longstanding members of the team, which was first formed in February 2022. From 2022 to 2025, the team embedded multiple initiatives which encourage reading within the school community. Subsequently, we produced a portfolio of evidence, which was submitted to OIDE for certification. As part of the Wellread process, we established links with Trim Library and Trim Family Resource Centre, and on the day were pleased to be accompanied by Ms Jackie Horan on behalf of the centre. Special thanks also go to the parents who were part of the committee and to Ms Amanda Quigley for working alongside us the last several years.
On the day, Laureate na nÓg Patricia Forde delivered the keynote address. Her speech to the assembled audience comprised a humorous and entertaining overview of her career as both writer and reader. She was both inspirational and engaging and her speech was enjoyed by all in attendance. We all got copies of her most recent YA novel – ‘The Girl who Fell to Earth’ – to take away with us. We also heard from the winners of the Oide ‘National Write a Poem’ competition, who each read out their prize-winning work. This was thought-provoking for both staff and students who were in attendance.
Our portfolio is now available to read – please click on the link below. Thanks to all who have contributed to our achieving this award!
