North Belfast grammar school St Malachy’s College has officially launched its new Creative Digital Technology Hub (CDTH) with funding from the Belfast Charitable Society and The James Kane Foundation.
Around 50 guests attended the launch in February including principals and students from neighbouring schools, representatives from our funders, Belfast City Council, local authorities. The Creative Digital Technology Hub was then officially opened by Sir Ronnie Weatherup, President of Belfast Charitable Society. He said:
“Belfast Charitable Society has been supportive of the Digital Creative Hub from its inception. It’s fantastic to see it open and being so well used by local schools. We saw today how engaged the young people were in learning these new digital skills, including coding and game designing, which will no doubt gear them up for the jobs of the future. We will watch with excitement as the Hub grows from strength to strength.”
The Hub is kitted out with high specification hard and software already allowing pupils and staff from schools across the North Belfast Learning Community to develop their digital skills through the use of VR machines, building and programming Lego robots and collaborating through projects in a state-of-the-art gaming arena.
While St Malachy’s College is using this academic year and the next as a demonstration project, they believe that the impact will help them attract further and major investment to build a bigger hub that can be accessed by all North Belfast learners.
Dr Mark Browne, Permanent Secretary at the Department of Education was in attendance at the invitation of Mr McBride and Chair of the Board of Governors, Sir Gerry Loughran. He said:
“I was delighted to attend the opening at St Malachy’s College of their new Creative Digital Technology Hub where students are working together in a great example of shared education and collaborative learning. The young people will have the opportunity to be creative and learn important and transferable digital skills. This will open doors to new and exciting career paths and increase their awareness of the importance of the skills needed for 21st century employment.
