Maria Doyle, IPPN Past President
- Published: 29 April 2010
Maria Doyle, IPPN Past President
Maria graduated from Mary Immaculate College of Education with a B. Ed and became the first lay principal at Our Lady of Mercy S.N.S.in Waterford City, a DEIS Band 2 Senior Girls school in a RAPID Area in 1995.
Maria is a member of the Board of Directors of IPPN, having initially served as National Council representative for Waterford for many years. She is the Course Tutor for the Ciall Ceannaithe online course for Newly Appointed Principals and facilitates ‘HeadStart’ for Newly Appointed Principals which is now presented as part of the Misneach programme. Maria has provided workshops on the topic of Child Protection at several IPPN conferences and at the Teaching Principals’ Summer School. She represented IPPN on the consultative group revising the DES Child Protection Procedures for Primary & Post Primary Schools 2017. Maria was part of the IPPN team that provided practical supports to school leaders in 2018, delivering information seminars on Child Protection nationally through the network of Education Centres. She is currently part of the consultative group working with the DES looking at the DEIS Plan 2017. Maria is passionate about managing the change agenda at system level to address the current concerns around initiative overload and the lack of focus on the critical importance of embedding. Having represented IPPN as a Council member on the International Confederation of Principals (ICP) for many years, Maria was elected as European Representative on the Executive of ICP in August 2018, when Ireland successfully hosted a full meeting of the Council in Killarney. Her two-year tenure will commence in January 2019.
Maria was elected Deputy President and President Elect of IPPN in August 2013 and took over the role of IPPN President from Brendan McCabe in August 2015.
Caoimhe Máirtín, IPPN Board Member
- Published: 29 April 2010
Caoimhe has experience of leadership in many areas of education. She is a former school principal, lecturer in Irish in Carysfort College, Director of Teaching Practice in St. Patrick’s College and President of Coláiste Mhuire Marino. Caoimhe also held the position with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment of Coordinator of the Primary School Curriculum and had a key role in the design of the Revised Primary Curriculum (1999). Caoimhe was seconded for a period by the Department of Education and Science to the expert committee established to review and make recommendations on teacher education in Ireland. Caoimhe’s special interests include teacher education, Gaeilge and promoting quality leadership in education.
Caoimhe also has a keen interest in researching folklore on education in Ireland and has published a book, An Máistir , which includes many interesting insights into the role of principal as recorded ‘i mbéal na ndaoine’.
Gerry Moran, IPPN Board Member
- Published: 29 April 2010
Rugadh Gerry i Loch Garman ach tógadh é i gCill Dara, áit a d’fhreastal sé ar Bunscoil is Meánscoil Naomh Pádraig. Fuair sé Céim san Oideachais ó Choláiste Mhuire Marino is ina dhiaidh chaith sé ocht mbliana ag múineadh i Scoil Santain i dTamhlacht agus Gaelscoil na Camóige i gCluain Dolcáin.
Gerry is married to Deirdre and has four children - Nóra, Mary, Éamon and Eibhlín. After spending three years on career break in Chicago they moved to Wexford where his first position was as múinteor ranga in Gaelscoil Inis Córthaidh. Gerry started his career as Teaching Principal in Camolin NS, after that in Rathnure NS and in 2012 started in SN Seosamh Naofa, Brí where he is currently Administrative Principal. Gerry has a clear understanding of the pressures of a Teaching Principal and will continue to advocate on their behalf at every opportunity.
Gerry has a Diploma in Educational Management from Maynooth, a Masters in Management in Education from Waterford Institute of Technology, certificates in Family and Employment Law from Carlow Institute of Technology and is currently studying for a Diploma in Autism Studies with UCC.
He believes strongly in lifelong learning and endeavours to engage in regular professional development. He was a member of the IPPN National Council for ten years and was honoured to be elected to the Board of Directors in 2014. He is currently a member of the Position Papers Advisory Group where he is working on a position paper for Special Schools. He believes that networking is a core feature of IPPN and encourages all Principals to access a local Support Group. He enjoys working with newly-appointed principals and is currently developing a Deputy Principal Support group in Wexford.
He enjoys running and cycling and is currently coordinator of Wexford GAA Model Óg Football Academy.
Brendan McCabe, IPPN Board Member
- Published: 29 April 2010
Born in 
Skerries, Co. Dublin and educated in St. Patrick’s NS, Skerries, Coláiste na Rinne and Newbridge College before going on to train as an NT in Marino, Brendan was part of the very first group of lay students to go through that college. He subsequently graduated as a B.Ed. from the in-service course in St. Patrick’s, Drumcondra.
Brendan taught for a year in St. Mary’s N.S., Rathfarnham, before moving to County Meath as Principal teacher of Heronstown N.S. at age 20 (probably the youngest principal in Ireland at the time). He spent twelve years there as a Teaching Principal before becoming Principal of St. Colmcille’s School, Kells, in 1988. Besides his interest in school leadership, he has been involved in professional development, delivering courses to teachers in School Planning. He regularly speaks to parent groups on the topics of Bullying and Parent Associations. Brendan was elected to the Executive Committee of IPPN in 2007, now the Board of Directors. Married to Rosemary, he has four children, two girls and two boys. Brendan is the Minister’s nominee to the Teaching Council. He was elected as Deputy President and President Elect of IPPN in August 2011 and assumed the presidency in September 2013 for a period of two years. He currently serves on the IPPN Board of Directors in an ex-officio capacity.
Learning Horizons
- Published: 21 April 2009
Learning Horizons launches its new program called SESE Interactive on the 24th of April and as a supporter of IPPN they are offering IPPN members a 15% discount on the cost of the programme.
SESE Interactive was designed by a team of teachers and designers led by Seaghan Moriarty. Seaghan is IPPN's Educational Technologist and he has won numerous awards for his work in education ; including the "Golden Spider", "Net Visionary" and "European Language" awards. Seaghan also provides consultancy to groups such as PCSP/PPDS, NCTE, and various education centres. The program uses proven formula to make it easy and exciting to combine the teaching of history, geography and science, so that each complements the other perfectly.
Is this you?
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Do you wish you had a brighter, more colourful and addictive learning environment to teach the S.E.S.E. curriculum in your school? Are you sometimes lacking in motivation because of this? -
Do you sometimes struggle with integrating all the subject areas of the S.E.S.E. curriculum?
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What will you get from this extensively tried and tested software program?
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Your pupils will be highly motivated as they engage in more than 35 amazing, activity based, interactive games and modules which will bring the S.E.S.E. curriculum to life.
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You will be delighted with how easy it will become to integrate and consolidate all the areas of the S.E.S.E. curriculum in an exciting and highly engaging way.
Here are a few of the many modules that SESE Interactive includes:
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Historical stories: 9 interactive stories from Ireland and the world with Irish pupils'
artwork and original photographs and complete with Irish voiceovers (even including some of the historical stories 'as Gaeilge') -
Civilization Grids: investigate the Aztecs, Romans and other cultures
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Geography Countdown: action packed games, identifying counties, rivers etc in the fastest possible time
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Lifecycles: visually recreate each stage of the lifecycles of the butterfly, salmon and butterfly
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research and design their own Working as a Historian multi-media projects through using questionnaires, interview techniques and video footage to help them appreciate the historical significance of important people and events in their own communities in times gone by.
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create their own personalised family trees, illustrating the genealogy of their families, which can be updated regularly.
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feel what it is like to become an architect by designing their own personalised 3D classroom.
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complete an interactive jigsaw of the physical geography of Ireland including towns, mountains, rivers with pinpoint accuracy and in record time (even on an interactive whiteboard!).
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simulate complex experiments using bunsen burners, tuning forks, temperature gauges and electrical currents and gain a first-hand insight into the workings of energy and forces.
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IPPN Member Pricing
€225 for a site licence for a school with an administrative principal
€199 for a site licence for a school with a teaching principal
Prices include IPPN's 15% discount.
SESE Interactive also comes with a 365 day money back guarantee
Imagine, for a moment, that it is just three months from today and as a result of using the SESE Interactive software program, your pupils can now:
Unlimited Site Licence
SESE Interactive has been produced in line with the strands and strand units of the revised S.E.S.E. curriculum for third and fourth class (with supplementary games and activities for fifth and six classes). It comes with an unlimited site licence, which means that the CD-Rom can be installed onto every PC in your school without limits. The CD-Rom will only need to be used once.
IPPN Discounted Cost:
If you require more detailed information on SESE Interactive, please call Learning Horizons at 01 4111537.
Testimonials
"What a great piece of software for Irish primary schools! We have been putting SESE Interactive through its paces at Scoil Naomh Erc for the past few weeks and the pupils and teachers alike are delighted with this 100% Irish product. The layout is beautifully designed and the games are well thought out and relevant to the various strands of the curriculum. The older pupils are particularly taken by the "Working as a Historian" module in the History section and can't wait to get going on their own projects as a result. It's really pleasing to find, especially in these challenging economic times, a software package such as this, made in Ireland for Irish children in Irish schools, based on the Irish curriculum."
Gerard Pierce, Principal, Scoil Naomh Erc, Ballyheigue, Co. Kerry.
"This program contains a total of 34 interactive games and activities based on topics from the SESE curriculum. The "Build a family tree" and the three-dimensional "Build my classroom" activities are exemplary, and encompass enormous educational potential. The designers have been particularly successful in producing an interface that is visually appealing, child-friendly and very simple to use and navigate. The voice-overs, too, are of impressive quality, as is the graphical content. In summary, this is a very impressive addition to the steadily growing range of Irish-produced software, combining as it does substantial curriculum content, innovative and engaging activities and a highly professional interface."
Robbie O'Leary, Principal, Sacred Heart S.N.S., Killinarden, Dublin 24.
Click Here for Additional Testimonials
