COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

south dublin county council crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, May 10, 2010

QUESTION NO. 1

QUESTION: Councillor M. Corr

To ask the Manager through the auspices of the Tourism Board to explore the development of a school tour programme for South Dublin schools to visit Council facilities such as the parks and playgrounds, stadium, libraries, theatre, art centre and swimming pools to tie in with the "Think Local" campaign?

REPLY:

At present, there are quite a number of initiatives and projects directed towards the schoolchildren of South Dublin, through various Council departments, in particular, Libraries, Community Services, Parks, and Environmental Services.

South Dublin Libraries deliver an extensive range of programmed activities aimed at 100 primary and 33 post-primary schools across the County as well as special schools and pre-school facilities. The library service is committed to marketing local libraries as welcoming space for children of all ages and are happy to work with other agencies to promote the “Think Local” campaign.

A campaign entitled All Join In, designed to encourage every primary school student to join their local library, is currently underway. Started in October 2009 to date over 60 of the 100 primary schools have been visited by library staff promoting local library facilities and services to children across the County.

Libraries are profiled to schools as centres for education and learning, offering free access to over a quarter of a million books for young readers as well as online reference and information databases, online homework help, heritage and local studies information on the County. The library website www.southdublinlibraries.ie  also contains a Children’s Section specifically designed for young people across the County. Library staff have also contributed area based information to www.askaboutireland.ie which profiles facilities across the County to a wide audience. Walking tours and heritage maps produced by SDCC Libraries (www.southdublinhistory.ie) are also used extensively by local schools to highlight local attractions and facilities.c Centre to Modern City: guided walk

Programmed library visits by schools to local branch libraries are organised over each academic year with invitation emails sent to each school bi-annually. Pupils are given a tour of the library and shown the library website and registered as members. During 2009 over 500 classes visited their local libraries and almost half a million items were loaned to young readers.

Each year an extensive range of children-centred programmes are delivered by the library service and marketed through schools in the County. Many of these programmes are developed in conjunction with other departments across the Council and aimed specifically at class groups. Festival brochures listing details of all events organised for school groups are sent to every school in the County.  These events, held almost exclusively within branch libraries, raise the profile of the available services for young people across their communities. Programmed events include:

 

Using the concept of Libraries Without Walls mobile libraries deliver services to schools, crèches, and traveller halting sites across the County, particularly in remoter urban areas.

Family learning programmes, delivered out to local communities by library staff also help profile services available at our branch libraries. These programmes, designed in conjunction with local teachers, see library staff working with parents, grand parents and siblings and are designed to guide participants to use library facilities across the County. SDCC Libraries are currently working with South Dublin County Child Care Committee, Irish Multiple Births Association, CPLN, Dochas, An Cosán and the primary and post primary schools in the County to deliver family learning programmes.

The Parks Department are actively promoting the use of their parks through their website and the circulation of leaflets. In particular, they are currently promoting the Camac Valley caravan park, the Fishery and the Pet Farm in Corkagh Park. The Parks Department has sought help and advice on these matters from the South Dublin County Tourism Board.  In addition, the Park Ranger Service facilitates school tours in the parks through the summer months.

The Community Services Department involves schoolchildren in visiting and using Council facilities at every possible opportunity. The Department’s Sports Office, Social Inclusion Unit, Arts Office and Sports Partnership Office all run a range of activities and competitions which regularly bring schoolchildren and teachers to the facilities

 The idea of developing a specific School Tour Programme that would encompass visits  to the various facilities such as the Civic Theatre, Rua Red Arts Centre, Tallaght Stadium, Tallaght, Clondalkin and Lucan Leisure Centres, The County Library, Corkagh Park, and the many other top class facilities, is a very good one. Arrangements will be made for the various departments and schools representatives to meet and consider how best to do this, making sure to incorporate the “Think Local” principle in the response.