Ms O’Callaghan’s third class took part in the STEPS Young Engineer Award over the last number of weeks. This award encourages children to explore the world of engineering by developing an engineering project that would help improve their local community. The children had to, first, identify areas in the community that they felt could be improved through engineering. They then began to design individual projects and pitched their ideas to their groups. As a group, they decided on the project they felt that would work best, make a difference in the community and that they could construct. The children then had to sit down and discuss the logistics of their projects in relation to design and materials needed. Throughout the project, the children had to really think like engineers and work as a team. Here are the six projects they designed.


1. Little Red – created by Sophie, Tyler, Lucas, Senan and Freya
​A robot that will help clear the rubbish in Baldoyle. One arm will catch the litter and the other arm is designed to collect aluminium cans. The robot is moved through a remote- control car.

2. The Cuby – created by John, Stacy, Leah, Aras and Eliza
A robot that will help people cross the road safely as this group felt the roads in Baldoyle are very busy. This robot is controlled by a remote-control car, is painted yellow to make it bright like a high-vis and has a warning beacon on its head.

3. The Bridge 3000 – created by Charlie G, Rebecca, Andrea, Mikey and Nessa
The Bridge 3000 was designed to be a pedestrian bridge for outside Lidl. This group felt the traffic outside Lidl was always very heavy and that a pedestrian bridge would make it easier to cross the road safely.

4. The Water Filter – created by Jack, Joshua, Ethan and Eliasz
This group designed a water filter to clean the sea and stream in Baldoyle as they felt it was very dirty and constantly full with rubbish.

5. The Litter Pick-Up 2000 – created by Nathan, Emma, Alex, Kitty and Finn
This group designed a prototype to pick up rubbish as they felt rubbish is an issue in Baldoyle. They added magnetic strips to enable it to pick up aluminium cans.

6. The Planter 2000 - created by Oscar, Charlie E, Alex and James
This group created a prototype to allow for more planting of trees and flowers in the area. They felt that Baldoyle needed more trees and flowers to improve the environment.
 

This year we held a fun and festive Christmas Jumper Day to raise funds for Pieta House on Friday 10th of December. This fundraising activity was part of our application for the Amber Flag. The Amber Flag is awarded by Pieta House to schools that promote and foster Wellbeing within their schools. We raised a grand total of €1,915 and we would like to thank everyone that made a donation.
 

​Click on the gallery to see some pictures!