Communication Using E-mail

Communications between Schools
At this stage in the project all eight SIP Primary Schools are communicating with the Education Centre and with each other on a daily basis.
All school co-ordinators are notified about SIP meetings via E-mail. Principals are contacted in a similar manner. All contributions to the project are sent as attachments via E-mail.
In the initial stages of the project there were problems communicating in this way. Some schools had problems getting E-mails in or out of their Networks. These problems were inherent in the initial set up of the systems and were not resolved until the appointment of the technical support company in February 2000. All schools are now satisfied with the efficiency of their systems.

Communications between Home and School

During October/November 1999 all eight schools surveyed the parent population with a request for a home E-mail address.
When the surveys were returned it was noted that approximately 40% of homes were using E-mail. It must be pointed out that the two Special Schools have a high proportion of the pupils resident outside the town boundary. This group did not receive an Information Age Town P.C.
This 40% represents a fairly high proportion of users and reflects the findings of the I.A.T. Evaluation Report published in October 2000.
In each school a sample of parents were contacted by E-mail with a view to establishing links for further communication.
In the second phase of the project the Ennis schools intend to pursue this area of home/school communication. It is noted that it will not service the entire school population because of the number of parents using E-mail. However, the project will put in place a forum for those parents who want to establish links for learning and communication. This will be developed fully in 2001.
Please contact the project at Ennis SIP with any comments or ideas for the future.