Meath County Council has announced it will develop a model for STEAM Teams, which will be rolled out in 20 Co. Meath National Schools by the end of 2026, thanks to a donation of €299,000 from Meta.
This pilot aims to bring together the whole school community of management, staff, parents, and children to work collaboratively to co-create a future model for fun and sustainable engagement with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths). This work builds on the model for parental involvement in STEAM developed by OurKidsCode, a research project based in Trinity College Dublin.
This donation from Meta, who have been part of the community in Meath since breaking ground on their Clonee Data Centre in 2016, enables Meath County Council to build on work already being delivered to support coding and other STEAM programmes in the county.
The Council has been working with OurKidsCode to successfully develop Family Coding Clubs across Broadband Connection Points in Co. Meath Over the last two years. In collaboration with the Department of Rural and Community Development, they have successfully created family led clubs aimed at increasing the digital skills of children and parents alike.
The OurKidsCode programme builds confidence in parents to support their child’s development of creative technology skills. By inviting parents and children to work together
in a fun and safe way, families are supported to develop projects that build coding, crafting and collaboration skills.