- St. Stephen's De La Salle BNS

It was with great pride that following our validation visit in September 2017, St. Stephen's was awarded the much sought after and prestigious status of Digital School of Distinction. We are the FIRST school in Waterford City to achieve this award.

This award has been achieved through a massive effort by the whole school community in the past few years. The report from DSoD validator, Dr. Daithí Ó Murchú, celebrated and commended the fantastic work of our boys, our staff, the school's Board of Management and the Parents Association. Dr. Ó Murchú, the DSoD validator, stated in his report that "...St. Stephen’s De La Salle NS, its teachers, students and community will continue to lead the way for other urban schools, in older buildings to follow... a glimpse of what a committed school can achieve and is achieving in the areas of ICTs, when a clear vision is defined and implemented".

We would like to take this opportunity to especially thank the Parents' Association, who do such tremendous work on behalf of our school, for their help in embedding ICT use in our school through their extremely generous support in purchasing Interactive Whiteboards, projectors, computers, other hardware and software in recent years, and our school's Board of Management, who are enthusiastic and committed to supporting our school and pupils at every turn.

Read the Digital Schools Validation Report for St. Stephen's here.

More information on the Digital Schools of Distinction Award can be found here.

A celebration and the official awarding of the status took place on Friday, December 1st, when we were joined by members of our school's Board of Management and Parents' Association, Mayor Cllr. Pat Nugent, and Mr. Robbie O'Leary, who represented the Digital Schools of Distinction programme.

It was a fantastic celebration as all classes gathered in the yard, and our school welcomed our visitors. Mr. Morris welcomed Mayor of Waterford City and County Councillor Pat Nugent and he spoke about the wonderful achievement of gaining Digital School status. Mr. Robbie O’Leary was a special visitor to our school on the day too, and he came all the way from Dublin to officially present our school with the Digital Schools Award. Mr. O’Leary talked about our brilliant school and our fantastic city and about being proud of where you are from. Mr. Russell talked about how the award was achieved by having everyone in St. Stephen’s working together to benefit the boys in our school, and how it was Mrs. Kehoe who started us on the road to becoming a digital school for all the hard work that she put in over many years to get computers, servers, and so many other IT resources installed in our school.

Br. Frank talked about the Board of Management who work so hard for our school, and the Parents’ Association who do so many fantastic activities to raise money to benefit all the boys in our school. It was a day to remember for all associated with our school as St. Stephen's De La Salle officially became a Digital School of Distinction!

> Photos from our Digital Schools Celebration

> Listen to the Digital Schools Celebration

> 5th Class 2017/18 interview Mr. Robbie O'Leary about the Digital Schools Programme