Sruth na Gaeilge, Scoil Iósaef, was founded in September 2010 to provide high quality post-primary Irish Medium Education in the Mid-Ulster area. The aim of the IMS was to promote and develop a curriculum tailored to bilingual students in a supportive and caring environment. Since its inception nine years ago, students from ‘An Sruth’ continue to excel in all aspects of school life. We have grown from our first intake of 15 and now have 236 students in Sruth na Gaeilge. Our first three groups of past pupils of An Sruth have now graduated from University and are excelling in their chosen field of work/industry.

 

Scoil Iósaef provides a holistic education that caters for the academic, cultural and extra-curricular progression of our students. We are immensely proud of the contribution that all our IMS students bring to our school. Sruth na Gaeilge is staffed by nine experienced members of staff, trained in Irish medium education and supported by a Language Development Officer.

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Rath Acadúil / Academic Success

 

For the past six years our first IMS intakes excelled academically during their 7 years, topping the Northern Ireland average at GCSE. Our IMS leavers of 2023 have obtained their third level choices and are currently studying a range of subjects including Engineering, Business, Maths and Applied Physics, Law, and Sports Science. Academic success for IMS students continues with GCSE success in 2023 outperforming the NI Average.

 

95% of our IMS students achieved a minimum of three A*-C grades at A-Level, with 47% achieving AAA or higher in 2022. 85% of our Year 12 IMS students achieved at least 7 GCSE A*-C grades, including English, Maths and Gaeilge in 2023. Our top-performing IMS students of 2023 achieved 11 GCSE grades. Meanwhile, our Year 10 Irish Medium students achieved 100% A*-B in their GCSE Irish exams, with 33 A* grades.

 

Such academic excellence is nothing new to ‘Scoláirí an tSrutha’ with our students placed first, second and third in GCSE Irish in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

 

Soláthar / Provision

 

Sruth na Gaeilge is an all-ability stream which provides an opportunity for children from local bunscoileanna to continue with their Irish medium education. Our vision is to offer a ‘bilingual, biliterate and Gaelic’ education, to provide our pupils with the best education, life-skills and life-long learning opportunities for an ever-changing world. At Key Stage 3, we offer 50% of the curriculum through the medium of Irish. Our IMS students sit their GCSE Irish examination at the end of Year 10 and at KS4, Scoláirí an tSrutha benefit from a full choice of subjects as well as the opportunity of achieving an additional GCSE in Gaeilge.

 

Litearthacht / Literacy

 

Developing bilingual and biliterate students is central to all that we do in Scoil Iósaef. We continue to invest a substantial amount of money to provide a wealth of enjoyable and modern Irish Medium books for our school library. IMS students spend one period per fortnight reading and are encouraged to immerse themselves in Irish language books and novels. We recognise that excellent oracy and literacy skills are essential in the modern workplace. Through the GaelLinn public speaking competition, Abair, Féile Scoildrámaíochta and Comórtas Uí Chadhain and our internal public speaking competition Tuairimí, all our IMS students are encouraged to build their confidence in public speaking and thus prepare themselves for the world of work. In partnership with Cairde Uí Néill we hosted our annual Tuairimí competition in the Burnavon Theatre Cookstown in December with a prize pot of £200 for our best speakers.

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