90 giant touchscreens for futuristic new school in Dungannon

Staff and students at St Patrick’s Academy will be swapping overcrowded mobile classrooms dating back five decades for the cutting-art technology of their new £27million landmark building.

Belfast-based audio-visual company Niavac has revealed it has been awarded the interactive touchscreen contract for the new school.

The new technology will be incorporated into the daily teaching experience.

Elsewhere in the building, pupils will be able to avail of five tennis courts, badminton courts, a dedicated assembly hall, as well as a sports hall, and specialist rooms for art, music, technology, drama and media studies.

Highlights of the new building also include an internal courtyard which can be used for outdoor musical recitals, an enhanced library overlooking the courtyard, a new oratory, innovatively wide and spacious corridors, an extended dining area with a cathedral roof and a mezzanine floor, and bright, airy classrooms.

It is expected that the new academy building will open earlier than planned later in the New Year.

For the past two decades, more than half of all classes at the grammar school have been taught in mobile buildings.

Launching the project, Dean Colum Curry described the state-of-the-art new school as heralding a ‘glorious, new future’ for the next generation of Dungannon pupils. After 15 years of delays, false promises, and budget constraints, the move to the showcase building is long overdue.

Although built to accommodate approximately 1320 pupils, the school has been designed to allow future expansion.