STUDENTS at a Clonakilty school have turned their hand to producing their own podcast, packed with local knowledge.

As part of a history project, sixth class students at St Joseph’s Girls National School on Convent Road put on headphones and passed around the microphone to record their lively, engaging take on the past.

In the first episode the podcasters focused on life in Ireland in the 1920s, using detailed records from the 1926 census.

The episode also highlighted games, pastimes and famous people at the time, including writer and poet W.B. Yeats. The topics were explored through the life story of two local girls their own age living at the time.

The podcast, which has the tagline listen, learn, be inspired, has become a hit with other students, teachers and parents and there are plans to keep it going.

“Our first one was a pilot to see how viable it would be and we are delighted with the results. We are aiming to have a series of them in the coming year,” said principal Conor Mulcahy.

The podcast had huge learning outcomes, teaching the children how to research, how to collaborate on a project while also giving them a lot of ICT and media skills, said teacher Anna Kingston.

“Every child had a role and we worked on it for about two months. We had researchers, editors, scriptwriters and presenters. It was a good experience for all involved,” said Anna, who initiated the project together with special class teacher Fiona Nagle.

The podcast also includes a jingle composed and performed by musician and second class teacher Andrew Whelton (lead singer with local band Intricate).It was recorded and edited by Clonakilty company Flux Learning.

In May, St Joseph’s received a Yellow Flag award in recognition of its commitment to intercultural inclusion and addressing racism through policies and practises. The school has 220 pupils and 15 teachers. Listen to the podcast at www.stjosephsclon.com/sixthclasspodcast.html