IN PICTURES: Packed house in Portlaoise school at Laois science night

Future Portlaoise secondary students along with their parents have enjoyed a free taster of science, technology, engineering and maths at a booked out evening in Portlaoise College.

Portlaoise College hosted its popular 8th annual STEM evening for 4th and 5th class students and their parents recently. READ More below picture or TAP NEXT OR ARROW to see more photos from the night.

The students came from primary schools all over the Portlaoise and surrounding rural areas.

It was the first in- person event since 2020, and as the result of its popularity it was booked out in less than 24 hours.

The Principal is Noel Daly.

“At Portlaoise College we aim to equip our students with 21st century skills and engaging our school community in the student’s learning and our STEM evening certainly achieved these.

“It’s great seeing families come together to explore engineering, technology, IT, science and maths with engaging hands-on activities at our school. Parents then got to participate in their child’s learning. It’s a win-win for everyone,” he said.

During the STEM evening, parents and students got to experience a magnitude of learning experiences in Woodwork, Engineering, Computer Science, Maths and Science.

Students and staff of Portlaoise College were on hand to demonstrate their passion for each of their STEM subjects.

Parents expressed their gratitude to the school for inviting them in and seemed to enjoy being able to work alongside their children in this way.

“It’s the kind of thing not all parents would be able to do with their children at home, so it’s a great opportunity to take up,” said one parent.

Fiona Kelly coordinated the event.

“This was a fantastic opportunity for primary school students to experience STEM subjects at Portlaoise College.

“ The students got to conduct experiments, work with technology and experience a secondary school learning environment.

“Hopefully when they are choosing their subject options when they start secondary school they can now make a more informed choice.

“Also, their parents got to share in this process and saw their child being inspired was an added bonus, we hope that they enjoyed being back in the classroom” Ms Kelly said.