Stories from Munster
Dairygold’s Tony Mannix, Milling & Grain Operations Manager tells us about their two links with Davis College, Mallow and St Fanahan’s, Mitchelstown. Principal Carmel Kelly of Listowel CC, Kerry gives the case for working with SBP and two of our BITCI team tell us 10 things we bet you didn’t know about SBP in Tipperary!
The spotlight is on Tony Mannix, Milling & Grain Operations Manager with Dairygold, as they lead the way in North Cork.
As any Principal in a rural town will tell you, the co-op is an important part of life for many 
of the students. In North Cork, Dairygold is extending its reach beyond the farming community with two schools, Davis College in Mallow and St Fanahan’s, Mitchelstown. Dairygold has long been part of the DNA of both towns but what the students are seeing now is how a home grown industry is more than matching the biggest, hi-tech, multi-nationals in embracing all areas of modern technology and efficiency.
Q. Tony, tell us about your contribution to the Programme with Davis College this year?
A. Dairygold Quality Feeds facilitated a visit to our Production facility at Lombardstown. This involved a high level presentation about the business and a tour of the manufacturing plant and the laboratory. We also presented 4 ‘Day in the Life’ talks from our experienced staff.
Q. What does this mean for Dairygold, Mallow?
A. The involvement with SBP and Davis College enables Dairygold engage with the community in a meaningful way. Hopefully it provides a valuable business insight to students and enables them in some small way to choose the correct career path. Given the nature of our business many of these students could become suppliers, customers and indeed employees in the years ahead.
Q. What does it mean to you as an individual?
A. It is very fulfilling to be in a position to pass on my experiences to young people and in doing do I learn a lot in return. It is great to see the interest students show in the business and the intelligent questions they ask.
Q. If you could have one hope/wish for your company and school in the future what would it be?
A. To continue to learn and grow through this process with SBP and to continue giving real insights to students preparing for the next phase of their career paths.
Carmel Kelly, Principal of Listowel Community College, Kerry is in the hot seat about her link with energy generator company SSE Generation
Q. What in your opinion are key success factors and impacts of an effective Skills @ Work Programme?
A. Students become engaged in their own learning and begin to take responsibility for their life and career choices. They get the opportunity to explore real life work environments and to engage with a CEO of a company and engage with real life work scenarios. Students get to prepare CVs for real posts, and be interviewed by the CEO of a real company and they are also provided with the chance to participate in a real life work environment.
Q. How do you, personally, contribute to this?
A. I ensure the Skills @ Work programme is a core element of the Senior Cycle provision here at Listowel Community College. Our vision here at Listowel Community College, is to support our students to take responsibility in a supportive learning environment for their life and career choices.
Q. Why are you involved with The Schools’ Business Partnership?
A. At Listowel Community College our vision is to cultivate the entrepreneurial spirit in all students, by providing learning experiences to support students in taking responsibility for their life choices. At Senior Cycle we provide timetabled Guidance, Enterprise and Skills at Work experience to support our Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP). We also offer the full range of Senior Cycle subjects. This well balanced curriculum supports students to develop a deep understanding of their life choices and responsibilities. Listowel Community College would like to express their gratitude to Eileen Fitzgerald Regional Co-ordinator of BITCI and Mr. Gerard Crean of SSE Generation for investing their time and huge effort with our students.
Q. Tell us something fun about yourself!
A. I love a wicked sense of humour….
Two of The SBP team – Dr Eleanor Walsh (Assistant Manager and Limerick Clare Regional Coordinator) and Ms Louise Casey (Waterford Regional Coordinator)- tell us 10 things about SBP in County Tipperary!
- SBP works with students from DEIS and SCP post
primary schools throughout Tipperary, and teachers and principals in all post primary schools in the county can take part in Management Excellence for Teachers and Management Excellence for Principals programmes - The Skills @ Work programme, which helps to promote student retention to Leaving Certificate, is currently up and running in Coláiste Mhuire Co-Ed (Thurles), Newport College and Clonmel Vocational School
- The partnering companies are The Lisheen Mine, Procter & Gamble, Nenagh (Pictured above) and Marks & Spencer (pictured below).
- The recent figures (entry in 2007) around school retention in Tipperary (NR) are 97.55% to Junior Cert and 91.83% to Leaving Cert. In Tipperary (SR) it is 97.29% to Junior Cert and 90.47% to Leaving Cert. These Leaving Cert figures reflect an approximately 8% increase in Tipperary NR and 10% increase in Tipperary SR, from students starting secondary school in 2002. SBP is working to improve these figures even further
- In Procter & Gamble and The Lisheen Mine, students put on safety boots and special clothing to allow them to get close to the manufacturing and production activities of the companies.
- Marks and Spencer not only participate by partnering a school in Clonmel, but also their stores in Mary Street (Dublin), Letterkenny, Killarney, Cork and Galway have partnered schools that are local to these premises and are a lead sponsor of the national programme.
- The Newport College wrap up ranks as one of the top in the country with its mixture of presentations, music, drama, culinary skills and art work.
- Each of the partnerships has been successfully in place for over three years with the school/company co-ordinators describing it as a very positive and rewarding experience for them both professionally and personally.
- Students have been successful in securing work-placement as a result of successful involvement in the Skills @ Work programme
- The programmes are coordinated by SBP staff Eleanor Walsh – who also works in Limerick and Clare and Louise Casey who also works in Waterford
