St. Mary’s BNS has participated in two Erasmus+ programmes and several Comenius school programmes and projects prior to that.

Erasmus+ is the European Union programme for education, training, youth and sport, 2014-2020. It provides funding and support for organisations to operate projects that encourage European exchange, co-operation and learning. Erasmus+ is funded by the European Union through the contributions of member states, including Ireland. Funding of almost €170 million has been allocated to Ireland for the duration of the programme.

Erasmus+ funding is available to schools such as St. Mary’s to study and improve the quality of teaching and learning across Europe, and to support the development, transfer and implementation of innovative practices from collegiate schools involved in the selected projects. These objectives are closely tied with the Europe 2020 strategy of achieving a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy by 2020 for all of Europe’s citizens. The programme also seeks to promote European values as stated in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union: respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights.

Over the course of our involvement with both Comenius and Erasmus+ staff and pupils in St. Mary’s have benefited from our shared practice and professional discussion sessions and visits with collegiate schools in Denmark, England, Holland, Iceland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Wales.

Details of the activities and results of our Inspire Me Motivate Me! project are available here on the project's website www.inspire2motivate.org