Year 8 pupils at Belmont House School in Derry know a lot more about both the history and geography of the school’s neighbourhood and local residents know more about the school, all thanks to a school project which used Infomapper.

Infomapper allows users to download high definition Ordinance survey maps and quality aerial photographs and then use them to make composite images to create their own resources. By adding photographs, sound files, word documents and Powerpoint presentations, they can create a series of ‘hot spots’ on the aerial photographs which can be shared with other users.

As the school’s ICT co-ordinator, Paula Kinsella explains once the Infomapper project got underway, it took on a life of its own.

“It started out as a Geography project to help pupils learn about the neighbourhood the school is located in but very quickly it expanded into other areas such as History, English and ICT!”

Belmont House, which is located in the Pennyburn area of Derry is a special school for around 200 pupils, aged from 4 to 17, most of whom have moderate learning difficulties. It opened in 1961 but the history of the original school building goes back much further.

The present house was built in 1833 and remained in private ownership until the 1940s when US forces were billeted there. The building was subsequently converted into flats before being taken over the by the local education authority in 1960 for use as Belmont House School.  Over the years the school has grown steadily and in 1999, the Belmont Campus with seven Learning Centres, Messines, Hampstead, Troy, Pennyburn, Shandon, Little Oaks and Woodlands each catering for different stages of the curriculum, was established.

“The Learning Centres all take their names from the neighbourhood so the children were able to use Infomapper to look at where the school is located and see some of the new developments to have taken place in recent years.

“We also thought it would be very interesting to invite some local residents to the school to talk to the children about where they live and to discuss how some of the local areas got their names.”

One of the Learning Centres is named after Messines Park – a housing development for ex servicemen a short distance from the school. Ironically, the one and only bomb which dropped on the Derry during World War 2 fell on Messines Park on April 15 1941 and killed 15 people.

“Some of the older residents from the neighbourhood spoke to the children about what it was like living there during the War. The children found this fascinating and it really helped them make a connection between places and history.

“We recorded the interviews so it was very empowering for the children hear some of the older residents’ memories and how it compared with their own knowledge of the area.”

According to Paula Kinsella, the project has not only been very motivational for the children but working on it helped increase their self esteem and improve their communication skills. Another bonus is that there is still plenty to explore in the area without having to venture past the school gates.

“Not many schools can lay claim to their own walled garden or friendly ghosts - we even have a crowning stone of the chieftains and kings of Ireland in the grounds of the school so there is still plenty of scope to add further ‘hot spots’.”