School into Our World Irish Aid Awards finals

PRIMARY school pupils from Mayo Abbey National School, Claremorris, have made it to the national final of the 2017 Our World Irish Aid Awards.

They, along with pupils and teachers from 11 other primary schools across Ireland, will travel to Dublin Castle on Tuesday, June 13, to showcase their project as they compete for the overall Our World Irish Aid Awards trophy.

The school attended the regional final at the Model Arts Centre, Sligo, which saw 15 primary schools from the northwest region compete for three of 12 places at the national final.

As well as exhibiting their work and taking part in a number of activities, pupils and teachers heard from special speaker Garda Darran Conlon who shared his experience of promoting diversity through sport in Ballyhaunis, Ireland’s most ethnically diverse town, and, in particular, his commitment to the integration of immigrant children, many of whom are from developing countries.

The Our World Irish Aid Awards help children to develop an understanding around issues that affect us all and highlight our responsibility to help support those most vulnerable in our world, as well as bringing the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development into the classroom in a way that helps our younger citizens to understand and contribute towards meeting them.

The project from Mayo Abbey National School was entitled The ‘CUP’ Song (Caring for our Unique Planet) and involved a group of 15 pupils (4th to 6th class). The pupils expressed their passion for music and its power to bring people together by writing a song entitled ‘The CUP Song’ – Caring for our Unique Planet. The song’s lyrics focus on the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development and how united actions can yield positive results.