STUDENTS from Mullingar Educate Together National School have secured their place in the National Finals of the Our World Irish Aid Awards, taking a giant leap towards an overall win with their project, “Caring for the World”.
On 16 June, the fourth class pupils from Educate Together National School in Mullingar, along with their teacher Leonora Doyle, will exhibit their project at the prestigious awards ceremony at Dublin Castle.
The awards are part of a national strategy to help children in Ireland understand global issues, and Ireland’s role in working to meet the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These goals focus on fighting hunger and poverty and improving the lives of those in the world’s poorest countries.
The Our World Irish Aid Awards programme is in its tenth year and taking a proud place in the finals are the Mullingar Educate together N.S students, who will join pupils from twelve schools exhibiting their projects in Dublin Castle on the 16th of June.
At this ceremony, all twelve finalist schools will receive a trophy, and the overall ‘Our World Irish Aid Awards’ trophy will be awarded to one outstanding project.
Over 1,000 primary schools throughout Ireland participated in the Our World Irish Aid Awards to date.
Outlining how Educate Together’s successful project came to be, Ms. Doyle explained that much research has gone into the project
“The children created a project about the causes and effects of climate change, at home, in school, in Westmeath, in Ireland and in the world. Then they focussed on the effects of climate change in Ethiopia afterwards.
“The class then created model farms to show the droughts on farms in Ethiopia which are a result of climate change,” said Ms. Doyle.
“The class created a song and a photo-story about climate change. They then shared their entire project with their local community by hosting a parents and friends’ information evening in their school. They also shared their project at a whole school assembly.”
The good and busy work by the pupils in learning about the issue and in working to help solve the problems they have identified continues.
The Fourth class are currently organising a school talent show to fundraise money for Trócaire to build an irrigation system on a farm in Ethiopia.
On 16 June, they will have the exciting chance of being part of the finals of the Our World Irish Aid Awards, with the prospect of a national win in recognition of their work to learn about and engage with global issues.
