Primary school pupils from St. Feichin’s N.S., Castlepollard are set to take part in the National Final of the Our World Irish Aid Awards 2016 in The Printworks, Dublin Castle, 14 June.
St. Feichin’s NS was one of just three schools which were selected at the Sligo Regional Finals recently.
At the national final, pupils from St. Feichin’s NS, with their teacher, Monica Fanning, will exhibit their project, ‘Step into a Better World’.
Our World Awards is an annual awards programme for Irish pupils from third to sixth class. Pupils work in pairs, as a class or as a whole school to present a project, exploring the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and the work of Irish Aid. Children present their ideas in a range of media including, artwork, drama, photo, film, new media, music, and traditional project presentations.
Ms. Fanning said that her fourth, fifth and sixth class pupils decided on a collage as their project. “It’s a giant collage and it basically is a ladder and each step of the ladder is an idea of how we can step into a better world. It has all the ideas from Green Schools and all that kind of stuff as well as from the World Irish Aid project. Along one side of it are all the Irish Aid partner companies and the Millennium Global Goals.”
St. Thomas’ N.S., Rathowen, took home the new ‘School of Development Distinction’ certificate, which is awarded to schools that have made it to the regional finals for the last three consecutive years. The certificate recognises that St. Thomas’ N.S., Rathowen have shown a deep commitment to development education over a number of years and have consistently produced high quality work.
The ‘One World, One Future’ theme of the 2016 awards asks pupils to imagine how they would like their world to look in 2030, and to learn about the new United Nations’ Global Goals for Sustainable Development which seek to address the root causes of poverty and environmental damage worldwide.
The Our World Irish Aid Awards invited pupils across Ireland to create projects, in any medium, about the lives of children in developing countries. The projects highlighted the challenges facing these children and their families and the progress which is being achieved by Ireland and other countries through the global effort to fight poverty.
Over 1,000 primary schools throughout Ireland have been participating in the Our World Irish Aid Awards in 2016.
