Irish flag award for Nenagh school
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Pictured at St Mary’s Primary School with the prestigious Gaelbhratach flag are (from left) Mairéad Shanahan (teacher), Pippa Morrissey, Cara Hogan, Amelia Zarina, Rahma Bakkali, Anna Martin, Zuri Ryan, Faith Mbemba, Katrina Dotsenko, Holly Corcoran, Christina McAvinchey (teacher) and Peader O’Dwyer (principal). Absent from photo: Regina Kelly (teacher). PHOTOS: BRIDGET DELANEY BRIDGET DELANEYImage 2 of 2
Pictured with an Irish language presentation at the school are Peader O'Dwyer (principal), and teachers Christina McAvinchey and Mairéad Shanahan. Absent from photo: Regina Kelly BRIDGET DELANEYAnother flag will soon be fluttering outside St Mary's Primary School in Nenagh in recognition of staff and pupils' promotion of the Irish language.
The ‘Gaelbhratach’ is a national scheme that encourages primary and secondary schools in the speaking of Irish outside of the formal classroom setting. St Mary's in Nenagh is the first school in North Tipperary to achieve the award.
The flag recognises the meeting of a number of targets by the school over the last year. These included use of Irish language in games, performances and songs at the school, including regular karaokes ‘as Gaeilge’. Pupils also read out specific conversational Irish phrases over the intercom.
Pupils and teachers were encouraged to greet one another in Irish outside the school or classroom door. Gaeilge posters and thematic displays were installed around the school, and Irish language poems and stories were encouraged in the classroom.
St Mary's also adopted a Gaeilge buddy system, whereby pupils from senior classes worked with junior class pupils through the medium of Irish.
The project was led by teachers Mairéad Shanahan, Christina McAvinchey and Regina Kelly, and involved a committee of volunteer pupils from several classes, some of whom have since progressed to secondary school. Two of the pupils were not born in Ireland - one in India and one in Congo - yet managed to develop their use of conversational Irish as part of this project.
The Gaelbhratach was presented to St Mary's at a recent awards ceremony involving schools from all over the country.
It is the latest in a series of firsts for the Nenagh school, which in recent years was a winner of the Our World Irish Aid award in recognition of pupils' study of climate change and how it impacts children. St Mary's was one of only 30 primary schools in the country selected to participate in the new Digital Learning Framework, and it was one of the first schools in Tipperary to achieve the Health Promoting Schools (HPS) flag.
The Gaelbhratach will soon be hoisted to proudly stand alongside St Mary's ninth Green Flag for environmental education (the school is hoping to achieve a 10th Green Flag award this year), Amber Flag for health and wellbeing, and Active School Flag for physical education. The school is also involved in the Blue Star Programme, which fosters a better understanding among pupils of the EU.