1916 Commemoration

We commemorated The 1916 Rising in fine style in our school recently with many events taking place over a number of days. Ian Harrington, who is a member of the Irish Army, came in and spoke to us on the correct etiquette surrounding the Irish Flag and also told us about its history. He showed us a very interesting slideshow and we learned lots of interesting new facts about our flag. He also brought an Army Piper with him who played us some marching tunes on his pipes.   On March 16th, which was proclamation day, we invited parents and all members of the school community to join us for a ceremony held on our school grounds. They were treated to a tremendous spectacle as a wide range of performances were staged for their enjoyment. Children from all classes were involved in reading from the original proclamation, reading from our own 2016 proclamation and proclaiming what being Irish means to us.

We sang ballads relating to the Rising in ‘Grace‘ and ‘The Foggy Dew‘ and the children from 3rd and 4th class provided us with a beautiful traditional Irish music accompaniment to these songs.

As part of Proclamation Day, we raised the Irish Flag which was presented to us earlier in the year by the Defence Forces while we sang Amhrán na bhFiann. We invited former principal, Margaret O Donoghue in to raise the tricolour and it was a proud moment for everyone to see it flying high on our new flag pole.  Afterwards, everyone stayed for a cup of tea and a slice of cake in the design of an Irish Flag which was made by Grace’s sister Aoife.  The following day, in keeping with our theme of all things Irish, we held a Céilí in which students Irish danced, set danced, sang, recited poetry and played traditional Irish music.

Bhaineamar a lán taitneamh as an h-imeachtaí go léir.