A primary school in Tramore, Co. Waterford, has been named this year’s winner of the Our World Irish Aid Awards, which is the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s flagship global citizenship programme for primary schools.

Fourth class pupils and their teacher, Kate Marie Hearne, from Glór Na Mara National School cheered with delight when Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development, Ciarán Cannon, T.D., made the announcement at the national final, held in Dublin Castle.  This is the second time in three years that the school has won the top prize, with teacher Kate Marie Hearne also being named Teacher of the Year in 2016.

The school’s ‘Do One Thing and Leave No One Behind’ winning project is the culmination of months of work focusing on small changes that can make a big difference.  Having brainstormed a host of project ideas, the class decided that they would work on a number of campaigns in-school and in the local community.  As part of this work, and in recognition of the fact that the school is located close to the sea, a group of pupils created video called ‘Save our Seas’; others decided to investigate food miles and reducing our carbon footprint; while another group looked at reducing packaging in partnership with a local supermarket.  The school then hosted an open day attended by pupils, their parents, local community groups and elected representatives at which they presented their work.

Congratulating Glór Na Mara National School on being named this year’s winner, Minister Cannon said that the standard of entries had been extremely high right across the board.

“This project brought the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development and Irish Aid’s eight partner countries to the fore while acknowledging that lots of individual, small changes make a big difference when it comes to things like reducing packaging waste and food miles and protecting our seas.

“The judges felt that the project was an example of excellent work on a range of issues and successful engagement across the school and local community, showing a deep and sustained engagement with the Global Goals and original, creative, child-led actions.”

Now in their 14th year, the Our World Irish Aid Awards help primary school pupils learn about the lives of children and their families in developing countries, and how Ireland and 192 other countries are working together to create a safer and fairer world and a better future for all the world’s children through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.