Ballina school recognised for intercultural efforts
The annual Intercultural Day has contributed to St Mary's Secondary School being recognised in the nationwide Yellow Flag programme.
A vibrant day was had at St Mary’s Secondary School in Ballina, where the assembly hall was transformed into an interactive global experience as part of the school’s annual Intercultural Day, with representation from 33 cultures in total.
The initiative has played a part in earning the school a prestigious Yellow Flag, a programme that brings issues of interculturalism, equality and diversity into the whole-school programme and allows schools to provide practical steps and apply them to the day to day running of the school. It works with students, staff, management, parents and wider community groups so that issues of diversity and equality are not merely seen as school subjects but can be understood and taken outside the school setting into everyone’s personal lives.
To make the day even more significant, Traveller Ethnicity Day was also celebrated by the raising of a flag to mark the milestone day of March 1, 2017 – a significant moment in Irish history when the Irish Government formally recognised Irish Travellers as a distinct ethnic group. Traveller Ethnicity Day commemorates this event, while celebrating the richness and resilience of Irish Traveller culture, heritage and identity.
St Mary’s will be officially presented their yellow flag on April 30 in Temple Bar, Dublin.
“We have been running the Intercultural Day for a number of years now but every year it is getting bigger and bigger. This year, the entire school community was treated to a fantastic day where they could learn and experience other cultures – tasting native food or even picking up a few words of different languages,” said teacher and coordinator, Mr Dennis Feeley.
