PUPILS from Presentation Primary School in Tralee are to star in an RTE One documentary Creative Kids this Sunday at 6.30pm.

The documentary is inspired by the roll-out of Creative Schools, an initiative focussing on creativity and the Arts in primary and post-primary schools and Youthreach centres all around Ireland.

Creative Kids followed five schools over the course of the academic year as they implemented the Creative Schools project and encouraged their pupils to think about the Arts and creativity in a whole new way.

Presentation Primary School Tralee focused on a whole-school music and dance show staged at Siamsa Tire in Tralee with the theme of ‘Breaking Boundaries’.

Continued below…

In the programme we will see that 9-year-olds Ciara O’Shea and Mehek Hussain are both in third class in Presentation Convent Primary School Tralee and are great friends.

The pair are performing on stage together during the big show in Siamsa Tire. They have spent weeks rehearsing their songs and dance moves. Both girls love singing and dancing as a way of expressing themselves.

We hear Ciara and Mehek discussing the theme of the show – Breaking down Boundaries and they tell us how it’s not important where you come from “….what colour you are, whether you wear glasses or not”, but that they are all “equally the same and special”.

We join Ciara and Mehek for a play date in Ciara’s house where they practice their performance pieces ahead of the show.

Helena Hennessy, Teacher at Presentation Primary School said; “The theme of our creative project, “Taking Down Walls”, was led by our student advisory council, who identified a need to be able to express themselves creatively without fear of judgement or ridicule. The main objective of our project therefore was to highlight the awareness of the diversity that exists in schools today and the potential for prejudice.

This project took us all on an incredible creative and emotional journey. It highlighted the collaborative efforts and passion of our entire school community and beyond. We loved and cherished every minute of the process which culminated in an amazing sell-out performance entitled “No Barriers” in Siamsa Tíre, our national folk theatre of Ireland.

To be chosen to take part in an RTE documentary was just the icing on the cake for all of us. We never dreamed when we began our creative journey that we would have a film crew in our school documenting our process and final performance. Working with the crew was an incredible learning curve for all involved and it will be etched in our memories for many many years to come.”

The Arts Council has invited schools across Kerry to take part in their Creative Schools initiative, opening up the programme to another 150 schools, bringing the total number to 300. All Department of Education and Skills primary and post-primary schools, special schools and Youthreach centres are eligible to apply.

Interested schools should:

Step 1 – Get online to find out more www.artscouncil.ie/creative-schools

Step 2 – Register your school today (this can take up to 5 working days)

Step 3 – Apply online before 25 June 2020.

Creative Schools is an initiative of the Creative Ireland Programme with the aim of encouraging and unlocking the creative potential of young people. The project is supported by the Arts Council, the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.