KCS achieves Silver Award at the WorldWise Global Schools (WWGS) Conference

This student centred conference took place yesterday, 7th of April and opened with a host of videos from some of the schools showcasing their work as part of the WorldWise Global Schools Competition. The videos displayed were full of passion, creativity and advocacy for change. The conference seamlessly moved through three panel discussions, with brief interludes for an interactive student quiz.

The first of three discussions was entitled ‘Digging deeper: Degrowth’. The panellists included: Student Activist Saoirse Exton (ISSU Equality Officer, Friday for Future Movement), Meaghan Carmody (Degrowth and Political Economy) and Roisín Markham (Doughnut Economics and Wellbeing). All three spoke honestly and from personal experience. The takeaway being, don’t be afraid to stand up for change, even if it’s just you, find your tribe and ask the difficult questions.

The second discussion, centred on Biodiversity and Farming. A former pro surfer Fergal Smith, turned away from a life of travel and surfing to become a full-time farmer. He spoke passionately about farming and the sense of wellbeing he gets from it. He offered lots of practical advice to students on what to grow in their school gardens/tunnels.

The final discussion, Fast Fashion and Circular Economy, involved Grace Doyle (Fashion Revolution) and student Amy Bohan (Y2k Vintage Shop). This was an engaging exchange of ideas on the impact of fast fashion and the practical steps that could be taken to lessen its impact. Leitrim student Amy’s online business has grown in recent years and showed how a little initiative can make a difference.

The final part of the conference culminated in the Global Passport Awards Ceremony, in which Kinsale Community School received the Silver Award. This is a result of the school’s efforts towards sustainability and encouraging global citizenship through curriculum, co-curricular and extracurricular activities. The Global Passport Award is an EU recognised quality mark, which offers schools a framework to integrate Global Citizenship Education into their teaching and learning. It is a self-assessed and externally audited accreditation, and it is open to all post-primary schools in Ireland. As a school we have had a clear focus on GCE education this year.

We feel that following on from periods of extended remote teaching, students have been restricted from participating in meaningful positive steps to engage with global issues which they can take significant action upon. As a community, our focus has been on impressing the importance of positive activism on our students. This is more pertinent in the turbulent society we find ourselves in, navigating life post Covid restrictions and the difficult political tumult our students are now exposed to. In a sense GCE allows our students to make a difference; to heal some of that liminality experienced by all through isolation and to see hope for the future for our students and their world.

We believe through Global Citizenship Education, our students can challenge eco-anxiety and be responsible for transforming the culture of their own school, whilst also recognising that local actions can have a positive impact on global issues. Our students are future change makers and we are proud of everything they are working on, from sustainable projects to sharing their work with local primary schools, developing a junior COP, planting trees, leading the way in changing perspectives on fast fashion and scientific investigations.
Our students are exemplary in their desire to lead, to be the change needed in our society and they are empowered through positive activism. They are the global citizens of the future. For these reasons, sustainability has been a driving force within the school community this year which has meant incorporating the sustainable development goals with deliberate work on the following:
SDG 3: Good Health and Wellbeing of our staff and students;
SDG 4: Quality Education for both students on GCE themes and staff as lifelong learners;
SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation through the harvesting of rainwater and implementation of water fountains within the school campus;
SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy through our movement from oil to gas and installation of solar panels;
SDG 8 Decent Work and economic growth for our students, local community and staff;
as well as;
(SDG 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities;
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production;
SDG 13: Climate Action;
SDG 15: Life on Land
SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions)

We have begun transforming our campus, not just through embedding the SDG's or through the GCE education of our students but transforming the physical campus through student actions; rewilding, planting orchards and sunflower seeds, engaging in 'goatscaping' and investing in solar panels.

In addition to this we have reinforced CPD within the staff body and the extra curricular activities promoted in school from a global citizenship education perspective. There has never been a better time to develop the global citizenship education of our students and we will strive through our work with young people to create future leaders in this field. Many thanks to Ms. Aoife Houlihan, our students and staff for their hard work in achieving this award for our school.