St.Louis Infant School

Multicultural Day 2011

On Multicultural Day we celebrated our Irish and International cultures in a day filled with fun events and experiences. In recent years we have embraced the new Ireland and the new Europe and taken on an international aspect to our school with the arrival of children from different countries. The variety of languages and cultures gives all the children a broad and holistic learning experience and provides a great opportunity to learn about many different countries and cultures while fostering inclusion with a spirit of tolerance and friendship.

The morning started out with art workshops for First Class who made chinese drums while some children also had henna handpainting. All classes decorated headbands with flags of various countries and with our multicultural logo.

In the afternoon all children assembled in the hall wearing their headband creations and First Class carrying and playing their chinese drums. Some children wore their national costumes.
The colourful celebration in the hall started with the singing of our school anthem and the parade of nations led by Ireland. Each country was represented by children carrying their national flag and greeting us in their native language.This was followed by a display of martial arts which was a great hit with all the children. Teresa Loftus treated us to a museum talk and display of artifacts. Music was next up with a very interesting workshop on drumming and percussion. Fiona then led the children in dance before all went back to their classrooms having experienced the integration of many strands of the curriculum in a fun and exciting way. Our thanks go to Ms. Murphy, Ms. Farrell and Mrs.Mc Carey for all the hard work preparing and organising the events and activities.

The uniqueness of each individual was celebrated. This was reflected in the words of one of the songs which the children sang
"Everybody's eyes, hair and skin is different you see,
And that's what makes us all as special as can be"