Tallaght school praised for tackling bullying

A SOUTHSIDE school has taken its place among two other Dublin schools in being awarded a Yellow Flag Diversity Award.

St Aidan’s Community School in Tallaght took a Yellow Flag, which is an equality and diversity initiative for primary and secondary schools that promotes inclusion and anti bullying racism alongside St Francis Senior National, School, Dublin 17 and Grange Community College, Donaghmede.

“No child should have to suffer in school because they are different yet many children are bullied simply because they are different,

? recipients were told at the annual Yellow Flag awards in Dublin.

Pupils, teachers and parents from seven primary and two secondary schools were praised for meeting their eight-step targets to ensure their school created an environment where diversity and equality were fostered and embedded within whole school practice.

Coordinated by the Irish Traveller Movement the programme was established five years ago but is currently only available to a small number of schools despite a sharp rise in bullying.

St Aidan’s Community School was one of a total of seven secondary school award recipients.

Speaking at the event, student Nakita Evans, said:

“Yellow Flag means looking for equality for all as these issues directly affect some of us.

“We wanted to help people understand their rights when it comes to having an equal education and to show that it is important to overcome these inequalities to further ourselves in life.

“We wanted to show our fellow students and friends that there is help and support to help us reach a high education level.

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She added:

“Our aim was to create awareness of inequalities in our own education system. People get segregated for lots of reasons through gender, marital status and family status, sexual orientation, religious belief, age, race, disability and for being a member of the Travelling community.

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Elizabeth Tierney, a teacher from St Aidan’s Community School added:

“The Yellow Flag seemed a big undertaking at the beginning.

“However, by following the eight steps, our school life has been enriched, students understand what language is acceptable and what is not, and they think before they speak out.

“Most importantly, Yellow Flag has encouraged people to put themselves in other’s shoes. Our students created and distributed a booklet with specific information to help both students and parents with issues of inequality. Yellow Flag has helped people to respect each other and to remember that we do not all come from the same background and that difference is good.

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Presenting awards to the nine schools were Dublin GAA player and 2013 All Ireland winner Ger Brennan, the 2013 Voice singer Kelly McDonagh and Tura Arutua, a Zimbabwean Irish speaker and dancer.