St Raphael’s Special School celebrate Proclamation Day

Students across the country engaged in flag-raising ceremonies and cultural exhibitions on Tuesday as part of Proclamation Day which commemorated the 1916 Rising.

The Government-sponsored initiative saw every educational institute in Ireland receive a flag and a copy of the Proclamation read out by Patrick Pearse in front of the GPO a century ago.

Students were encouraged to reimagine and rewrite the Proclamation to reflect their hopes, dreams and expectations for contemporary Ireland.

One such event at St Raphael's Special School in Celbridge involved a fly-over from a plane out of the nearby Weston Airport as pupils and parents gathered on the campus to mark the occasion.

The school caters for 64 children aged between five and 18 who have a range of moderate to profound learning disabilities, along with complex medical and physical needs in some cases.

Non-verbal

Principal Kathy Waldron said the school's own five-point proclamation was drafted with the help of pictures and imagery as many of the pupils are non-verbal.

“For us to have achieved this was after a lot of hard work,” Ms Waldron said. “For the words to have been chosen, the majority of the kids are actually non-verbal so staff would have done it by knowing them and the things that they like, by recognising their strengths and needs using visual pictures.”

A model of the GPO, designed by the students following a recent visit to Dublin, was also on display at the school.

The ceremony was attended by Defence Forces Commandant Róisín Condron who raised the flag with the assistance of Darren Morgan (nine) amid a chorus of Ámhrán na bhFiann.

Parent Caroline Prendergast said the occasion was a great example of the solidarity and inclusivity the original Proclamation sought to promote for a new nation a century ago.

“I think it’s brilliant to have all children on an equal footing. I have three children but two of my children have disabilities and one is a typical child,” she said.

“Conor is in class 4, he’s 10, he falls in the severe to profound category but he’s celebrating today the same as his twin sister Amy who’s in fourth class and they’re doing their proclamation in their school, so it’s great to have them on an equal footing albeit in different ways. I think it’s amazing.”

As part of day children were offered the opportunity to browse a souvenir book of images and mementoes from the Rising and ensuing War of Independence in the souvenir book The Rebellion in Dublin April 1916 compiled by friend of the school, Lucy Monaghan.

This was followed by the planting of seeds of the native Irish Rowan tree, which will be grown on school grounds, before the finale which saw Andrew Mulhall of the National Flight Centre at Weston tow a large tricolour during a fly-over.