Millstreet Community School Celebrates Diversity During Language and Culture Week
Millstreet Community School Celebrates Diversity During Language and Culture Week
Millstreet Community School is in the midst of a vibrant Language and Culture Week, an annual celebration that highlights the rich diversity within the school community. The event has featured a series of engaging activities, workshops, and discussions aimed at promoting inclusion, cultural awareness, and the importance of language in shaping identity.
‘Amplifying your Voice’ workshops
All 5th years students took part this workshop on Monday. It was facilitated by Raphael Olympio. He hails from Togo in West Africa but has lived most of his life in Cork. He is Youth Development Officer with the Cork Migrant Centre. Amongst other things, he encouraged the students to think carefully about what helps to form their attitudes and opinions towards different groups in society. He spoke about unconscious bias and the importance of being aware of how it can have an impact on attitudes and actions.
A Celebration of Culture and Inclusion
This event, which took place on Tuesday evening, has been the highlight of the week so far. Students, staff, members of the local community and special guests came together to celebrate different cultures through poetry, song, music, the spoken word. Students from some of the twenty-seven nationalities represented in the school spoke about their countries with pride. Irish culture featured prominently in the form of two traditional music groups, set dancing, poems by Irish writers.
We were delighted to welcome two visitors to our school for the evening. Raphael Olympio returned to MCS. He spoke about his work with young people and gave the audience a taste of his skills as a rapper and spoken word artist. Our special guest was Fameda Naheed. She is a School of Sanctuary Ambassador, a Community Development Officer with SECAD, and Co-Chair of the Cork Three Faiths Forum and presents and produces her own weekly programme on Cork Community Radio. She spoke about the work she has done building bridges in different settings in Cork since she arrived in Cork fifteen years ago from Pakistan. She expressed her appreciation for our school's ongoing inclusive approach as a Champion School of Sanctuary.
The celebration moved then to the canteen where everyone had the chance to taste food from a variety of countries, from Laos to Kazakhstan via Georgia. We are grateful to the families who contributed delicious traditional dishes. Local businesses also played a role and we appreciate O'Leary's Family Butchers, Tony O'Brien's Craft Butchers, Café Aroma, The West End Café and Cloverhill Foods for their generous contributions to this part of the evening. A special thank you was extended to those who attended and helped ensure the smooth running of the event.
Workshops raising awareness about racism
As part of the initiative, six Transition Year (TY) students have been leading workshops for second-year tutorials, using the Show Racism the Red Card programme. This interactive session encourages young people to challenge racism and embrace diversity. The third and final workshop in this series takes place on Thursday 13th March.
Colonies Quiz
TY and Fifth-years students have been learning about the part played by some European nations in the colonisation of African countries in the past. During RE lessons, each tutorial took part in a quiz to check what they had learnt about the topic.
MCS Olympics and Sports Against Racism Ireland (SARI)
Sport is also playing a key role in this week’s celebrations. The MCS Olympics has now concluded with students competing for different countries during their PE lessons. Medals will be awarded in the next week or so the students across the school who represented the winning country.
On the final day of Language and Culture Week (14th March), Sports Against Racism Ireland (SARI) will visit the school to deliver workshops to first-year students in the gym. SARI has been a regular visitor to MCS, using sport to promote inclusion and equality.
The grand finale of the week takes place at 2 pm on Friday. The World in Our School quiz has become an annual feature of this special week. Every student will have the chance to take part. Working in pairs they will be answering questions on national flags, border, capital cities, traditional dishes and celebrities from different countries. It is a great opportunity for students to test their knowledge on the world around them.
A Tradition of Inclusion
Language and Culture Week at Millstreet Community School continues to be a powerful reminder of the school’s commitment to fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment for all. With engaging discussions, cultural exchanges, and sports activities, students are learning valuable lessons about respect, diversity, and community spirit.
The Transition Year Global Citizenship Education class (GCE) have been responsible for co-ordinating most the events connected with the Language and Culture Week. We are grateful to Irish Aid WorldWise Global Schools (WWGS) for their ongoing support for our work in the area of GCE.
Stay tuned for more updates as the celebrations continue!
