Citywest & Saggart

Community National School

First Class Room 9: Centenary Video

2016 marks the centenary of The Easter Rising. This uprising was one of the defining moments of the struggle for Irish independence which began on Easter Monday 1916 with the reading of the proclamation, Poblacht na h-Eireann by Pádraig Pearse at the General Post Office (GPO) on Sackville Street (now known as O’Connell Street). It described a vision for an independent Ireland and its hopes and aspirations for a new autonomous free state.

To commemorate the centenary of the 1916 Rising and to celebrate 100 years since the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, the Government has tasked Óglaigh na hÉireann with delivering a National Flag to every Primary School in the country. Óglaigh na hÉireann gave the children in Citywest & Saggart CNS the task of putting together their very own 2016 Proclamation that would compare the 1916 Proclamation and describe a vision for the next 100 years. To do this we did the following:

  1. We learned the Irish National Anthem, Amhrán na bhFiann off by heart!
  2. We studied the 1916 Proclamation, which was challenging, but with the help of our teacher we developed a good understanding about what it was the 1916 Proclamation envisaged for the country.
  3. We examined pictures of the 1916 Easter Rising and developed a sense of empathy of what it must have been like for the men, women and children of the country at this difficult time.
  4. We came up with four key messages that we felt described best our vision for the next 100 years.

We put all our work together into this very special video.

Proclamation Day is on 15th March 2016, where our school will raise the National Flag in a special ceremony in conjunction with our next door neighbour Citywest Educate Together. The 1916 Proclamation and our schools 2016 Proclamation will be read aloud.

We hope you like this special video. Please click here.