The pupils of Mr. Breen’s 5th and 6th class were delighted to welcome Micheál O’Scannail from RTÉ news2Day to our school to record a feature on Budget 2022. It was a great experience from many perspectives. The children were enabled to experience the process of making a segment for television; the cuts, the outtakes, audio and visuals. Exploring film and digital media is an exciting way for children to learn and to have the opportunity to interact with people who work in this field was invaluable. Working on this feature enabled the children to have an opinion on the country’s budget and they prepared for the visit by discussing where the country’s money would be best invested. Isobelle Roland (5th class) believed that ‘some of the budget should go to mental health. Because of Covid, a lot of people without families haven’t been able to socialise’. She believes that some money ‘should go to paying counselors to go to people’s houses and chat to them to make them feel less lonely.’
We believe it is really important to foster the children’s independent thought and social consciences so that they are prepared when they reach voting age and know that their voices count. The RTÉ News2Day experience was a really fun way of learning about the country’s finances and we are very grateful to Micheál and his team for the opportunity.
