Stand Up Week 2024

This week our students and staff took part in lots of activities throughout the week to celebrate Stand Up Week. National Stand Up Week takes place from the 4th to 8th of November and is dedicated to raising awareness about homophobic bullying and to celebrate the inclusion of all genders.

On Monday the 4th of November our amber flag team and the GSA group decorated the main foyer. A rainbow wall was put up with lots of LGBTQ+ related words that our TY Irish, French and Spanish classes wrote and designed.

The next activity that took place was a movie day on Wednesday. This was open to all students across years and took place at 1:15pm after school in the art room with lots of delicious food and drinks! Our third year SPHE classes also had the pleasure of taking part in a ‘SHOUT OUT’ workshop where they learned about correct gender terms and pronouns.

‘Shout Out’ is an educational charity all about addressing LGBTQ+ issues. It was started twelve years ago by college students and has grown and changed in many positive ways throughout the years.

Our third years also took part in an array of different activities such as a walking debates in which students shared their opinions on different topics. Next they learnt about the  LGBTQ+ acronym and what each letter represents. This was closely followed with learning about allyship. Our students learned about what it means to be an ally and how to support and welcome the LGBTQ+ community.

To conclude stand up week, on Friday, our fifth years attended a talk from the Emerald Warriors, organised by Mr Monaghan. They spoke to our student about homophobia within sports.

Thanks to all the staff who helped organise all the events during this important week in school. It is safe to say everyone enjoyed and learned a huge amount from this week! 

Reporter: Lisa Phelan Photographer: Ruby O'Dwyer