Pupils turn to song to fight for their school

Pupils turn to song to fight for their school

26 June 2013 - by BY DAVID TELFORD

PUPILS at a rural primary school threatened with closure are using the world of social media as part of their concerted campaign to keep the doors open.

In March, the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) recommended that St. Patrick’s Primary at Burrenreagh outside Castlewellan should close, a move which stunned pupils, parents, politicians and the local community.

The battle to keep the school open has already been taken to Stormont with parents speaking with members of the Assembly’s Education Committee. Tomorrow, parents accompanied by South Down MP Margaret Ritchie, meet with South Eastern Education and Library Board Commissioners to make a strong case for St. Patrick’s not to close.

The pupils at the rural primary are also playing a key role in the “Save Burrenreagh Campaign” and have posted their very own music video on YouTube.

The video was filmed at the school on June 8 with the backing track a specially written song to the tune of world famous boy band One Direction’s global hit What Makes You Beautiful.

The Youtube video is called Burrenreagh is Beautiful and the lyricists who penned the original One Direction hit have given the music video project their blessing.

Mrs. Siobhan Rice, who is the chairman of the school’s Parents’ Support Group and whose children attend St. Patrick’s Primary, said everyone associated with the school believes the music video reflects the feelings of pupils and parents about the decision to recommend it for closure.

Mrs. Rice, who wrote the lyrics for Burrenreagh is Beautiful along with her husband Gregory, explained the music video has received great support.

She said parents helped in all sorts of ways and were really supportive of the music video concept which opens up the campaign to keep the school open to a massive audience.

“We secured the services of a professional video company and we believe that what we have done to be quite innovative and will help get our message out to many, many people,” said Mrs. Rice.

“The video has racked up over 1,600 hits already and been viewed by people as far away as America and Australia. We believe the figure will go even higher. The first 1,000 hits came within 24 hours of the video being posted on line.”

Mrs. Rice said everyone is delighted with the finished video which features every pupil at St. Patrick’s.

She added: “We wanted to do something different as part of the campaign to keep the school open. We thought a music video would help not only promote St. Patrick’s, but let people see that we can’t understand why it has been targeted for closure.”

School principal, Mr. James Hunt, believes St. Patrick’s can continue to play a vital role at the heart of community life. He said the rural school has had a steadily rising enrolment over recent years, explaining this trend has continued over recent weeks.

He added: “The criteria used to assess schools have been educational and financial viability and enrolment. According to this data, St. Patrick’s is educationally and financially viable and merely fails in enrolment quota. Yet we have been selected as the only primary school in the South Eastern Board area as being nominated for closure.”

• To view the Burrenreagh school’s music video log on www.youtube.com/

watch?v=rGOIa9FzBR0&sns=em