Children’s Ombudsman visits Kilbride NS

Kilbride NS, Trim, welcomed The Ombudsman for Children, Dr Niall Muldoon, to the school on Thursday of last week where he met with the children and spoke with them about children's rights.

The sixth class students in Ms Mallee's class were chosen as Ombudsman for Children's Office (OCO) School Ambassadors for the 2024/2025 school year, which sees them help the OCO raise awareness of children’s rights through fun activities in their class, at school and on social media.

This was the OCO’s second visit to Kilbride NS this school year, with the Ambassadors also attending the 'Child Talks' event at the Helix in November. Since the last visit, the school has been busy organising rights activities, including an ‘Everyone has a Voice’ day dedicated to promoting children's rights.

Throughout the year the OCO team visits the school to deliver a rights education workshop, explain the work of the OCO, meet the students and see the work they’ve been doing on rights and get their views on issues for the OCO’s social media channels. Scoil San Phronsias in Galway was the other school chosen to be ambassadors this year.

The Ombudsman for Children, Dr Niall Muldoon commented: “We’re delighted to be in Trim with Kilbride National School this week for our School Ambassadors programme and to see all the amazing work the children have been doing in their school to raise awareness of children’s rights.

“I know activities have been taking place across the whole school and it’s really brilliant to see. We’ve had such a great response from the school community at Kilbride NS as our School Ambassadors, so we really appreciate that.

“Our School Ambassador programme is a great opportunity for us to connect with children right across the country and promote their rights, but also to get their views on topics like online safety for Online Safety Week next month. All our work directly with children feeds into the work we do as an Office as a whole. And of course, it’s always great fun!"

Kilbride NS Principal Deirdre Murphy said: "The children in sixth class were incredibly honoured to be chosen as OCO Ambassadors for the school year. We are very proud of all the work they have done educating us all in our school community and beyond about the importance of the rights of children in our school, in our homes, in our community and in Ireland.

"They have spread the awareness of how important our children's voices are and how it is vital that everyone, including politicians and government, listen to our children. We are very proud of our Ambassadors and we were delighted to welcome Dr Niall Muldoon to our school who listened and spoke to our Ambassadors and all our children. It was a great experience and day for our children."