LETSS Digital Newsletter Issue 4 by Digital Newsletter

DIGITAL NEWSLETTER

Celebrating students’learning and achievement with the school community

● School life so far this year! Pg 2

● Parents Council Pg 2

● Art Pg 4

● Business Pg 5

● CSPE Pg 7

● Engineering Pg 8

● English Pg 9

● Gaeilge Pg 10

● Geography Pg 11

● History Pg 12

● Home Economics Pg 13

● Maths Pg 16

● Modern Foreign Languages Pg 17

● Music Pg 19

● PE Pg 21

● Science Pg 22

● T4 Pg 24

● The Hub Pg 26

● Wellbeing Pg 29

● Charity Work Pg 31

● Extra Curricular Pg 33

● Trip To Bordeaux Pg 36

● Languages Day UL Pg 37

● MEP Visit Pg 38

● A Winter's` Tale Pg 39

● Halloween Fancy Dress Pg 41

● Science Week Pg 42

● Stand Up Awareness Week Pg 43

● TY Ice-Skating Pg 45

2024. It’s been a very busy term with so many highlights to speak of. As we come close to the end of 2024 I want to take a moment to reflect on the many accomplishments and memorable moments since the October mid-term break. Since the last publication of our newsletter, our students have shown remarkable resilience and determination, whether in the classroom, on the sporting field, in the arts, or in their efforts to make a positive impact in our school community. We’ve seen growth in so many areas, and it has been a privilege to watch our students excel across so many facets of life in LETSS.

It has been an eventful few months for our sports teams with soccer, basketball, gaelic football and hurling making their mark across numerous competitions. The Hub hosted our very first inter-school sports blitz in November which was a fantastic success. The creative arts have never been more alive in LETSS with one of the highlights being ‘A Winter’s Tale’ which saw 100+ students perform in front of 500 people in the Sports Hall. Awareness Weeks continue to keep us on our toes also, notably Standup Awareness Week and Kindness Week, which saw wonderful engagement across the school. A special mention to our BelongTo Committee for all their work promoting LGBTQ+ in LETSS with the school being awarded the overall national award for best Standup Awareness Week and for Student Participation.

Other highlights include the Erasmus+ Exchange to Bordeaux in France which was a big success. We look forward to hosting our French friends when they return in March. I also want to thank the Parents’ Council for all their hard work and support in recent months.

On behalf of everyone in LETSS, I want to wish you a lovely Christmas and a safe, healthy and peaceful 2025.

Eoin Shinners Principal

AMassive Happy Holidays and a Joyous NewYear from the Parents Council

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As we approach the magical holiday season, the Parents Council would like to take a moment to extend our warmest wishes to all of our school community. This time of year is filled with celebration, reflection, and togetherness, and we cant help but to feel gratitude for the community at ETSS who embody these qualities and actions all year round.After all a school community is not just for Christmas!

Thank You for a Wonderful Year! Within the parent’s council, we have had many moments of collaboration and have seen and heard many stories of community spirit from the students and teachers of ETSS that have made our school such a special place. From school events, fundraisers, and interactive opportunities via the app, the warmth and connection within the school community is evident.

A huge congratulations go out to all the students who put on such an amazing performance at “A Winters Tale”. Our warmest regards go to each of the teachers and support staff who went above and beyond to ensure the night was a success and a heartfelt THANK YOU to every parent who purchased tickets and contributed to our fundraising efforts. What an unforgettable night!

We would like to express our deepest appreciation to all the parents, teachers, and staff for their unwavering support.Your dedication helps create a nurturing environment where our children can grow, learn, and thrive.

Looking ahead to the New Year. As we prepare to ring in the new year, we are excited for the upcoming events, projects, and opportunities to continue building connections and fostering community. We encourage all families to participate in upcoming surveys and information-gathering efforts in early 2025. We hope to count on your support to provide some fantastic career advice and work experience opportunities for our kids.

So, Season’s Greetings!! May this holiday season bring you and your loved ones peace, joy, and happiness. We hope you find time to relax with family and friends and reflect on the blessings of the year.

We look forward to seeing you in the new year!

Warmly,

ART

Talented SixthYearArt Student Chloe Woo shares her work from this term

This term we looked at still life studies. Still life is a genre of art that involves inanimate objects being arranged in a specific manner. Our initial theme was “My FavouriteThings” and through a thorough exploration, I decided to focus on objects I collected from my childhood, like little figurines of animals and bits and pieces from nature. My artist inspiration was Giorgio Morandi, an Italian painter famous for his still life studies. I was particularly drawn to his skill in cross-hatching, which requires the repetitive layering of lines to create depth and dimension. It’s important to consider value, as lighter areas use the blank of the page while the dark is represented by a greater density of lines. It took a lot of patience and diligence in the process of my final piece, but I think overall it was worth it! Written by Chloe Woo

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What is my piece inspired by?

There are 3 main things my piece is inspired by. The main thing is food. I am a foodie. I love ﬂavorful and unique food. I show this in my piece with my spiced cookies and bold ice-cream ﬂavours.

Two is fashion, another reason I used bold ice-cream colours because I think they look fashionable, also my ginger-bread men are wearing scarfs in white to compliment their dark brown skin. Last but not least, Shrek. I love Shrek especially the gingerbread man Gingy. He represents me, he is cheerful, carefree and funny and those words describe me.

Written by Alexandra Rickard-Stefanowicz

ART

Fifth and Sixth year trip to the Butler Gallery in Kilkenny

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Laura Servitova - FirstYearArt

The ‘Elements ofArt’piece was the first drawing I did into my sketchbook and probably one of my favourites so far. I hadn’t used most of the materials in this drawing before so it was a total experiment, but I love how it turned out. I used poscas, markers and colouring pencils for colouring. I love loads of colours and different styles and I really wanted to show that in this piece.

For the next piece, we were told to take pictures of natural forms and use them as primary sources to draw. For the first drawing I thought doing it in black and white would fit it very well and I decided to use charcoal pencils to try to get a nice contrast. For the second piece, I used watercolour because I really loved the browns for that picture. For the leaf painting, I used watercolour and posca and decided to try to use inverted colours for it because I thought the icy blues would really give it a unique effect.

BUSINESS

1stYear Business Review

How are you finding business studies so far?

So far I’m finding that Business Studies is going really well, everything we have learned so far I understand and see a purpose for in the future!

What’s your favourite thing about Business Studies?

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My favourite thing about business studies is how we learn about so many things that will help us in the future and what we’re learning will help us as we get older and uncover things that many people never learn throughout their lifetime.

Why did you choose to study Business?

I chose Business because it would be a really helpful and practical subject to do, and will teach us a lot on how to manage ourselves in the future which is really important to know.

Thank you to Kristina G and Laura S, first year Business students, for submitting this wonderful review!

CSPE

Our 1st year class McAleese were fortunate enough to have a guest speaker in from Fair trade Ireland this November. We learned about where the products we consume every day comes from and who is involved in the process. When asked, the students found it interesting to discover the amount of people it takes to produce, harvest, transport and sell these products.

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Samples of our projects completed during class for World Mental Health day.

ENGINEERING

Hi my name is Klara, I am aTYstudent who attended the mini engineering course inAnalogue Devices on the 26-28th of November with 3 other girls in my year.It was a brilliant experience, we had many different guest speakers that were in and out to us throughout the 3 days.These guest speakers talked to us about their area of work and what path they took. One of the days we had an open panel and these people who work in analogue were talking to us about leaving cert subjects and what ones they picked.

We also did some work with some hardware calledArduinos, we programmed them to do different things and we practiced doing simple circuits. Before we went home we got a tour of all the different equipment and machinery. It was an amazing experience and gave me a really good insight of what the life of an engineer is like and how broad of a career it is!

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You've got mail!

ENGLISH

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Our 1st and 2nd year English students were delighted to receive letters from St.Patrick’s Comprehensive School in Shannon.Thanks for your letters guys! We learned some really interesting facts about Shannon town and enjoyed getting to know about your school. We also enjoyed composing responses and sharing about our new school here in Castletroy.

Comórtas Chártaí na Nollag

GAEILGE

D’eagraigh an choiste don Ghaelbhratach comórtas Chártaí na Nollag do na daltaí sa chéad bhliain. Dhear na daltaí a gcárta fein agus scríobh siad nótaí sna cártaí futhu féin. Sheolamar na cártaí chuig seandaoine atá i dtithe altranais sa Daingean, i gConamara agus i nDún na nGall. Míle buíochas le gach duine a ghlac páirt sachomórtas agus comhghairdeas leis na buaiteoirí!

The Gaelbhratach committee organised a Christmas Card competition for first year students. The students designed their own cards and wrote notes about themselves in the cards. We sent the cards to elderly people in nursing homes in Dingle, Connemara and Donegal. Many thanks to everyone who took part in the competition and congratulations to the winners!

GEOGRAPHY

It was all hands on deck as our 2ndYears installed a weather station on the school grounds as part of our work with Real Nation and ESB Networks. We are working on a project to highlight the correlation between the weather and the generation of renewable energy.This weather station will give us real time data so our students will be able to identify when is a good time to use household appliances that consume a large amount of energy.This information will be brought home so their parents can make informed decisions on when is a good time to put on appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers and tumble dryers.Thanks to the team at Real Nation for delivering the project. The feedback from our students was very positive. They loved getting their hands dirty to get the job done! Learn more about the campaign here.

HISTORY

In second year, students from class Lee took part in a class debate related to the Great Famine in Ireland.The class was divided into three groups, each with a proposal to present to the British government.These different proposals explored ways to help the population in Ireland during this period in history.These discussions helped students understand the big decisions taken throughout history and appreciate the reasons behind them.

HOME ECONOMICS

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OurTYHomeEconomicsstudents werebusythistermapplyingtheir nutritionknowledgeandlearning valuablelifeskillsintheir

5th year Home Economics students were busy making SpicedApple &Tomato Chutney

HOME ECONOMICS

2nd Years Showed Celebrity Chef Some Skills

As we had worked really well this term, our teachers Maria andAoife surprised us with a celebrity guest chef cookery workshop. Chef Eoin Sheehan showed us really important knife skills to stay safe, along with tips on how to garnish our dishes attractively. We made a Chicken and Chorizo Paella which was suitable for an active teenager, we really enjoyed this experience and the paella tastedunreeeaal. Kyrah Crawford, 2nd Year

In Home Ec this term we applied our nutritional knowledge to investigate, plan and prepare a variety of nutritious meals suitable for all different stages within the life cycle such as babies, young children, teens, adults, elderly and pregnant women. As we progress through the various stages of life our nutritional and meal planning guidelines may need to be altered to ensureabalancedmealisachieved.

We made a puréed vegetable soup this was suitable for babies as it is easy to digest it is also good for weaning babies onto food. We used no salt stock cubes because babies should not get salt at a young age as they may get addicted, we also learnt all about babies diets eg. after 6 months their store of iron is used up so must be introducedtoironrichfoods.

We made a chicken and veg stir fry for teens. A quick, easy meal to make for teenagers who may have busy schedules. This meal can also be prepped the day/night before. We made a homemade lasagna from scratch for a pregnant woman because it has lots of iron in the mince meat which is very important as it makes haemoglobin in the red blood cells, its high in HBV protein and also has calcium which a pregnant woman needs for healthy bones to support the foetus growth. This dish was challenging as it was time sensitive and difficult as we had to make a roux sauce which was a new skill for us however, with great teamwork in ourpairsweovercamethischallenge.

HOME ECONOMICS

Senior Cycle Trip

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Our 5th and 6th year Home Economics classes went to Wilde Irish Chocolate factory located inTuamgraney, Co. Clare in November.The visit related to the Irish food Industry which both years studied while in class. Students learned that the company is local and very beneficial for the economy in the South West area. We also learned how they make their chocolate, where their cocoa beans are imported from, regulations regarding HACCPand most importantly we all got to make our own chocolate bars. We stopped off for a leisurely walk in Mountshannon and took in the beautiful scenery! Students and teachers had a great day!

Thomas O’Donnell, 6th Year

MATHS

Exploring Correlation Through Measurement!

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This term our Leaving Cert Students, turned into a team of young scientists to explore the fascinating relationship between arm span and height. Students paired up to measure each other’s arm span and height, recording the data to analyse patterns. We then plotted our findings on a graph, discovering that for most of us, arm span and height are closely correlated!The activity not only sharpened our measuring skills but also taught us how real-world data can reveal intriguing connections, we examined and discovered the correlation coefficient - making math and science come alive.

Students Teach!

Michelle’s second year maths class, Barrow, took part in Students asTeachers this term. Students grouped together volunteering to teach teachers other Simultaneous Equations - not an easy topic!!!

MFL

2nd year Spanish Projects on School:

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2nd year Spanish students have recently produced a virtual tour of the school by using digital technologies. Students were tasked with presenting their school by using a suitable digital technology blending written and spoken language. Students were asked to showcase their creativity in terms of design and language expression and to make those decisions based on a specific rationale which would take into account a specific audience. Students have researched all the available options and have produced the virtual tours in different formats using softwares like: Slides, Genially etc…

The results were incredibly interactive school tours showcasing originality and creativity.

MFL

Enhancing Oral Production and Interaction with the Help of Our Spanish LanguageAssistanceAlAlfonso: Students' Perspective

● I believe that It is really beneficial to practise with a native Spanish speaker likeAl!You pick up phrases you wouldn't hear in class, become accustomed to the real accent, and understand how people speak—not just what you read in a textbook. For instance, rather than merely asking "¿Cómo estás?"You might learn something much more informal fromAl, like "¿Qué pasa?" or "¿Qué tal?" It's also an excellent way to understand cultural quirks and slang.To any student who is reluctant to speak to a native speaker, I couldn't recommend it more - Sam Varley 5thYear.

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● Practicing Spanish withAl, a native speaker, has been very helpful for me. We do activities like talking about the day, listening to audio, and practicing conversation, my favourite is practicing conversation.At first, I was unsure of a few words, but I asked them to speak more slowly and repeated things many times. Now I understand better and speak more fluently.To other students, I would say don’t be afraid to practice, becauseAl is very kind and always wants to help. Orhi Imbusch-Artola, 5th year.

MUSIC

This term, the Music department were very busy preparing for ourAnnual Winter’s Tale concert. Rehearsals were ongoing for weeks, culminating in a fantastic display of student talent. 19 performances in all, ranged from theTYchoir, soloists, student band, instrumental soloists, LETSS choir and even staff.

MUSIC

PE

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FirstYear students taking theTug of WarcompetitionveryseriouslyinPE, so much so that there were a few rematches!

5th Year students engaged in a gymnastics circuit after being inspired by the Olympics held in Parisearlierthisyear.

Respiratory System Models

SCIENCE

Our 2nd year worked collaboratively to design and build a model of the respiratory system using everyday objects. Some of the models worked really well and displayed the process of inhaling and exhaling.The students used plastic bottles to represent the chest cavity, straws for the trachea/bronchus, balloons for the lungs and rubber gloves for the diaphragm.

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Design a Digestive System

Students battled against each other to design the most aesthetic and informative digestive system from arts and craft resources.They had to design and plan what they were going to use for each organ, construct it, label the parts and write the functions of each part.This was a really fun and creative activity to get students engaged, interested and understanding this topic.

Heart Dissection

SCIENCE

To learn about the circulatory system in more detail, the 2nd year students overcame their fears and dissected a sheep's heart just before the Christmas break.The students were able to gain a greater understanding and appreciation for this topic by touching and identifying the different chambers and blood vessels in the heart rather than seeing it on a diagram. This also gave the students an opportunity to use new equipment they wouldn't have used in science before.

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Diary Entry

Complete by Zara andYatee in 2 Lee who talk about their time in science this term. (includes heart dissection and respiratory system models)

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MikeandAlan’s 2nd year graphics class are showing their 3D projects which they created in class. Students created their own dice Or a model of their favourite chocolate bar forexample.

“What I think about Woodwork”

- by Anastazja Kukulski

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First year Woodwork class with their completed boat projects. Students were introduced to the basic woodwork processes such as marking out, sawing, chiseling and planing. Students were then allowed to design their own sails to personalise and finish off their projects.

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THE HUB

Hub PhysicalActivity Blitz

Alfie Gilbert, 3rdYear

THE HUB

On Friday the 22nd of November 2024 the school organised a PhysicalActivity Blitz for students that frequent the Hub.The sports used in the event were: Basketball, Unihoc, Soccer (football),Table tennis, Volleyball, BocceThere were also some other non-sport related activities, such as: Egg and spoon race, Hula hoops, Dancing, Colouring,TicTacToe. We had a mixture of 1st to 6th years participating in events. We were joined on the day by Mungret Community College. Four other schools had intended to be part of the day but the weather was particularly bad on the day of the event, so we did have a few schools drop out. Overall it worked out well because there were just enough people to populate the event. Special thanks to Sean Duggan, Makayla Fitzgerald, Jacob Christianson andAlfie Gilbert who helped organise the event alongside teacher Maria Nolan.

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THE HUB

Our members of the Hub enjoyed a very festive and Christmassy trip to Bunratty castle and folk park!

WELLBEING

Mental HealthAwareness Day

At the end of October, our school ran a Mental HealthAwareness Day.There were lots of great activities organised to encourage all members of the school community to look after their emotional wellbeing.

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This was our jam-packed schedule for the day! Staff enjoyed treats in the staff room and a yoga class after school.

WELLBEING

Kindness Week was enjoyed by all members of the school community in December. Senior students sent notes of kindness to FirstYear students. Staff members received little goodie bags as a gesture of gratitude from the students in the school.There were Kahoots, Blookets and Poster competitions throughout the week. The Kindness Police were active at breaktime, giving treats to all those who were caught being kind to others. TransitionYear students participated in a RandomActs of Kindness Challenge. Many classes wrote letters and cards of kindness to residents of local nursing homes.The Kindness Wall in the GPArea attracted lots of visitors during the week. Junior students took part inAnti-Bullying Workshops. Money raised during Mental Health Month was donated to Pieta, Jigsaw and our very own ProudTogether. Well done to all who participated in Kindness Week, 2024!

CHARITY WORK

To conclude Mental HealthAwareness Day, we had a Cake Sale at the end of the week and raised €455 in total!This money will be donated to Pieta & Jigsaw to support the fantastic work they do in the community!

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CHARITY WORK

Christmas Jumper Day

Over €600 was raised during Christmas Jumper Day.This money will go to ISPCC Childline andTemple St. Children’s Hospital.

Extra Curricular/Events

Junior Girls Soccer

Our Junior girls soccer team have a fantastic win over St. Mary’s Newport With a scoreline of 5-1.Ahat trick from player of the match Paige Morgan accompanied by goals fromAva Carey and Grace Geary saw us victorious!

Girls Gaelic Football

1st and 2ndYear Girls Gaelic win overArdscoil Mhuire!

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Our first and second year gaelic football team had a great win againstArdscoil Mhuire, Corbally in the Limerick PostPrimary County Competition with scores coming from Zara Joyce,Tara McHugh, RubyAhern, Paige Morgan and Pippa O’Donoghue. Phoebe Fitzgerald and Niamh Maher were dynamite in midfield with Ella McNamara and Crea Croke defending well and keepingASMs scores to a minimum. Well done to all involved!

Extra Curricular/Events

U15 Boys Gaelic Football

Our U15 boys Gaelic football team had a massive win over Newport College which saw them advance into the semi final stages of the schools competition. Well done boys you have come so far!

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U19s Basketball

Commiserations to our U19s who came up short against Pallaskenry in the South West Final on a final score of 34-67. Well done on getting that far boys we are so proud of you!

Trip to Bordeaux

French Exchange - Bordeaux

Day 1 was spent in Jeanne d’ArcAssomption, Pessa, Bordeaux. Students spent the day in their partner school engaging in their collaborative project about sustainable fashion! Day 2 was spent exploring the beautiful city has to offer.The sunshine was an added bonus!

THINK LANGUAGES AT UL

Well done to theTYstudents who took part in the LanguageTasters today in ULas part of theThink Languages event.There was a great variety of activities that took place including: Flamenco Dancing,Arabic Workshop, Japanese Workshop, Escape Rooms,The Big Quiz and German Hip-Hop dancing

MEP VISITS LETSS

Michael McNamara MEPvisits LETSS

Many thanks to Michael McNamara MEPand Regina O’Keeffe, Junior Achievement Ireland Programme Coordinator for visiting LETSS today.As a proud European ParliamentAmbassador School, we were delighted and honoured to welcome Michael McNamara MEPwho gave an insightful talk to ourTYs, 5th years Politics and Society students, 6th years and EPAS students.

A Winter’s Tale

The stage was all set for what we knew would be a magical night!

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It certainly did not disappoint!

A Winter’s Tale

Moresnapsfromafantasticshow!Thanksagaintoeveryonewhoparticipated inandsupportedwhatwasaphenomenalperformance!

Halloween Fancy Dress

Afantastic effort was made by staff and students alike for the LETSS Halloween Fancy Dress.

Science Week 2024

Science Week

Science Week 2024 took place in LETSS on 11th-15th Nov. Various challenges and events were scheduled throughout the week, such as Lunchtime Experiments, Riddles of the Day, Murder Mystery, Science Quiz, etc. Congratulations to all the winners.Thanks to University of Limerick and Lero for welcoming some of our 5th year biology andTYstudents for interactive workshops during the week. 5th years attended a workshop on ‘Genetics & Cancer’and theTY went to one called ‘AIAdventures; facilitated by Lero E-Sports Science Research Lab. Overall, it was a very successful and enjoyable week for students.

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Stand Up Awareness Week

Stand UpAwareness Week 2024 took place in November

Aweek filled with plenty of fun, informative and educational events including: workshops on pronouns, fundraisers, Clir Elisa O Donovan and Clir Shane Hickey O Mara visiting and talking to our students, Online quiz, motivational videos, Rainbow Cinema,Art competition, colours day, storytelling and writing workshop with Dr Lauren Macnamara (PhD and Poet), the fantastic 'Lunch and Learn' workshop for staff delivered by our students and, of course, our highly successful bake sale to fundraise for the installation of a Rainbow crosswalk for our school community to enjoy.

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Stand Up Awareness Week

Inaddition,weweredelightedtoannouncethatLimerickEducateTogether SecondarySchoolhaswontwoBelongToStandupAwarenessWeekawardsinthe followingcategories:

1: Students Participation Category

2: Overall NationalAward for Best Stand UpAwareness Week (ImpactAward) ThisisthefirstyearoftheStandUpAwarenessWeekawards,whichBelongTo havedevelopedtocelebratethediversityofinspiringandimpactfulactionsschools havetaken.