Second Year students at Coláiste Muire Tourmakeady, Co. Mayo with their teacher Annette Keane explored the global challenge of Migration through theme of access to clean water. Using the Teaching and Learning Unit (TLU) on Migration students considered why people may be forced to leave their homes, including conflict, climate change, natural disasters and lack of access to basic needs such as safe water, housing, healthcare and education.
Making Connections
Students linked their own experience of water access in Ireland with the reality faced by many communities around the world. They explored how water scarcity, poor water quality, drought, flooding and climate change can affect people’s safety, health and livelihoods, and how these pressures can become factors in migration.
Student Posters, Global Messages
As part of their awareness-raising work, the students created posters in both Irish and English. These were displayed around the school to encourage others to think about water as a global issue and to reflect on the role it plays in people’s decisions to move from one place to another.
Raising Awareness – one video at a time
Two students also created short videos exploring the issue.
Zadig Ó Cionnaith, a second-year student, created a video entitled “Bhogfá Freisin” (“You Would Move Too”), exploring water as a push and pull factor in migration. The video, narrated in Irish, encourages viewers to consider the difficult circumstances that force people to leave their homes. Zadig explains the background to the video here
Polina Lisnivska, a Transition Year student created a video entitled The Spirit of Water which was selected as a winner of the Green-Schools Water Video Competition 2026. Her achievement highlights the school’s ongoing commitment to environmental awareness and global citizenship. You can hear Polina speaking about her video here.
Polina receiving her award May 2026
View from Coláiste Muire, Tourmakeady Co Mayo
Conclusions
Marking World Refugee Day on June 20th, the students’ work reminds us that behind every migration story are real people facing difficult choices linked to safety, dignity and basic human needs. Through their posters and videos, the students of Coláiste Muire raised awareness of water as an important factor in migration and displacement. Inspired by the view of the lake from their own school, students encouraged others to think more deeply about water, migration and our shared responsibility to understand global challenges.
