The pupils of Cappabue National School in west Cork have made up for Ireland's Eurovision Song Contest disappointment by winning the Europe-wide Schoolovision song contest for the second year in a row.
Just look at how excited our junior room pupils were when we were announced as @Eurovision Schoolovision winners for the second year in a row 🎉🇮🇪🎉
— Cappabue N.S. (@cappabue) May 21, 2021
See full video on Facebook 😂#ÉireAbú #CappabueAbú #Schoolovision #WeCreateMagic #Creativity #CreativeAmbassadors #MolAnÓige pic.twitter.com/UuTAKxbYsD
Schoolovision is an eTwinning project that "brings together children from countries right across Europe and beyond" - and the 25-pupil, two-teacher school near Bantry saw off the challenge of fierce rivals Norway to win this year's competition by three points with their song We Create Magic.
The track was originally commissioned by the Creative Ireland Programme for Cruinniú na nÓg 2020, which saw Cappabue pupils installed as national Junior Creative Ambassadors.
WE WON, WE WON, WE WON 🎉🎉
— Cappabue N.S. (@cappabue) May 21, 2021
Ireland are champions of @Eurovision Schoolovision for the second year in a row🇮🇪🏆#WeCreateMagic@GMCBeats @creativeirl@SouthernStarIRL @corkbeo @irishexaminer @RTEToday @IrelandAMVMTV @TodayFM @RTE2fm @RTERadio1 @RTERnaGhttps://t.co/z5poLprUmm
"As schools were closed from March last year until September, we decided to record all the ways we were being creative during lockdown. Our pupils documented all the fun activities they were involved in at home," said the Cappabue team when they premiered their track.
"Our song was recorded during Level 5 lockdown with song lyrics and video clips being shared collectively. We were blessed to get a sunny day to record our song out of doors, on school grounds, over 13 hours to observe Covid protocols."
Now, Cappabue has taken the song to Europe - and won again.
Over the moon for our former Cruinniú ambassadors @cappabue in #WestCork, winners of the ♫ Schoolovision 2021 ♫ contest w/ their song 'We Create Magic'!
— Creative Ireland (@creativeirl) May 21, 2021
Watch it now: https://t.co/Zca6vApOks @eTwinningEurope pic.twitter.com/8KCledreir
"Creative Ireland has made our dream come true," Norma Healy, Principal Cappabue National School told RTÉ News.
"With their support, we created magic with our song celebrating creativity during lockdown. Míle Buíochas to [collaborators] Garry McCarthy, GMC Beats and Aperture Media for their incredible work. We Create Magic is a European hit."
Last year, Cappabue won Schoolovision with their environmental rap One Small Change.
Fingers crossed they can match Ireland's legendary Eurovision hat-trick in 2022.
