Pupils at a Co Armagh primary school have raised over £12,000 for the Ukraine crisis inspired by seeing children their age suffering during the violence.
School children at Rowandale Integrated Primary School in Moira put on their walking shoes to take part in a sponsored walk in aid of Unicef in March.
Principal Frances Hughes said she knew there was "something magical" happening when the pupils threw themselves into their fundraising efforts.
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Speaking to Belfast Live, Frances said: "We are a rights-respecting school here at Rowandale and have always been involved very closely with Unicef and their programmes so it was very easy to link that with what they already knew.
"The children were just so determined to get the money and raise what they could because it was so important - they were just totally fired up to really make a success of it and it was them that did just that."
Teacher Mr Reynolds came up with the idea of mapping out a sponsored walk route in a nearby parkland on March 11 so that all pupils could get involved and feel like they were doing their part.
"We were all wondering what could we do to help and it was him who suggested doing something simple that meant it wouldn't take a huge amount of organisation and then all we had to do was let the council know we were going up to Moria Demesne.
"We then mapped out a 3k route for the younger year groups and a 5k for the older classes and then the little ones did their walk in school.
"They were just so enthusiastic and that was definitely the key to the success because they has heard about it and were chatting about it in school and sharing their concerns and empathy with what was happening to the children in Ukraine," Frances explained.
The school community at Rowandale raised a total of £12,594.77.
She added: "It was their persistence and they really felt like they have done their bit and are really proud of themselves for doing it.
"We were just absolutely flabbergasted when the money started coming in and the children were coming into the office with donations - we just knew there was something magical happening and the children just worked really hard."
"We never would have anticipated that we would ever raise as much money as we did and we are incredibly proud of all the efforts the children have made," Frances continued.
"It was totally child-driven and child-lead and the kids just took off."
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