By Gabrielle Swan
THE pupils of Ballywalter Primary School were the stars of a ‘seal shanty’ last week, lending their voices to the educational ballad for the Portaferry based, Exploris Aquarium.
The children have been keen to spread their love of the big-eyed flipper-footed sea creatures which are cared for at the complex, Northern Ireland’s only seal rescue centre.
This was done via an informative seal shanty, sung by the school’s performance arts club, made up of P4-P7 pupils.
The shanty, released last Tuesday on the aquarium’s social media platforms, aims to inform the public on what to do when they find a poorly seal on land.
The shanty was drawn up by a brother and sister duo. Blair Bailie, conservation and education offer at the sanctuary, wrote the informative lyrics, while sister, Briar Kennedy, a P3 teacher at the school and one of the heads of the performance arts club, used her musical skill to compose the music.
The pupils went the extra mile in this seal awareness endeavour. Hoping to raise as much for the sanctuary as possible, the school held a competition to see which class could raise the most by bringing in cash.
The P4 class was victorious bringing in £120, while a total of £380 was raised which meant the school could adopt 10 seals at the sanctuary.
As a reward for the funds raised, and the wonderful singing from pupils, the school was invited to attend the bittersweet sendoff of mischievous pair, Daffodil and Conker, on Ballywalter beach on Friday.
Over 300 people were on the beach for the send off. Briar Kennedy noted that a few teachers were teary eyed watching their flippers disappear into the sea foam.
“The whole school was at the release, so about 300 altogether with members of the public. It was a very busy seal release,” she said. “The performing arts club were also recording bits for the video.
“The kids were delighted; it was a really nice send off. They were really delighted to see it,” she added.
Blair Bailie, the conservation and education officer at Exploris, to rescue Daffodil and Conker in November. However, he soon discovered that behind their soft and sweet exterior, lay hidden mischief.
“Seals don’t really belong in captivity. If they are healthy enough to go back, then we are happy to send them off, Daffodil and Conker especially. They were real troublemakers,” said Blair.
“In the sanctuary, Conker was always going where he shouldn’t have been going. When we put him outside to begin with, the first thing he did was escape from the small pool into the big pool.
“Not satisfied with that, he tried to escape again, then got stuck down a hole. We figured that out quickly and got him out.
“Daffodil was found around St Johns point. He had an injury under his flipper and was found by one of the ferry operators.
“To be completely honest, Daffodil was a wee bit of a bully. He liked to pester some of the other seals, although of course the seals have to learn how to deal with aggression. But he was a bit belligerent,” added Blair.
