A SWORDS primary school class collected a fantastic € 2,500 for the Haitian Earthquake Appeal after arranging their own charity fundraiser.

Fifth class pupils at Swords Educate Together, together with their teacher, Siobhan McGovern, held two raffles in the school last week, as well as a bucket collection.

And their hard work paid off as they were able to hand over a sizeable bank draft to Unicef's Lisa Nicole Dunne, who visited the school on Friday.

'This was the school community's humanitarian response to Haiti,' principal Gerard Kelly said. 'It was completely organised and delivered by fifth class and Siobhan McGovern and was supported by the student council.

'A pupil raffle and staff raffle were held and there was also an opportunity to contribute with a bucket collection at the school gates.'

Mr Kelly paid tribute to the pupils involved, who themselves chose to support the Unicef orgnanisation, and in particular their leadership skills.

'Essentially, it's a really good example of when you give space to the young, they can actually lead us,' he said. 'They demonstrated how successful they can be and they didn't go outside the school gates.

'Our school policy says the children may not engage in fundraising for their own school - that's for adults to do - but in relation to fundraising for other children, that's part of our Educate Together programme.'