Northern Ireland

Belfast school pupils follow in David Attenborough’s footsteps for special BBC Planet Earth episode

Ten children from Cliftonville Integrated Primary have taken on a starring role in a programme to mark Earth Day

Planet Earth III
Ten budding naturalists from Cliftonville Integrated Primary were chosen to be part of the special episode of Planet Earth III: Narrated by Kids
By Suzanne McGonagle

Pupils from a north Belfast primary school have been following in the footsteps of Sir David Attenborough in a new initiative to mark Earth Day.

Budding naturalists from Cliftonville Integrated PS were chosen from pupils across the UK to take on a starring role in special episode of BBC’s Planet Earth III.

The acclaimed BBC documentary and BBC Children in Need premiered an episode, uniquely narrated by schoolchildren to celebrate Earth Day on Monday.

Planet Earth III: Narrated By Kids includes visual highlights from the original series, which was voiced by Sir David (97).

The pupils selected read from the original Planet Earth III scripts.

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Cliftonville Integrated Primary was identified as one of the “most engaged fundraisers” for the charity in recent years.

Principal Bill Fletcher said the pupils and staff “feel honoured to be involved with BBC Planet Earth III, such an iconic programme that so many of us watch”.

“We also feel very privileged to have been selected to participate in this project, from the tens of thousands of primary schools across the UK.

“The children loved recording the audio for the programme and we are extremely proud of the contributions that they have made.”

On Monday, an estimated 100,000 students from across the UK also watched a virtual assembly hosted by wildlife biologist, explorer and presenter Lizzie Daly, while a Q&A with the producers of Planet Earth III also took place.

Claire Hoyle from BBC Children in Need said: “The Become a Voice for Nature campaign is about encouraging pupils from schools nationwide to come together on Earth Day to learn more about protecting our planet and how we impact it.

“We really wanted to be able to show our appreciation to schools who fundraise for BBC Children in Need each year, so we’re delighted to be delivering this Live Assembly and we are so thrilled to see pupils voicing this special episode.”

The episode is available to watch on BBC iPlayer and will air on BBC One on May 6.