One school taking in Ukrainian refugee children says it uses the opportunity to give them back some of the control they've lost.

Noel Loftus is principal of St Attracta's National School in Ballaghaderreen.

There are some 24 different nationalities enrolled in the Roscommon primary school.

This includes children from Syria, Afghanistan and now Ukraine.

Mr Loftus told Lunchtime Live this is something they are used to.

"We had been very apprehensive about the challenge ahead of back in 2018, when we were contacted by the Department of Justice and Equality initially in regard to the Syrian children.

"But I have to say that the incredible staff that we have here in the school... the agility they show, the innovation they show in terms of welcoming the children."

He says students from Ukraine are already settling in.

"As we approach into this bank holiday weekend, one of the Ukrainian children had arrived.

"He would have come from a very traumatic context in the last few weeks.

"His home was one of the first bombed because it was close to the airport in Kyiv.

"A child who is very much passionate about music; to see his piano, to see his awards destroyed - and these are stories that they've told us.

"And then to spend four weeks travelling until eventually he found in the safety of Ireland in Ballaghaderreen.

"Rather than put the emphasis on the child from a war-torn country, we put the emphasis and see them as children first.

"So this child, who's now only with us a number of days, is preparing to participate in a concert that's happening in the town here in Ballaghaderreen - a fundraising concert.

"He will have an opportunity to take back some of that control that has been so much taken from him in his life.

"He'll play, on his piano, a piece he's composed himself for the whole town - and he's really looking forward to it".

And Mr Loftus says they always prepare the children in the school for new students.

"I'd always visit the classrooms of where children are about to arrive... for instance, children from Ukraine are about to arrive.

"Obviously from the media and the coverage it's getting, you don't need to explain the context at all.

"But what we would emphasise is that privacy and not probing, and not asking questions - we'll let the child lead.

"We'd always encourage the children to speak their own languages when they're here in the school, when they're in the schoolyard.

"That's more about the sense of bringing back control".