Award for Hartstown school

PUPILS, teachers, staff and parents from St Ciarán’s school in Hartstown are celebrating after winning the Fingal Cleaner Community Award for Biodiversity.

The school was presented with the award earlier this month following a two-year school project that had strong links to the wider community through the involvement of the St Ciarán’s parents’ association.

The multi-faceted project included a number of different biodiversity lessons taught at various levels throughout the school.

 There were also some great workshops on biodiversity from Ballymun’s Rediscovery Centre and An Taisce as well as a comprehensive landscaping and planting programme around the school grounds.

Over 1,000 plants, shrubs, flowers and trees were planted throughout the school for the project. The main part of this programme involved the fencing off and landscaping of the front field of the school.

The area now incorporates a GAA playing pitch, a 250m gravel walkway and four large flower beds displaying a huge variety of plants, shrubs, herbs and flowers.

“With the help of the parents council all 750 children in the school planted a flower in this area, which makes it truly a whole school effort,” said Deputy Principal, Patricia Eves.

“We have a sensory area that is used both as a teaching aid and area of exploration for children with special needs.

“Here we have planted a number of plants with a variety of textures and smells and have included a path through them to allow the children to fully experience the beds. 

“Our school garden comprises of 26 planting boxes, one for each class.

“Last year we planted a variety of vegetables and herbs, which the individual classes weeded and watered. 

“We have also planted a small grove of trees on the school grounds are in the process of planting wild flower seeds in the area to attract insects and encourage more pollination.”

Bug boxes and bird feeders have also been placed in a variety of locations around the school grounds to encourage a more active learning environment for the children.

The school was presented with the well-earned award in the Carlton Airport Hotel earlier this month.