PUPILS ARE LEARNING ABOUT GREENER WAYS
THE primary schools of Louth gathered at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dundalk to attend the ‘GROW’ Awards on Thursday 21st June 2018.
An acronym for ‘Green, Renewable, Organic and Waste Minimisation’, this competition serves to reward our local schools for all that they are doing to make their environment cleaner, greener and more sustainable.
‘ The GROW awards are an acknowledgement of the amazing environmental work taking place in the schools throughout Louth’, according to Barry Eaton of Louth County Council. ‘ The schools never cease to amaze not only in terms of waste prevention, conservation of resources and biodiversity but we value their role in communicating this message to the wider community, thereby making Louth a more sustainable place in which to live. Louth continues to play a leading role in the raising of awareness and education in the areas of environmental and sustainable development issues. A record 32 Green Flags were awarded by An Taisce this year to our schools in Louth which is something that our county can be proud of ’.
Cllr. Liam Reilly, Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council, presented the ‘School of the Year’ awards to St. Peter’s National School in Dromiskin, Presentation Primary School in Drogheda and St. Brigid’s School in Dundalk. All these schools have made significant progress over the last year and made a huge impression on the judges.
The fantastic work being carried out by the schools in Louth would not happen without the efforts of the many dedicated teachers. Winners of the ‘ Teachers of the Year’ awards went to Ms. Sheila McKeown from Monastery National School in Ardee, Ms. Naomi Reid from Aston Village ETNS in Drogheda and Ms. Edel Ni Ghealbhain from Gaelscoil Dhún Dealgan. These three teachers are exceptional role models having shown admirable levels of leadership and dedication to deliver outstanding results, motivating and inspiring their young pupils and delivering excellent environmental programmes in their schools.
We are also fortunate to have a number of students in Louth who can be regarded as excellent mentors and role models in their schools. Fourteen students from across the county were recognised for their contribution, and were delighted to receive their ‘Highly Commended’ awards in the Junior Environmentalist of the Year competition. However, three exceptional students were delighted to win the overall award on the day with Issabelle Floyd from Presentation Primary School in Drogheda, Elisabeth Gillen from Monksland National School and Aoife Costello from Dromiskin National School receiving the coveted accolade of Junior Environmentalist of the Year for 2018.
The participants in the ‘Eco Tribes’ competition received awards for their work on the outstanding community gardens which they created in partnership with their local Tidy Towns groups. This year it was the tribes from St. Francis N.S. from Blackrock, St. Mary’s N.S. in Knockbridge, Monksland N.S, St. Mochta’s in Louth Village and Scoil Naomh Buite from Monasterboice. St. Peter’s National School in Dromiskin were thrilled to be awarded the overall winners of the Eco Tribes 2018. It is a great competition and unique to the county!
The Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council, Cllr. Liam Reilly, summed the day up perfectly when he said ‘It is the youth of today who are the adults of tomorrow! It is you that we look to, to educate and inspire us, to do the best that we can, to make sure that we look after the planet and hand it back to you in its rightful state. Congratulations and well done to you all. The real winners of the hard work which all our schools undertake are the residents and visitors to County Louth!