BIODIVERSITY AWARD WON BY PUPILS IN RATHDRUM
ST Saviour’s National School finished first out of the six finalists selected for the ‘Together for Biodiversty Awards’ run by the Irish Wildlife Trust.
The Rathdrum school was nominated for its impressive woodland biodiversity restoration and sensory garden and faced competition from five other schools. St Saviour’s came out on top after receiving 7,836 votes, followed by St Colman’s Community College in Midleton in second with 3,726 votes.
School Principal Antoinette Doyle said the award was a testament to the amount of work carried out by staff, pupils and parents.
‘A huge amount of effort went into the project and we would like to thank everyone in Wicklow who voted for us. Everyone in the school really bought into the project and rowed behind it. We are a small school with only a hundred children so everything we do tends to involve the whole community and their support has been very appreciated,’ said Ms Doyle.
Work on the woodland biodiversity restoration and sensory garden began in September of 2017 when a team was created to reclaim an area of woodland on the school grounds. The first phase involved the creation of a football pitch and an outdoor classroom.
Phase two focused on creating sensory pathways, a sensory garden, pollinator garden, play area, rain water collection, butterfly garden, preserving rabbit habitats, bush craft, mud craft, sand pit and a woodland trail.
The overall aim of the project is to increase awareness of the importance of biodiversity and for students and staff to come up with ways to help biodiversity. This was achieved through improving and preserving local biodiversity through the measures introduced.
The project has positively impacted biodiversity in the school by increasing awareness of natural habitats present in through bug hotels, hedgehog homes, bat boxes and the importance of protecting our environment through composting, litter control.
‘The children are completely involved in all aspects of the project through the Green School Committee and the Student Council,’ said Ms Doyle. ‘The senior children are partnered with the junior children to teach them about biodiversity in our school and work together to create a greener biodiverse school. We have great fun and try to rotate a class room outside every day, weather permitting. We also hold art classes outside whenever we can. We are adding to the garden all the time’.
As St Saviour’s NS won the public vote, the school now goes forward to the prize giving ceremony in February where they will showcase their project.