On the 20th Oct 2016 the Bishop of Cashel, Ferns and Ossory Michael Burrows presented our school with a “National School Eco – Award”. In order to be in the running for this award, a national school is required to demonstrate a commitment to the environment beyond what is required for a green flag award.

Our journey to this award began with entry to the “Freddy Buttons Design a Bookmark” competition. One of our First Class pupils was chosen as a winner and part of the prize included a trip to “Bloom 2015″for the entire class.

On return to school in September 2015 our new polytunnel was erected and we were planting everything from herbs, leeks, hyacinths, beans, lettuce and so much more.

The pupils tended to their crops and some were ready for our Childrens Harvest Festival Service later that month. We also utilised the produce in our cookery classes.

Our polytunnel helped us develop our relationship with Fiona Dillon and our students had the opportunity to participate in filming a YouTube video for the Freddy Buttons YouTube channel.

So much has been learnt by the pupils, hard work, patience, so much about growing- how it can or not and why, but most importantly, on this occassion, the idea of never giving up.