School in south Tipperary wins major honour at Young Environmentalists’ Awards

Above: The Clerihan National School team that won an award in their category at the Young Environmentalists’ Awards in Dublin. Back, Mary Moore (teacher), Rory O’Dwyer, Jude Griffin, Clair Moore and Moya O’Donnell. Front, Toni O’Sullivan, Cathal Tanaka, Lucy Hennessy and Christopher Mc Entee

Clerihan National School in south Tipperary attended the finals of the Young Environmentalists’ Awards in Dublin, when they won an award for their category Future Growth.

Over 270 projects were entered in this competition from all over Ireland and 104 were invited to present their projects at the Convention Centre before the winners were announced.

Clerihan school teacher Mary Moore and eight pupils from sixth class teamed up with four other schools from Dublin, Waterford and Westmeath to present their project Plant a Planet.

The pupils were supported by Chris Hanna from Clonmel Garden Centre and John Walsh from SAP Nurseries, who both supplied trees at cost price to the school.

They also advised the students on what types of tree are best suited to different sized gardens.

The student team then led a campaign to educate their peers, families and the wider school community about the importance of native and fruit trees for biodiversity, CO2 mitigation and food production.

The teams from each school met up weekly online to support each other and share ideas.

Each school aimed to get 25 percent of their school families to plant a tree, as research shows that 25 percent is the tipping point for social change.

At Clerihan NS, over 60 percent of families planted 250 native trees and 79 fruit trees.

The pupils were delighted to get the chance to present their project in Dublin and they were even more thrilled to take an award home to Clerihan National School.