Local students win Green Schools awards

AN Taisce Green Schools and Irish Water visited St. Nathy’s College in Ballaghaderreen to launch the 2018/19 sponsorship of the Green Schools water theme.

St. Nathy’s were western regional winners of the Water School of the Year in 2018. And there was a double reason to celebrate at the school as Marita O’Hanlon was named overall winner of the 2018 poster competition for secondary schools.

Her interpretation of the theme ‘Water and the Environment’ was depicted through a surrealist image of a world in a water crisis.

In the senior primary (3rd – 6th class) category, the overall winner was Ava Palasz, a pupil at Newport National School.

Irish schoolchildren saved 389 million litres of water last year as part of the Green Schools water theme. Almost 11,000 Mayo students participated in the water theme in 2017.

The theme encourages primary and secondary school children to develop their awareness around water conservation and how to effectively manage this important resource in our schools and homes.

St. Nathy’s, as regional winners in 2018, and to celebrate their continuation of the Green Schools water theme, were presented with a 210L water butt. The butt, which will harvest rainwater during times of reduced precipitation, will enable the school to water the crops in their polytunnel grower.

Irish Water this year revealed that the average person uses 129 litres of water per day and this water butt will help the students save the equivalent of almost two days’ of an average person’s water usage.