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Ballintogher National School Loves their Coast

The sun shone for the pupils of 5th and 6th class of Scoil Naomh Teresa, Ballintogher last Thursday when they took part in a ‘Coastal Detectives’ workshop on Rosses Point beach. The event was facilitated by Olivia Crossan, Coastal Programme’s Officer with the An Taisce and funded through Sligo County Council’s Local Agenda 21 funding.

During the visit to the beach the children enjoyed a session of making sand sculptures, exploring rock pools and indentifying all the creatures living in them. The school is currently working hard to obtain their 4th green flag, the theme of which is water.
 
Nora Kearns, Principal commented "it was a most enjoyable and informative outing which gave the pupils and teachers involved an opportunity to explore a new habitat and examine the role we play in preserving our coastal area.  The activities involved, such as the Beach scavenger hunt, and the availability of an expert guide also allowed the children to learn as they explored".
The school has signed up as a Coastcare group and learnt from Olivia the issues facing their local coastline and how we all have a responsibility to look after it.

National Clean Coasts Week will run between 11th to 18th May where thousands of Coastal custodians around Ireland will be participating in events such as beach clean ups and Marram grass planting. This year's theme, "Love Your Coast,” emphasises the important role that we can all play, and are playing, in conserving our marine environment. You can find out where local events are taking place on www.cleancloastsweek.ie



Green-Schools, (known internationally as Eco-Schools), is an international environmental management education programme, environmental management system and award scheme that promotes and acknowledges long-term, whole-school action for the environment. Green-Schools is an initiative of FEE (the Foundation for Environmental Education).

The Green-Schools programme is based on a seven step environmental management system and continual improvement process which is very much student led and also involves the wider community. The programme also promotes good citizenship among participants. Green-Schools is a themed programme with schools initially working on the theme of Litter and Waste and them moving onto themes such as Energy, Water, Travel and Biodiversity. Schools that successfully implemented the programme are awarded the Green Flag. The award must be renewed every 2 years.

The Clean Coasts programme is run by AN TAISCE – Environmental Education Unit and is all about the protection and enhancement of Ireland’s coastline.

The main aim of the programme is to maintain and protect the Irish coastline sustainably by facilitating all members of the community who become Coastcare groups under the Clean Coast Programme.

This is done by promoting and supporting conservation activities, including regular coastal clean-ups and environmental awareness-raising events.

When a group becomes a Coastcare group they adopt a stretch of coastline, this area can be a beach, harbour, estuary, pier, marina or any other area connected to coast.

Currently there are over 240 Coastcare groups nationwide including schools, businesses, tidy towns and sports clubs.

For more information please contact: Olivia Crossan the Coastal Programmes Officer at Email: ocrossan@eeu.antaisce.org