Our garden is not just for our school, it is also used for the local community. We grow vegetables, herbs and fruit and we also have a salad bank. I like the garden because it is fun to go outside and get stuck in!
Geoff, Head of the Garden Committee, 6th class
Free ‘Heritage in schools’ tutorials!
The Heritage Council, is offering FREE, fun and educational tutorials online for primary school children, their parents and teachers. The resources are designed to inspire and develop an appreciation and curiosity about Ireland’s wonderful natural and cultural heritage whilst supporting the aims and objectives of the SESE curriculum. Click HERE for more information.
Dr Paddy Madden was meant to come to our school in March to plant a native hedgerow, but he had to cancel because of lock down. We will ask him to visit next year!
Children weeding during lock down!
Thank you SO much to Joe and Leo, as well as Caroline and Mark for weeding the vegetable garden during lock down. Be sure to help yourself to the strawberries! (and anything else you need)
‘Grow your own veg’ free course!
During the COVID-19 pandemic, GIY (Grow it yourself) are offering their ‘How food grows’ course free of charge. During this course, Mick Kelly will teach you how to grow 12 different veg in 12 weeks. He will cover all the necessary tasks plus all the best tips & tricks to ensure you have delicious homegrown veg by the end of the course.For more information, click here.
Bird survey 3rd and 4th class
3rd and 4th class carried out a survey of what birds were in our school grounds in a 10 minute period.The children were split into groups and had to find different birds. Here are the birds that they found: Rook-70 Robin-3 Blue tit-9 Blackbird – 25 House sparrow – 37 Conclusion: Rooks were the most popular bird.
These birds have been spotted 
We haven’t seen these birds-yet!
Garden committee make winter home for hedgehog
Junior and Seniors made apple bird feeders
We need to take care of the birds at this time of year. When there is frost it is harder for them to find food. Junior and senior infants made bird feeders, using apples and sunflower seeds. We then hung them from our poly tunnel frame. We will be able to keep a close eye on them this term as it is right outside our classroom.
Senior Infants planted conkers!
Onions and garlic planted!
Third class planted two types of garlic and rang a 4 planted red and white onions. These will be ready to harvest in May. Many thanks to all the parents who kindly donated bulbs and seeds.
We made a bird scarer and put it up to stop the birds from eating the red onion! We made it from used CDs. The CDs sparkle and this keeps the birds from eating our red onions.
The garden committee are hard at work again, getting our beds ready for a new year of planting! This year we will try to grow lots of new vegetables. We get advice from this great website: http://www.schoolearthed.ie
6th class plant Spring bulbs
The sixth class children planted bulbs along the front and these will look beautiful in Spring and Summer. Many thanks to all parents who kindly donated these. They will help to make our school even more colourful!
Rang 2 harvest carrots!
We harvested our carrots this week, thanks to the new raised beds, the carrot fly didn’t touch our carrots! They were the biggest ones we have ever grown and they tasted wonderful.
First class planted peas
The children in first class planted peas this week. They got help from the experienced Garden Committee members. We used an early variety (called Meteor) so we will be able to eat them in May before the summer holidays!
Garden Committee visit organic farm
The children of the Garden Committee visited an organic farm in Clocha Rince this week. We had a wonderful day and learned so much about organic gardening, keeping chickens and bees, as well as tasting lots of tasty organic vegetables!
Carrots were a hit 
SO much salad!
We visited the chickens…….
Deirdre showed us how a reed bed is used on the farm to clean dirty water in a natural way that does not waste water.
Reed bed 
Clean water 
Frog pond
We got to water all the herbs and seedlings, using a commercial sprayer. The polytunnels all had special irrigation systems in the roof.
We planted a variety of seeds: spinach, sunflowers, spring onion and radish.
A special thanks to Deirdre for taking us around and looking after us so well today. She has given us lots of ideas for our garden, and we are going to grow broad beans, kale and garlic from now on! Thanks to Maeve Gallagher for organising this and to all the parents for their help .
Busy at work in our garden this month…..
The garden committee has been hard at work, weeding the beds and cleaning up around our plants and vegetables in our community garden.
Lots of new herbs growing, including chervil, lemon balm and thyme.
Our school rocks!
Our rock creatures got a makeover thanks to some children from 3rd class. We think they look a lot better now!
New designs in for future outdoor spaces
We are always looking for ways to improve our outdoor space and the children always play an active part in this. This month, in SPHE lesson, the children put forward some ideas on how to improve the outdoor area.
Planting has begun!
Junior and senior infants planted today in our new garden beds. The junior infants planted strawberries and the senior infants planted beetroot.
Second-class planted peas. They used bamboo canes to create a support structure as the peas will need support as they grow towards the sun.
New Garden Beds
The parents worked hard over the weekend to build three new raised beds for the children to plant in this coming spring. Many thanks to Alan Gallagher, Alan Ryan, Andrew Karstell and Philip Brady for all of their hard work. A special thanks also to Sean Cawley for providing the galvanised metal with which the raised beds were made.
Jenny and Lucy helping out! 
The garden committee
Four seasons project
Click here to find out more about our ‘Four Seasons’ bottle recycling project
Picket fence project