St. Joseph’s National School in Kinvara has been awarded the Marine Institute’s Explorers Ocean Champion Certificate of Achievement for their Healthy Ocean Outdoor Project: ‘Save Our Seas’, which they carried out with the Explorers Team last year.
Congratulating the pupils and presenting them with their award, Rory McAvinney, Explorers Outreach Officer described their project as “inspiring and influential, demonstrating the fun ways we can share and communicate the message of our coastal marine environment.”
Rory, who is part of Explorers Outreach Team noted that teachers and students from St. Joseph’s National School had shown fantastic openness and flexibility to bring the ocean into their busy classrooms last year, through a range of cross-curricular methods which were accessible to all students.
As part of the Marine Institute’s Ocean Champion Awards up to 3,500 children and 124 teachers across 14 coastal counties created projects under the theme: ‘creating a healthy ocean’ with the objective of introducing an ‘all-school’ approach to learning about the ocean.
School principal Áine McGrath noted that the school has a long marine heritage linking the coastal community in Kinvara and has had the pleasure of taking part in a range of marine modules and activities with the Explorers Education Programme over the years. This award helps us gain recognition for the work the students do here at the school, and to connect with our coastal biodiversity.
Ms. Helen Meere, the lead teacher on the project said that the Ocean Champions Award had provided the school with a way to connect to their local marine environment, while also exploring the Coastal Biodiversity around Ireland. We are delighted to receive the award and fly the flag for Co. Galway.
If your primary school would like to work with Rory this year on an Explorers Module or an Ocean Champion Project, please email to book your fully funded school visit now.
The Explorers Education Programme is funded and supported by the Marine Institute. For more information see www.explorers.ie.
