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I am delighted to have the opportunity to discuss and share on the forum about a number of local initiatives that practice sustainability in Abbeyleix, Co. Laois. In Abbeyleix we are blessed to have the wonderful Community Garden in the centre of the town, allotments in SweetView on the exit of the town heading out the Ballacolla Rd and the fabulous bog walk also. In the community garden plants, flowers and vegetables are grown outdoors and in a greenhouse . This is a fantastic place to come in the middle of the town and relax with a coffee from one of our many local cafes. Events such as Applefest and swapping plants are held regularly . These are brilliant opportunities to meet your neighbours while buying/swapping plants and vegetables grown locally. The bog walk beside the Manor Hotel is another example of practising sustainability in our area. The allotments afford people who cannot grow plants or vegetables in their own garden the opportunity to sustainably do so. We are proud in Abbeyleix, Tidy Town winners I might add, of playing our part in keeping Carbon Footprint to a minimum!
WOW/BOW days are a great way of practising sustainability while also linking in with S.E.S.E and Green schools, P.E. and S.P.H.E. I hope to introduce them in our school next year.
To begin my reflective piece on the Nutrition of Seafood module I would like to note that I thoroughly enjoyed the content and found it extremely beneficial both personally and professionally! As the saying goes we are what we eat. The module contained a wealth of interesting information and activities to bring to the classroom to teach the children about the benefits of incorporating more seafood in our diet. The food pyramid was explained very well and I will utilise the information in my healthy eating lessons in SPHE going forward. Seafood contains so much nutrients ( vitamins, minerals etc) and it’s that our consumption has increased significantly since the 1970s. The BIM handbook is a useful resource to have to aid teaching the nutrition of seafood. I love the Eye Spy and Guess the Food games and I look forward to playing these with the children , both in English and as Gaeilge and in time en Français ( or whatever modern language we will be teaching in future years?!)
Also love your cooking demo idea Daniel. We are finally purchasing a cooker in school this year so I look forward to utilising in my teaching going forward.
I love the idea of transferring the results of the survey onto a digital platform. Digital literacy is one area I need to improve on going forward.
The ARC online tools and resources included in this module are an invaluable resource to utilise in the classroom, for STEM planning and the SSE process. The module contains a wealth of information in how to apply SSE guidelines to our own teaching and how to improve STEM teaching in our own schools going forward. The four videos included in the module will be effective catalysts for teaching the children about the socioeconomic importance of Aquaculture. In recent years , given the technological age that we live in, I have found that videos are an excellent tool to aid the children’s learning and it brilliant to have these fantastic videos to teach this topic. I also loved the four quizzes included at the end of each video. What is Aquaculture? Fish detective interview. Who you ginna call?Ghostbusters and What is Sustainable Irish Seafood? I will definitely use these with the children .
I have taught the ‘legend’ of the Salmon of Knowledge numerous times over the years and while I have linked it in with Art and Drama in the past the opportunities to utilise it in SPHE to teach healthy eating and nutrition never occured to me. Thank you for this idea.
I also look forward to getting the children in my class to engage in research around the innovations that have emerged in the industry.
Aquaculture in Ireland is undertaken along the wonderful, wild, western Atlantic coastline in bays, inlets and on the shoreline primarily but not exclusively in Kerry, Clare ,Galway and Donegal. I have just returned from a wonderful hiking/ adventure trip to Donegal and as we drove to climb Mount Errigal we spotted fish farms on route. Ireland benefits immensely from a ‘Goldilocks’ climate ( temperate – not too hot or too cold) . Activity 2 in the module details mapping an oyster farm. Without doubt Aquaculture farms contribute greatly socioeconomically to the coastal communities where they are located. One of the primary socioeconomic contributions of these farms is job creation , both directly and indirectly. Fishermen/women, shop assistants, chefs and waiters/waitresses are some of the occupations that are generated from the Aquaculture industry.
Oh how I’d love to be teaching in such close proximity to the sea as opposed to in the most landlocked county! Hoping to be successful in getting a visit from the ARC remote classroom to help teach this topic.
Firstly I would like to begin by saying I’m so pleased that I choose to undertake this course as it is both interesting on a personal level and beneficial for use in my teaching. The first module contained a wealth of extremely interesting , informative and useful information, tools and resources on the teaching of Aquaculture and Farming at Sea. The BIM’s social license projects that I particularly found useful were the Taste the Atlantic initiative , with cross curricular links with Geography, History, Maths , Art, SPHE (healthy eating) and the ARC Remote classroom. I have registered my interest in an ARC visit to my school and if successful I can only imagine the excitement of the ARC arriving to our school. It is a fantastic tool to educate the future of tomorrow on the importance of AC and its benefits to the children are undoubtedly massive.
The importance of introducing and educating the children about Aquaculture at an early age cannot be underestimated. The earlier they begin learning about the topic the better. The earlier in life habits are formed the more likely they are to maintain them e.g. eating fish from an early age and choosing sustainable products when shopping.
As noted in this module 2030 is a target to work towards in the climate change battle. It is of utmost importance as educators to play our part in the difficult task of combatting the devastating effects of climate change that are all too evident both on a local and global level. I find it extremely worrying that year on year there has been and continues to be an increasing number of extreme weather phenomena. As I have discussed already in my SDG assignment on climate change school closures as a result of such weather events are unfortunately becoming the new normal and my learning from my Teachnet summer course last year doesn’t bode well for future years. Taking all of this into consideration there is an onus on us to play our part in tackling climate change. Some ideas that I have conjured up are to link in with the Abbeyleix Bog to learn about the effects of climate change on the local environment (flora, fauna etc), explore and analyse weather data in the school environment and continue to work on our Green Schools programme. To quote the moto of the secondary school that I attended ‘Ní neart go cur le chéile’. Small collective steps that are sustained would make such a difference to the future of my wonderful planet.
During the devastating war in Ukraine Stradbally in County Laois had one of the 5 largest designated accommodation centres for Ukrainian refugees. This was located on the grounds of the Electric Picnic music festival. There is a great group of community volunteers who stepped up to assist migrants and involuntary refugees in their hour of need. In my school in Ballyroan we did not receive any Ukrainian refugees however in some of my friends schools in the nearby schools in Portlaoise they welcomed some and the teachers and management did their utmost to ensure that they provided a welcoming, safe environment for them. A number of initiatives and steps were taken to provide as much support and assistance to both children and parents . The statistics included in this module on the number of refugees worldwide is shocking and the lessons included will be helpful to teach this topic in my classroom next year.
I love the idea of introducing a buddy system to help ease the transition of the students into their new class Seán!
- Linking in with the local tidy towns is a brilliant idea when teaching the children about climate action. My home town Abbeyleix has a fantastic committee whose long years of dedication and hard work was finally rewarded recently when they were awarded Best Town and I will aim to link in with them next year somehow to help teach this topic.
