Muintir na Tire School Garden Competition

  Composting in schools: Any school could, and perhaps should, practise composting on site. There is, among some people, a certain but usually exaggerated fear of problems with rodents. These problems should not arise if the composting system is managed properly. For any school with its own garden, making compost is a great boon in providing high-quality fertiliser and soil improvement from what are otherwise treated as waste materials. The children's and teachers' fruit peels, tea bags, ends of sandwiches etc. can all be converted into a valuable compost. This will also help the school's environmental performance, and can reduce waste costs. A lot of schools use one or more plastic compost bins, which often become clogged up with an excess of soft, wet fruit and other food. These tall, narrow bins are not very suitable for this type of material as it compacts and becomes anaerobic very easily, hindering the composting process. Composting requires a mix of ...

Peppers (Chili And Bell) Why Grow It? Peppers are quite compact plants and so don’t take up a huge amount of space in your greenhouse or polytunnel.  They produce a fine crop and can be grown well in containers and pots.  Both chilli and bell peppers are part of the capsicum family.  Chillipeppers are small and have a hot flavour while bell peppers are larger and milder in flavour.  Sowing Peppers need a long growing season so the earlier you get started the better your chance of producing good, ripe fruit.  Get the seeds sown in February on a heating mat if you can.  They can take up to 2 weeks to germinate.  Sow seeds at 20 degrees celsius in pots of compost or module trays.  Transfer in to 9cm pots when the seedlings are large enough to handle.  Pot up again to a 30cm pot when the plants look like they’ve outgrown the previous pot.  Growing Harden off carefully before planting out in the greenhouse or polytunnel...

Primary schools are to make Cork Bee Pretty! Cork City Council is delighted to launch the BEE PRETTY CORK CITY Pollinator themed Primary Schools Art Competition The BEE PRETTY CORK CITY schools project is part of Cork City Council’s commitment to protecting and supporting pollinators in Cork city. This project is funded by the Dept of Heritage, Culture and the Gaeltacht through the National Biodiversity Action Plan and Cork City Council and is an action of the Cork City Heritage Plan There are two categories for this art competition: Junior Cycle (Junior Infants to 1st Class) - Colour in the attached ‘Bee pretty Cork City’ colouring template.  Senior Cycle (2nd Class to 6th Class) - create your own art work based on the theme    'BEE PRETTY CORK CITY' The winners in each category of the Pollinator Primary School Arts competition will receive: A family ticket to The Everyman Pantomime “Jack and the Beanstalk” on January 2 2020 A training session w...

Interested in a Career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths)? Stem South West 2019 Industry led Career Showcase held in partnership with Cork County Council is a great opportunity to see STEM products and systems in action, gain an understanding of STEM careers, and meet with the people who work in STEM on a daily basis. This event is free and we would love to see students, teachers & parents join us at the Rochestown Park Hotel, Wednesday November 13th from 4 to 9pm. For more information, check out  https://www.stemsouthwest.ie/

Cork County Council is pleased to announce the launch of the 2019 Community Environment Action Fund, previously known as the Local Agenda 21 scheme . This fund is designed to help increase local levels of environmental awareness and to help local communities become more sustainable. If you are aware of any local community group, school or residents association interested in submitting a project for funding please make them aware of this scheme and of the online application form at  www.yourcouncil.ie . The scheme is open to applications from all individuals and groups who have appropriate projects in mind. However, funding is limited and Cork County Council will award funding to projects that best meet our qualifying criteria.  Please note that the Minister has asked that priority be given to Climate and Biodiversity projects in the 2019 scheme.  Projects focusing on biodiversity should take account of the National Biodiversity Action Plan and/or the All Ire...

The Heritage in Schools Scheme is an outdoor education programme for primary school children operated by the Heritage Council. The Scheme is unique in Ireland and provides a diverse panel of Heritage Specialists who work directly with children in primary schools throughout the country. It is leading the way in promoting outdoor education and encouraging children to engage directly with the natural and cultural heritage that surrounds them. The current panel is being reviewed this year and up to 40 new positions should be available heritage specialists. Membership of the Panel will be for a two-year term (from 1 January, 2020) and subject to a six month probationary period.  The closing date for applications is Friday, 23rd August @ 5pm with interviews expected to take place early in October. For further information visit http://www.heritageinschools. ie/about/news/heritage-in- schools-panel-now-recruiting

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The staff and Pupils of St. Catherines N.S Conna are thrilled to be Overall Winners at the Cork County Federation Muintir ná Tíre Pride in our Community School Garden Awards 2019 which were held in County Hall on Monday June 24 th  2019. St  Catherine's   NS  Conna  winners of the Muintir na Tires School Garden of the Year  Mrs Mary Barry, Joanna Carr, Isabelle Coyle, Eoghan O’Mahony & Lisa O’Mahony. with Conor Nelligan Katherine Corkery, Michelle Green and Trevor Dineen of Cork County Council.    The Competition is in its seventh year and this year saw a record amount of entries. The enthusiasm and high standard and quality shown from all the schools proved to to the Judges that the project continues to be a huge success. The competition involves each school developing/planning a garden in their own way.  Both adults and students work together to decide what type of garden they want to create. The competition encourages a...

Hi All, The Department of Communications, Climate Action & Environment have just informed us that from 2019 onwards the Local Agenda 21 grant scheme will run from September to August. We expect the Minister to launch this year’s scheme in August, with applications being accepted until the end of September/start of October. The exact dates have not yet been confirmed but we will be in touch with further information as we receive it, including full details of the application process. Regards, The Environmental Awareness Team Cork County Council

The Heritage in Schools Scheme is an outdoor education programme for primary school children operated by the Heritage Council. The Scheme is unique in Ireland and provides a diverse panel of Heritage Specialists who work directly with children in primary schools throughout the country. It is leading the way in promoting outdoor education and encouraging children to engage directly with the natural and cultural heritage that surrounds them. The current panel is being reviewed this year and up to 40 new positions should be available heritage specialists. Membership of the Panel will be for a two-year term (from 1 January, 2020) and subject to a six month probationary period. The closing date for applications is Friday, 23rd August @ 5pm with interviews expected to take place early in October. For further information visit   http://www.heritageinschools. ie/about/news/heritage-in- schools-panel-now-recruiting

Garlic Why Grow It? Most of the garlic available in supermarkets is imported from China (over 5,000 miles!).  Garlic is relatively easy to grow (although it can be hard to grow well) and stores extremely well.  It’s also incredibly good for you.  The garlic requirements of an average family can be easily satisfied by even the smallest of vegetable patches.  If you were to take any bulb of garlic, break out the cloves and stick them in to the ground spaced about 4 inches apart, each clove would eventually turn in to a bulb of garlic.  That’s the magic of it.  However it is recommended not to use supermarket garlic for this purpose as it can bring disease in to your soil (if you are going to do this, sow the garlic in containers). Sowing Most GIYers sow garlic in early winter (Oct-Dec, but before the shortest day of the year – Dec 21st) as the bulbs benefit from a cold snap.  Some varieties however can be sown in spring but they won’t gr...

Daisy Dreams How to pick a star performing daisy for your School  garden. School gardens should be relaxed, free flowering and fun; they can. and with plants that bees love  ; there are no rules, just plant what you love to create a garden that appeals to you. A School garden just wouldn't be the same without patches of great big daisies blooming right throughout the season and into autumn. Did you know that daisies love sunshine? You shouldn't plant them in the shade – they hate it. To smile and perform, they really require warm sunshine. Daisies love to be dry. Most people over water them at the beginning of the season, so try to avoid doing this. Go on, have a crazy summer – grow some daisies ! This is also why they are great in school garden as they will not need much watering during the school holiday. Did you know  The word 'daisy' comes from the Old English dæges-eage, meaning 'day's eye. It is easy to see why. Many open up their ...

Closing Date for submission of PowerPoint presentation is 5pm Friday May 24th Please note PowerPoints must be limited to TEN slides and should include lots of photographs. Please do not include animations or music.

Lets Protect our Pollinators: Here are a few slides that you may inspire you to adapt parts of your School to "Protected for wildlife Areas"  

Working with  Cork County Council  and  Creative Ireland  towards achieving one of Creative Ireland’s key goals to ’ enable the creative potential of every child and young person’,  the  Heritage in Schools Scheme  and Cork County Council invites applications from primary schools in county Cork for an opportunity to explore their local heritage with Heritage in Schools Specialist Áine Brosnan and modern-day bard John Spillane. Shortlisted schools will visit a local ancient site with Áine to learn about the people who lived, worked and played there. With the help of Áine the children will compose and record an ‘ode’ to a great hero of old. The recordings will be sent to John Spillane to judge and the winning school will receive a workshop with John to develop and perform their song.   To enter simply:  Email a short paragraph and tell us what local heritage site you would like to visit and include your school name, roll number, contact deta...

Florence Fennel Why Grow It? Worth growing for its pretty foliage alone, florence fennel also offers the bonus of its delicious, white, aniseed-flavoured bulb.  It’s a little tricky to grow, but definitely worth a try.  Has a relatively short growing season – will be ready to eat in 4 months. Sowing It's a Mediterranean crop that will get confused and bolt if exposed to fluctuating or low temperatures.  Sow in late May and again in late June (as insurance against bolting and poor germination).  Fennel seedlings are very sensitive to root disturbance – sow a couple of seeds in each module of a seed module tray about 1cm deep.  If more than one germinates in each module, remove the weaker one. Growing About a month after sowing (when the seedlings are hardy), it’s time to plant them out.  If the temperatures are still low outside, you can delay planting by a few weeks by potting them on in to individual pots.  Harden off the seedling...