.
Ardfert National School’s ‘Sailing the seas’ project wins an Explorers Ocean Champion Award. Presenting the award, Cushla Dromgool-Regan, Explorers Education Programme Manager to Betty Stack School principal also included Jane Sharp Explorers Ocean Champion Schools. Photo By : Domnick Walsh © Eye Focus LTD
ARDFERT National School has received a special Judges Award in the Marine STEAM category of the Explorers Ocean Champion Awards 2023.
Presenting the award, Cushla Dromgool-Regan, Explorers Education Programme Manager, congratulated the children, teachers, and outreach team for their innovative ideas and research about the ocean and marine animals.
“The project, which focused on Saint Brendan ‘Sailing the Seas’, was very innovative, involving planning, engagement and learning across all the children’s age groups,” she said.
Continued below…
.
School Principal Betty Stack said the school was delighted to receive the award: “Living close to the seashore and to one of the most beautiful coastlines in Ireland, and including marine themes on the curriculum, was the perfect topic to use as our all-school project.
“The children got to develop their competencies and skills by sharing an understanding of the impact the ocean has on our lives, as well as the impact we have on the ocean,” she said.
The healthy ocean school project and Ocean Champion Awards, organised through the Explorers Education Programme and funded by the Marine Institute, is the only ocean-themed award for primary schools in Ireland.
The competition recognises the effort, commitment and collaboration of the school management, teachers, children and the Explorer outreach officers.
“It was wonderful to see the contributions from the different class levels along with the children’s interest in the deep-sea species found in different parts of the world,” Ms Dromgool-Regan added.
“Hearing the children speak about their projects – from making boats from recycled items to learning about giant crabs in the deep sea, the blob fish and the legendary whale that Saint Bredan thought was an island – showed the incredible amount of work they did. Their enthusiasm to learn about their local community and the wider oceans sets a wonderful example for other schools to follow,” she said.
Twenty-eight coastal county schools took part in this year’s healthy ocean school projects covering Marine STEAM, Ocean Literacy, SDGs and the Ocean, Marine Outdoor.
Marine STEAM projects aim to inspire children with a range of interests by employing a cross-curricular approach to learning about the ocean, including STEM and the humanities. The goal is for students to develop their investigative and problem-solving skills and to combine these with language and creativity to share their STEM exploration and discoveries.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
