Togher Girl’s School

1. Togher Girl’s School Our school, ‘Scoil an Athar Maitiu’ is an all-girls school located in Togher, Cork, about 2km west of Cork city. We have about 270 students attending our school. The boys’ school is beside us, and we share the halla with them. We are a ‘Green School’, and have been working hard this year to achieve our 5th green flag (Biodiversity) We have a strong connection with the environment, and always recycle and compost our waste.

2. Gardens in our school Our Front Garden Our Vegetable Garden These are pictures of our front garden. It is dedicated to a former pupil, Ciara and former SNA, Rita (RIP). It was created by teacher, Amy Nugent and SNA, Jackie. Our vegetable garden, which consists of 4 large raised beds and some smaller containers, like tyres, plastic pots and grow bags is in a corner of our yard, so we are out here every day. It was set up about 10 years ago. Our Butterfly Garden

3. Our Garden Committee Our garden committee consists of 15 students from 3rdto 6th class, teacher, Ms. O’Shea and SNAs Siobhan and Jackie. The members are very enthusiastic and keen to help out and to learn. Everyone enjoys engaging with nature and it is fun to get our hands dirty and to see things grow. This year, we have been working alongside the Green Schools Committee who have worked very hard to achieve their 5th Green flag, Biodiversity. Our work in the garden, and their work in creating natural habitats complimented one another.

4. Why we enjoy being on the committee I enjoy being on the garden committee because I enjoy gardening and planting. You learn a lot and can teach other people too. I enjoy being on the garden committee because I like learning about plants, being able to take care of them and being able to communicate with nature I like being on the garden committee because I like art and plants etc. I think it is fun watching everything grow. I like gardening and being outdoors. I like planting things. I like doing art to make the garden look pretty.

5. Planning our Garden This year, the basic plan is as follows: Bed 1: Wild weed cover (Green School’s biodiversity) Bed 2: Mange tout peas, barlotti beans, salad Bed 3: Shallots, chard, garlic Bed 4: Courgettes, beetroot, celery Square bed: Strawberries Growbags: 3 varieties of potatoes Tyres: Rhubarb, blueberries, redcurrant Barrell: Carrots Butterfly Garden And lots of flowers! Usually classes are assigned a particular vegetable to grow and area to grow it. However, this year, we took a different approach. We took on more students in the garden committee and those students took responsibility for sowing and planting, nurturing the plants as they grew and doing artwork to make the garden a more attractive place. We felt this offered a greater learning experience to those students involved, which hopefully they will bring into their lives at home.

6. The role of the garden committee Once these were planted out, the garden committee looked after them every day, watering them and weeded where needed. They also put up supports, made a scarecrow, came up with ideas for outdoor art and helped make hibernation hubs for bees and bugs as well as bird feeders. Some pictures from last year and previous years:

7. Green School’s photos . Butterfly Garden Bird Feeders Creating a log pile

8. Biodiversity Scarecrow Bug Hotel Bee hibernation hub Bird feeders

9. A haven of wildlife

10. Some more Pictures 2019: Potatoes in grow bags Sowing shallots and garlic Planting out barlotti beans Mange Tout peas