Students from a rural west Cavan school were recognised as the national primary school winners at the Green-Schools "Marine Environment Awards",
Students from Curravagh National School in Co. Cavan were honoured at the event which took place at the Hyatt Centric Hotel in Dublin last week.
The awards ceremony celebrates schools working on the eighth theme of the Green-Schools programme "Global Citizenship: Marine Environment".
Curravagh National School, Co. Cavan, is a small rural school located near Glangevlin with just 20 students, but they showed fantastic engagement with the marine theme throughout their work.
The school held a day of action, during which they welcomed Benny Joyce, marine biologist from Galway University.
Students used a tracking app to follow animals such as sharks, polar bears, turtles, and penguins, making predictions and comparing them with real data. They also had the opportunity to examine a range of specimens including shark teeth, a saltwater crocodile specimen, a minke whale sample, and an ammonite fossil, alongside viewing plankton under a microscope.
A creative element was brought into the day as students built Arctic igloos using reusable materials such as plastic, toilet roll tubes, and modelling clay.
They also explored the differences between the Arctic and Antarctic, identifying animals found in each region.
