Today, Monday 21st of March as part of Green Week, KCS organised their first ever COP event. This involved 12 sixth class groups from ten local primary schools joining us in KCS to share ideas on how they are working on the Sustainable Development Goals. Sixth class pupils joined us from Scoil Mhuire na Grast Belgooly, Dunderrow, Scoil Naomh Eltin, Knocknamanagh, Rennies, Summercove, Ballinspittle, St. Multose, Gaelscoil Chionn tSaile and Ballinspittle National School.

The day began with a greeting from the principal, Mr. McCarthy and Ms. Bennett who welcomed all the sixth class pupils and explained the rational for the event and provided a run down of the schedule for the day. Followed by Ms. Fitzpatrick who is the Green Schools Coordinator in KCS. Ms. Fitzpatrick spoke about the sustainable practices that are currently taking place in the school and gave some shocking statistics such as “in the developing world the average distance people travel is six kilometres for water.“ Ms. Fitzpatrick explained that the school now have joined the rewilding movement and left areas around the school grow wild to encourage wild plants, insects and wildlife to the area and to support biodiversity. Lastly, Ms. Fitzpatrick highlighted some of the excellent sustainable projects that are currently underway in KCS such as Junk Kouture, the Young Environmentalist Awards Projects and the BT Young Scientist Competition entries. Ms. Fitzpatrick ended on an inspiring note with the quote “You are never too small to make a difference”.

Mr. Harvey, the schools Sustainability Chaplain then spoke to the sixth-class pupils about where we can go as a community, together and the difference we can all make and how we can be more sustainable in our everyday lives. He offered some amazing advice on how we can go about making changes in our schools and community. He inspired students with his wise words about what we can do in the future if we change our thinking to “what if” rather than “I can’t do that”.

Three Transition Year students, Sophie Peare, Lilian Gleave and Sinead Hickey who are members of the sustainability team spoke about their experiences so far working on sustainable projects in the school and how it has been a rewarding experience for them and how excited they are to continue to make a difference.

Next, sixth class pupils took part in a Kahoot quiz with Ms. O’Shea. The Kahoot included a variety of questions in relation to sustainability. The sixth class students were engaged and enthusiastic and really enjoyed the quiz. Well done to Rennies National School for winning first place!

The day ended with an awards ceremony. Mr. Harvey announced the winner of the Sustainability Video Competition, this was a difficult decision as it was clearly evident all schools are taking many actions and dealing with a number of the Sustainable Development Goals in their work in their schools. Well done to Mr. Hayes- Curtin’s class from Belgooly who were awarded the prize for the Sustainability Video Competition.

Lastly, the day ended with Ms. Bennett presenting an ARK sign to each school and a wildflower mat made by a local seed saver organisation called “Rebel Seed, Kinsale.” ARK is a rewilding project which stands for Acts of Restorative Kindness. Each school was provided with the seeds and ARK sign to encourage all schools to start their own ARK in their school.

Massive thank you to Ms. Bennett, Ms. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Harvey, Ms. O’Shea, the Transition Year Students and everyone who helped with the organisation of such a successful event.