UNESCO Finalist

ST CLARE’S ABBEY PRIMARY SCHOOL, NEWRY

Finalist

Young Environmentalist Awards 2020

We are extremely proud to be a FINALIST in the ECO-UNESCO Young Environmentalist Awards 2020. 

St Clare’s Abbey was the only Primary School from Northern Ireland to make it to the finals, which is an amazing achievement and a testament to our pupils and staff that were involved. There were over 500 entrants so the competition was tough.

Due to the current Covid situation, a virtual ceremony was held on May 23^rd 2020; The hostess was Tara Stewart DJ on 2FM and Instagram Influencer on the topic of creating sustainable fashion. The Former President of Ireland – President Mary Robinson was a guest speaker and delivered an inspirational message to all. The entire ceremony can be viewed on You Tube under the title ‘Young Environmentalist 2020 Ceremony Awards.’  Elaine Nevin, National Director of ECO-UNESCO stated:

“I would like to congratulate you on becoming a Young Environmentalist Awards finalist and I’m delighted to acknowledge the work of all of our Young Environmentalists.

This year we hosted a very different Young Environmentalist Awards (YEA). We weren’t able to stage our

annual showcase or awards ceremony but this is no less an acknowledgement of the wonderful work

of young people across the island of Ireland in environmental protection and action for sustainability.”

“The Young Environmentalist Awards is a way of recognising and rewarding the work of young people who carry out environmental action projects locally. Over the years the YEA has grown with tens of thousands of young people from all across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland participating, helping to conserve and protect the environment and promote sustainable development, and encouraging others to do the same.

For YEA 2020, we are delighted to have received almost 500 entries from groups of young people aged 10-

18 from all across the country, covering so many important environmental issues including climate action,

biodiversity loss, water pollution, and many more.

You have completed your YEA action projects with energy, enthusiasm and creativity and I want to congratulate you on your achievements especially this year with the challenges the current global pandemic has brought to all of us. We know it hasn’t been easy but you persevered with your work all the same.

Like many we’ve had to adapt; so even though we weren’t able to host our regional ECO-Dens; we judged

projects based on your submissions along with the fantastic one-minute videos of your projects that you

created.

I am always so inspired by your wonderful work and so hopeful for our present and future as you demonstrate strength, creativity and this year in particular great resilience. As Greta Thunberg says – ‘once we begin to act, hope is everywhere’ – and your actions, through the YEA give us hope.

There will be some challenges in the years ahead – we know this. At the moment, the most pressing concern is dealing with Covid19. Our others are climate action and biodiversity loss. And young people recognise this. We now have an opportunity to create a future that is different, a future that embeds the values and actions of the UN Sustainable Development goals, a future that is green and sustainable.

And I believe young people will be demanding this and leading the way with creativity to make our futures

brighter.”

“ I want to thank all of our Young Environmentalist for all your hard work, energy, enthusiasm and

creativity during what has been a difficult time.

Well done to all and congratulations on your achievements!”

Our project was titled Francis’ Followers and was based upon the example set by St Francis of Assisi, the Patron Saint of those who promote care for nature and one of the saints to inspire the congregation of St Clare’s sisters. We want to lead the way in taking care of our world and help raise awareness of the importance of protecting our environment both in our school and our local community.

We built a greenhouse using recycled plastic bottles and use this during our school gardening club sessions.

Our school gardening club is comprised of pupils and grandparents and we utilise the space on our school grounds to grow a range of plants, fruit and vegetables. We have also looked at ways of attracting insects to live in our school garden or forest.

We have also studied the effect our carbon footprint has on our world and how this will affect future generations. We joined with a member of the Forestry Commission to reach out to every school in our dioceses to become more aware of their carbon footprint. We planted a tree in an old shoe as part of an initiative entitled ‘Our Happy Footprint of Carbon’ as part of the tree shepherd project.com. We gave one to each school to plant on their school grounds.

Please take a look at the Finalist Booklet that has been produced in recognition of this Award, our submission is featured. This is available via ecounesco.ie- Finalist Booklet 2020 Be Inspired.

Well done to Mr Byrne and  all our pupils.