Young Tidy Towns
This year we worked with Asana Language School on their Work Experience program, taking students from Italy, France, Spain and Germany.
Beach and Street Cleans
This year we were very grateful to ASANA students who helped us on our World Ocean Day 3 Beach Clean up with Clean Coasts, and also to our WEX students who did several street cleans from February to July.
The Old Abbey Physic Garden
Helped by volunteers Judy, Joan and Marian our WEX students designed, laid out and planted our Herb Physic Garden in the Old Abbey.
Biodiversity
This year our ASANA students helped us mulch trees and record species in the wildflower meadow, planted and weeded in the Bee Garden, and helped us take care of the Community Garden in Marian Place.
2022
Sept 2022 - CnS Students collaborated with Future Focus21c on a number of community projects as part of a new place-based service learning programme supported by the Science Foundation of Ireland and the Dept. of Education, including:
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Cahersiveen Town Centre full Heritage Centre Health Check - working with the CCBA's Streetscapes working group. This feeds into the town's RRDF programme for development;
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GAISCE - Planning work with teachers at CnS has been completed and learning resources developed to support the GAISCE students from Sept 2022. Students work through concerns we present to them to develop, design, and implement solutions.
2021 - 2022
Phase One of the youth audit of the High Street was undertaken in August 2021. Four groups walked sections of the High Street observing and documenting empty shops and the conditions of buildings and talking notes on access and pedestrian issues. These findings will inform Phase Two - A full Health Centre Check in Summer/Autumn 2022.
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Since July 2021 the following has been completed with CnS students:
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Delivered a 12-week design module on Seeding Sustainability: Catalysing Biodiversity – to CnS students as part of the 1 KM health and well being trail plan;
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Developed a Maintenance Plan with 25 students around the 250 native trees planted;
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Built 6 raised beds and a windbreak, along with a sunflower ‘wall’ planted by new Ukrainian students in the school;
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Supported a 2 hr Habitat mapping workshop with FF21c and the UCC LIVE Project to assess habitat and biodiversity for an appropriate trail layout - this was followed up by a FIT count and upload to the National biodiversity app;
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​Sponsored 2 water butts and 2 compost bins
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Helped organise a Travel / Transport survey to assess students travel to school as part of their Green Schools Global Citizenship Travel current flag programme
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Collaborated on CnS branded water bottles for hot and cold beverages after installing water fountains last year;
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With the help of Tidy Towns initiatives from 2019-2-21 CnS received their received their Global Citizenship Marine Environment flag in March 2022;
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Delivered a 5-day design sprint called Climate Change Engage in March 2022 for 15 - 17 year olds using Game Design.
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Our collaboration with KDYS on the tyre planting scheme helped them gain 2nd place in the ECO UNESCO Young Environmentalists Awards 2020 / Biodiversity Junior Section.
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2020 - 2021
We had agreed on a programme of work with the schools Green school committee due to start Jan 2020. Unfortunately Covid-19 restrictions meant that this was put on hold as no one was allowed into the school other than full-time staff.
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A number of campaigns were initiated
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Recycling Crisp and Sweet Packets. The school can create an account with Terracycle https://www.terracycle.com/en-IE/ We donated a bin last summer to the school to start a crisp package scheme but we are not sure that took off. Terra cycle has now started a sweet packet scheme as well – these are great projects for year groups to take responsibility for – but failing that TT’s could come and monitor and collect from the bins. The school builds up points that it can cash in. Crisp packets are sent in 2KG + packages and sweet packets are in 1 KG + packets. Walsh’s Supervalu is already participating and it has been going quite well. Covid 19 health considerations have stalled this but we hope to continue with it once restrictions end and health concerns about collecting this recycling are over.
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Campaigns around water usage – think before you flush www.thinkbeforeyouflush.org posters were put up and the school also installed water fountains
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Water fountains and Climate Action Week @ Colaiste na Sceilge
Beach Clean, Colasite na Sceilge
Tidy Towns visit to Coláiste na Sceilge, Dec 2019
Over the years we have had strong collaboration with our two schools in the town. This December two of our Tidy Town volunteers Stephen (Beach Cleaning Coordinator), and Stephanie (Fundraising Officer), gave a presentation to Ms. Magillicuddy's Transition Year class about the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), an ambitious set of 119 targets as set by the UN to be achieved by 2030. Our Tidy Towns volunteers discussed the importance of sustainable development with the class, and afterwards assembled the TY students into groups to discuss methods and means for the local community to establish sustainable development goals and to address economic and social inequalities. At the conclusion of the presentation, the TY students suggested several attainable goals for Cahersiveen to focus on in the future including developing educational walks around the town to focus on biodiversity, and promoting better water management by installing water butts around the town and in the medium to longer-term cutting out the use of single use plastic in town.