It's all happening in Tipperary these days with a campaign to promote healthy eating habits and more initiatives to encourage people to respect the environment. The teachers of St Ailbe's School in Tipperary Town got the entire school involved in a campaign to promote healthy eating to encourage the young and the not-so-young to change bad habits.
The A-team of teachers picked to co-ordinate the healthy eating campaign at St Ailbe's School - with the help of the Transition Year students - set out to feed and educate more than 300 students and over 30 staff members each day.
The Big Breakfast, organised by home economics teacher Cora O'Dwyer, consisted of fruit, a variety of cererals, fresh orange and apple juice, brown scones and copious pints of "calcium building" milk each day. The local school radio broadcast a variety of food-based musical creations and suitable stories and poems to listen to. There was a quiz as part of each morning's activities, which included some bursts of information from the visiting nutritionist.
While students and staff had their breakfasts, music was provided by the school choir. A survey of students was carried out by science students, under the direction of their teacher, Colette Treacy. "We hope this new approach will infiltrate the very lives of the students and staff who experience it," says Ailish Hayes, an English teacher and one of the event's key organisers. "We felt a new approach was needed." As well as influencing and educating students, it was felt that "the breakfasting habits of our various co-workers seem to leave a lot to be desired," she added.
"The idea arose from concern that a high percentage of students - and also staff - do not have a nutritious breakfast in the morning and many miss breakfast altogether." The whole school became involved in the campaign, which kicked off on Wednesday last. In a separate initiative further north in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, the focus is more global with the general objective of promoting good environmental practice. Tiobraid Arann ag Faire was set up over five years ago by North Tipperary Vocational Education Committee in an effort to promote good environmental practice in all walks of community life.
THE activities of this initiative, which is based in Nenagh, has included the production of a book of poems written by local primary school children and a regular newsletter with competitions, information and surveys.
Here's one short poem written earlier this year by Conor Kavanagh, of Junior Infants in Moyglass National School, entitled The Oak:
The oak is called the king of all trees
The leaves are blowing in the breeze
Some of the key aims of Tiobraid Arann ag Faire include encouraging people to recycle items, not to waste, to clean up with care, to turn off the light and save energy, to be ozone friendly, to buy organic goods and not to take unnecessary journeys.
