Two Schools in Galway have been named as the overall winners of Agri Aware’s Incredible Edibles healthy eating and fruit & vegetable growing project.
The project saw over 25,000 students from over 1,000 schools participate in the agriculture and food education body’s popular primary school programme.
Despite school closures in March, teachers continued to take part in the project by sending their students videos of their vegetable and herb plants progress, as well as students cooking and eating their 7-a-day from home.
Ms Helena Hyland’s 3rd class from Boys National School, Athenry, Co Galway were crowned first place winners of the project and will receive a prize of a growing sun-bubble dome for the whole school.
Mr Jarlath Conboy’s 1st and 2nd class from St Patrick’s Boys and Girls Primary School, Galway City took home second prize, claiming a double win for the county. They will receive a greenhouse for their school.
Agri-Aware was created in 1996 by partners including Bord Bia, FBD, the Irish Dairy Board, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) and the Irish Farmers’ Journal to educate the public on the importance of food and agriculture to the country and its economy.
Incredible Edibles is a healthy eating initiative from Agri-Aware that aims to get primary school kids around the country growing fruits and vegetables to increase their knowledge of the origins and quality of the food they eat.
It also highlights the important role that fresh, Irish produce plays in a healthy balanced diet and the importance of consuming at least five to seven portions of fruit and vegetables each day.
With one-third of all Irish primary schools taking part in the project, the Galway winners showed great resilience and creativity throughout the challenging period of school closures.
With the seeds and everything needed to grow the food provided in a pack by Agri-Aware, Boys National School, Athenry and St Patrick’s Boys and Girls Primary School were both praised for successfully continuing to grow, cook and eat the healthy vegetables they produced.
Agri Aware Chairman, Alan Jagoe praised the winners of Incredible Edibles project for their efforts and thanked both teachers and families for continuing to make the project an ongoing success.
“We are delighted to have received so many entries for the Incredible Edibles school project this year.
“Irish teachers have showed true resilience in keeping the project ongoing, despite these difficult past few months of school closures and limited accessibility within teaching”.
“Students continued to grow and cook their vegetables from home, while sharing their experience with their teachers using modern technology.”
“We commend all who stayed proactive within the project, and in learning to adapt to a new way of teaching and learning through these challenging times”.
