Gaelscoil ‘scoots’ ahead in the travel challenge for school
By William O'Connor
LUCAN Gaelscoil Naomh Padraig was named one of Ireland’s Travel Schools of the Year (Scooting Mode) at a ceremony in Dublin.
An Taisce Green-Schools presented eight schools with their award at the event honouring the winners of this year’s Green-Schools BIG Travel Challenge 2016 in the Radisson Hotel.
During February schools undertook the BIG Travel Challenge, which asked them to concentrate on one sustainable transport mode for two weeks to see if they could achieve real, lasting change in the travel behaviour of their staff and students.
The Challenge is an initiative of the Green-Schools Travel theme, which is supported by the NTA and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.
Gaelscoil Naomh Padraig, which has 601 students, excelled and embraced the challenge.
They concentrated on scooting, beginning their challenge with 25 students and ending with an outstanding 71 students opting to travel to school by scooter.
The school’s effort included students communicating to their peers about the challenge, parental involvement and the Green-Schools committee surveying students to find out how they travelled to school.
Congratulating Gaelscoil Naomh Padraig and the other awarded schools on their achievements, Green-Schools Travel Manager Jane Hackett said: “Two weeks is a short space of time in the school calendar, but these schools really showed that a lot can change in a fortnight! They’ve shown that engagement – within the school community and outside the school gates – is one of the keys to real and lasting behaviour change. Well done!”
