The School Garden
On Thursday the 23rd. of February, the staff, together with Tina Kessler and Marie Mac Namara, organised the visit of three ducks to the school garden. The ducks belonged to Marie Mac Namara of Gloves West, Athenry, Co. Galway. Marie introduced the ducks to each of the classes in turn, starting with the Infants. She discussed the purpose of bringing them to the garden and how pupils could learn from their habits. She explained that they were being used as a form of biological pest control in the garden. In recent weeks the garden has become infested with slugs and since slugs form part of the ducks' diet, they could be used to control the slug population in the garden. "Pest control in this way would be preferable to using slug pellets or other forms of chemical pest control," she said.The pupils had many questions about the lifecycle of ducks, their usefulness to humans and their use as a form of biological pest control. By the end of the visit pupils had a much better understanding of the delicate balances that exist within the natural kingdom and how we should seek to protect these through organic methods rather than distroying them by using chemicals.
On Thursday the 23rd. of February, the staff, together with Tina Kessler and Marie Mac Namara, organised the visit of three ducks to the school garden. The ducks belonged to Marie Mac Namara of Gloves West, Athenry, Co. Galway. Marie introduced the ducks to each of the classes in turn, starting with the Infants. She discussed the purpose of bringing them to the garden and how pupils could learn from their habits. She explained that they were being used as a form of biological pest control in the garden. In recent weeks the garden has become infested with slugs and since slugs form part of the ducks' diet, they could be used to control the slug population in the garden. "Pest control in this way would be preferable to using slug pellets or other forms of chemical pest control," she said.The pupils had many questions about the lifecycle of ducks, their usefulness to humans and their use as a form of biological pest control. By the end of the visit pupils had a much better understanding of the delicate balances that exist within the natural kingdom and how we should seek to protect these through organic methods rather than distroying them by using chemicals.
It is the policy of our school to protect our natural environment and heritage.
