Some beaches across Ireland are left in dire conditions with discarded plastic items strewn in every direction.  As part of raising civic responsibility and awareness in our pupils about the dangers and quantity of plastic waste on our beautiful beaches, our Rang VI pupils visited some Clare beaches, namely Ross Beach and Rhinevilla Beach, to collect plastic rubbish.

Please see here-under some photographs of our pupils collecting plastic waste on Ross Beach. Among the items they collected were plastic cups, milk cartons, caps, straw clothes, bottles, wellies, plastic boxes and rope. After an hour and a half of hard work, 6 huge rubbish bags were filled. These are to be collected by the Clare Co. Council.

Following a picnic break, the renowned Artist and Environmentalist, Carmel Madigan, on behalf of Marine Explorers, conducted a lesson on the wonders of sea life on a rocky shore. Ross Beach is a shingle beach consisting of boulders, bedrock, sandstone and shale. Our pupils were introduced and studied different species of sea life including hermit crabs, various anemones, sea slugs, sea hair, black sea cucumber, limpets, barnacles, periwinkles and star fish. Pupils learned about sugar kelp, carrageen moss, sea lettuce and sea spaghetti. They considered their most exciting finds to be the black sea cucumber, sea hairs, cushion star fish and hermit crabs.

The day was also full of fun and games with our pupils playing in the sea and having a picnic on the beach.

By 1.00p.m., our pupils were treated to a delicious meal and plenty ice cream in The Long Dock, Carrigaholt.

Mr. McMahon’s Rang VI pupils visited and cleaned waste plastic products from Rhinevilla Beach. Please see our Twitter page: https://twitter.com/BarefieldNS.

We are very grateful to Marion, who kindly sponsored these wonderful, environmental, educational experiences for our pupils and also to class parents, Michael Coffey and Martina Merz for helping with the organisation of these memorable and educational tours.

A most enjoyable and fantastic experience was had by all.