St Mary’s National School, Athlone has claimed the winner’s title for the Outdoor Classroom competition for 2012.
The prize - the Outdoor Classroom or An Seomra Glas, valued at over €4,000, consists of a large low-level nature table, one large outdoor blackboard, one bird box with webcam and bug hibernation box.
The competition required schools in the county to design 10 posters based on various environmental themes. The judges were Patricia Gibney, author of Spring Sprong Sally in her Spring Sprong World and Catherine Kelly, arts officer. Ms Gibney stated that “the imagination shown by the entrants was very impressive”, and Ms Kelly added that “It was very difficult to select a winner as the standard of art work was exceptionally high”.
This is the third year that Westmeath County Council has run this competition and the prize is funded by the council, The Department of the Environment, Heritage & Local Government, together with Conservation Services, Marshallstown, Kilmessan, Co Meath.
Ruth Maxwell, environment section of Westmeath County Council stated that “The competition is run as part of the council’s Environmental Awareness Programme and that it is intended to reproduce the art work and turn it into an academic school calendar for the 2012/2013 school year”.
