Pupils and teachers in St. Joseph’s National School in Kinvara are celebrating after their first prize win in the Incredible Edibles primary schools’ healthy eating and growing programme.
They showcased their creative food journey in outstanding fashion, in a year where final submissions were truly brilliant. The class submitted the best end-of-year project to secure top spot in the nationwide schools’ programme with their online submission.
The Incredible Edibles programme ran from January to June and had its largest ever participation this year. There were over 80,000 children from 1,800 schools across the country that took part in Agri Aware’s longest standing programme.
This year saw the programmes largest and most successful Healthy Eating Week, with the Agri Aware team alongside Dole Ireland going on a roadshow to schools across four different counties.
The Healthy Eating Week National Webinar saw participation from 5,000 pupils across the nation. While a further 1,100 students across 48 schools visited The Agri Aware Farmyard at Bord Bia Bloom in the Phoenix Park over the June bank holiday weekend.
Throughout its lifespan, the Incredible Edibles programme has directly impacted 800,000 students. The programme helps children learn all about how food gets to their plates while growing their own fruit, vegetables and herbs.
Schools that took part this year completed five tasks over the course of the programme. Choosing the winners for the eight awards was a tough task for the Agri Aware team.
Commenting on the announcement of this year’s winner, Agri Aware Executive Director, Marcus O’Halloran said that now in its 16th year, the programme is a wonderful project to engage students in the basics of horticulture, through sowing, growing and cooking fresh locally produced food.
“We were very impressed with all the submissions this year; it was a difficult task to pick an overall winner but congratulations to St. Joseph’s National School in Kinvara who prevailed for 2023.”
