Gaelscoil Dara, Renmore, entered a Facebook competition run by the English company Wicksteed Playscapes, to win playground equipment to the value of £25,000. After diligent efforts were made by parents of the students to share the link and encourage their online friends to vote for Gaelscoil Dara, 1,737 votes were secured which allows the school to progress to the next stage of the contest for which 10 schools have been shortlisted. A panel of adjudicators will visit the schools later in the month to determine which is the one most deserving of the prize. Parents, teachers, and the student body will team up to prove their determination to win. The children must exhibit their passion through artistic media, why they believe their school should be selected to win.
Out of the 120 schools which entered from Ireland and the UK, Gaelscoil Dara earned one of the highest numbers of votes.
After a 27 year wait, Gaelscoil Dara received funding to build a permanent, new, premises, which can be seen from the Dublin Road, opposite GMIT, including a playground, but unfortunately the funds ran out before its completion. Instead, you have an empty, fenced off, spacious play area void of playing equipment and full of the school’s wheelie bins.
The children would love to see the building completed with the equipment in the empty playground as there is no other playground within walking distance in the community. It would be especially advantageous to the children with special needs attending the school and those who still visit from Rosedale School beside where Gaelscoil Dara once used to be.
Michelle Kirby, school secretary of Gaelscoil Dara, and instigator of the school’s application to the competition, thanks all the people of Galway and their Facebook friends, who took time to vote for the very deserving potential winner.
