Schools and groups encouraged to 'Nurture Nature' by Keep Kilkenny Beautiful and council

Kilkenny’s achievements in the national Tidy Towns awards have provided the inspiration to put another spring in the county’s green step.

The Keep Kilkenny Beautiful (KKB) group celebrated the county’s successful showing in this year’s national Tidy Towns competition by launching a new scheme aimed at schools and after-schools groups. The Nurture Nature programme, which was launched at this year’s KKB Awards, will ask schools and after-school facilities to pledge to complete three actions for biodiversity over the next six months.

Small actions which can boost biodiversity in the city include the provision of a bird bath so birds have a water source throughout the year, feeding birds and putting up a bird ID charts in the classroom to enable pupils to recognise visiting birds, seasonal nature walk to explore the local green spaces and leaving a small portion of the school green area as a refuge for wildlife.

KKB, in collaboration with Kilkenny County Council, devised the programme to celebrate their recent achievements in the National Tidy Towns competition. Kilkenny City improved their score by 12 marks -  two marks behind the national winners.

“Our committee was thrilled at what we achieved,” said KKB chairperson Maria Dollard. “We partner with numerous organisations throughout the year and we’ve an expanding volunteer base which has led to a huge volume of work being done to improve the city.

“We have a biodiversity sub group working on specific projects to nurture nature in the city and we are delighted to partner with the Environmental Awareness Officer and the council’s Heritage Office to bring a special opportunity to primary schools across Kilkenny City.

“No matter what size of outdoor space a school or community group has available, little actions can help nature,” she added. “We are encouraging schools and after-school facilities to pledge to complete three actions for biodiversity over the next six months. 

“There are lots of ideas in our Gardening for Biodiversity publication that will be made available from the Heritage Office to participating schools. There is a website dedicated to promote pollinators which has a special resource for schools on www.pollinators.ie.”

Schools and after-school groups who make a pledge to complete three actions over the next six months will receive a small number of pollinator plants, grown locally from the team in SOS on the Callan Road, one of the many partners of KKB. 

Kilkenny Co Council will provide a class set of nature based colouring books with colouring pencils to allow a class to explore different aspects of biodiversity.

“This new programme, which the Council is proud to be a part of, will provide invaluable educational resources and practical learning for our children,” said deputy Mayor of Kilkenny  Martin Brett. 

“By engaging young people in a hands-on experience like this, we aim to foster a deep appreciation and understanding of biodiversity and instil a sense of responsibility for our environment.”

The sentiment was echoed by Mags Whelan, Kilkenny’s Environmental Awareness Officer, who, along with Biodiversity Officer Bernadette Moloney, provides support to schools  in the Green School programme.

“KKB, as a Tidy Towns group, keeps biodiversity to the core of their activities,” she said. “Asking the schools to pledge their actions is a way that we can encourage schools to take small steps to nurture nature, provides better connectivity between KKB and primary schools across the city and enable KKB to record and report all the schools great work to the National Towns in next year’s submission.”

Schools can register their participation by emailing biodiversity@kilkennycoco.ie before November 6. A return email will be sent providing online resources with different ideas on what biodiversity actions could be suitable for each school or after-schools group and a form with follow-on instructions on how to receive biodiversity plants and classroom resources.