Scoil Choca Noafa was selected as one of 15 schools in Ireland to present a project “Our School Environment”. We were asked to examine areas around the school that we felt would be interesting for visitors. We chose the Royal Canal which runs through the town and a large Sequoia Tree which grows in the grounds of our next door neighbours in Shalom.
As part of the project we met with Dessie the lock keeper who showed us how the lock works – we even got to help him!!! We also looked at the flora and fauna around the Canal. This is all displayed in the Scrapbook which we will submit – plants, animals, reed fringes, etc. We have been working on the project since January so there are also some photos of seasonal changes in the environment.
The Sequoia Tree in the convent grounds is one of Ms Fay’s favourite trees- I think she suggested that it would be part of the project. The Sequoia is a Californian tree and it was brought here by the sisters in the late 1800s as a little sapling. Now you should see the size of it – we included bark rubbings as well as some history about the tree in the scarapbook.