Aoibhe de Burca (far left), won Meilleure Oratrice – overall best speaker – of this year’s Alliance Française Joutes Oratoires French debating competition. Also pictured at the final are members of this year’s French debate team: Ruby Porter, Fionn Munnelly, Louis Butler Lynch (standing) and Oscar Kilbride Condon. Ella McGill (not pictured) was representing the school at the Holqa Student Theatre Festival in Malta.

Cloughjordan Ecovillage, Co. Tipperary was conceived in the mid1990s. Since then it has developed into a pioneering community which serves as a model for sustainable living into the 21^st century and acts as an education, research and enterprise centre for all.

On Wednesday, 7 March, Mount Temple was delighted to welcome six members of Cloughjordan to share their experiences with us. Mr Wegimont, Ms Byrne and many students, teachers and special needs assistants were in attendance in addition to grounds staff, technical support staff and members of the student council.

The talks covered many different aspects of developing, living and working in the Ecovillage. This included how the 53 houses were built with special attention paid to the use of renewable sources of energy and minimal impact on the natural environment. We also heard how the Ecovillage employs its own farmers with subscriptions of community members. On their community farm they grow crops (in a biodynamic way) all year round with the use of polytunnels. Crops are harvested twice a week and members take what they need each day from a central collection point.

With an Ecological Footprint of 2 global hectares, less than half that of many Irish communities, Cloughjordan is continuing to work toward reaching a Footprint of 1.8 global hectares thus enabling it to live within the earth’s capacity.

Mount Temple is delighted to have formed an alliance with Cloughjordan in which we will learn from their experiences as we move forward with making our own community as sustainable as possible. To articulate this vision the school’s Sustainability Plan was also outlined at the meeting. With a focus on a Carbon Neutral Building, Sustainable Food Production, Waste Prevention, Sustainable Waste Management and Increasing Biodiversity the plan sets out how our school community will work toward decreasing its own Ecological Footprint.

With a shared vision of a sustainable future the communities of Mount Temple and Cloughjordan look forward to many years of working together toward our common goal.

Click on the link below for a PDF of the powerpoint on the project.

Mount Temple March 2018 Cloughjordan Ecovillage

First years,Hayden Carroll, Lana McLoughlin, Roisin NicGabhann, and James O’Connor took part in Cover to Cover radio show on Near FM. Follow the link below to hear them discuss the novel, Private Peaceful, by Michael Morpurgo. 

http://nearfm.ie/podcast/?p=20508

Pupils, parents and teachers involved in the Mount Temple Craft Club decorated the school in colourful bunting in October 2016. For more photos check out the Gallery section of the website.