Well done to TY students Madison Conway & Aisling O Brien on their entry for this year’s Junk Kouture competition. Their creation ‘Soar with Seshat’ (Soar represents the wings in their design and Seshat was the Egyptian Goddess of Books) is made fully out of materials they recycled and repurposed, and was completed as part of Ms Cooney’s Global Citizenship Education Module. Amazing work girls!Ā 
In our efforts to reduce fast fashion in school, 1st year Home Economics students upcycled old jumpers from home into Christmas themed ones. Well done to all students on their creativity and sustainable efforts in making them.
Tomatoes and potatoes that were grown in the school polytunnel along with homegrown fruits and vegetablesĀ kindly gifted to the Home Economics Department from various teachers all resulted in lots of delicious products for students and staff to enjoy.
A great opportunity for students to see a range of preservation techniques in action in the classroom – crab apple jelly, beetroot relish, shatta – a Palestinian condiment made from red chilli’s, tomato sauce and salsa were on the menu.Ā Thanks Mr Cunnane for the beetroot, Ms Colum for the crab apples and Ms Parke for the homegrown chillies.
The Ty group had an excellent pair of workshops over the past two weeks in Home Ec class, delivered by @The Craft Cabin, Cavan. Week one was decoupage, while in week two, the group learned to do string art. The group really enjoyed both workshops.
We are delighted to have received our @WorldWise_Irl global passport award which recognises our continued efforts in raising awareness & creating action around global citizenship & social justice issues 
‘ Before you finish breakfast this morning you have have depended on more than half of the world’ – Martin Luther King Jr
As part of Fairtrade Fortnight 2021, Home Economics students learned more about what exactly fair-trade is, how different our food can look in its original state before it reaches our table, and the impact our shoppingĀ choices and habits can have for Fairtrade farmers and those who produce all our favourite foods & drinks like tea, coffee, chocolate, fruit and even our clothes. This years Fairtrade theme was around cocoa highlighting the importance of farmers being paid fairly for their work and being able to earn a living income. Students completed the chocolate quiz to learn more interesting facts about chocolate production and 1st years entered a Fairtrade Poster competition to encourage family and friends to choose fair-trade products when shopping. Congratulations to Saffron Flynn who won first prize and to runners up Kate McCauley and Rosemary Brady. All their poster’s will be displayed on the GCE noticeboard also.Ā
TY students had a fantastic workshop on dƩcoupage delivered by Tarragh from The Craft Cabin in Ballyconnell last week, where they learned how to up-cycle anything using simple printed papers. A highly enjoyable workshop and thanks to Miss Cooney for organising.
1st and 2nd year Home Economics students along with members of the Social Justice Club participated in the ECO-UNESCO Fast Fashion Workshop. They explored the lifecycle of our clothing, how much resources/energy it takes to produce clothing, the working conditions of those manufacturing our clothing and what happens when we are finished with our clothing. They looked at sustainable solutions when buying clothing. They also upcylced an old t-shirt into a tote bag. Watch this space as students create awareness on this topic throughout the year.
‘Love your Gut’ Week 2019 provided the opportunity in home ec class to discuss issues around digestion and gut health. On Friday 20th September, the Health Promotion Team in school set up an awareness stand at break time for students and staff to sample some foods/drinks that are good for gut health / digestion including some locally produced Kefir.
On Monday 11th May, the HSE presented our school with the Health Promoting Schools Flag which formally recognises all the hard work our school does regarding health promotion. The week followed on with various activities from student v staff basketball and tug of war games, free fruit, high fibre snacks Ā and yogurt promotions every break for students, staff received a surprise goodie pack, teacher cook off, food market to promote local and national producers, jiving classes for the whole school and a sports day Friday. Thanks to Ms. Cooney for planning and coordinating the week, students from the health promotion team, Ms Stenson for organising the sports day, TY’s who helped with sports day, and the following food producers who generously donated their delicious produce during the week: Glenisk yogurts, The Food Hub (Drumshano) – Jinnys Bakery, McNiffes Boxty, Shannonside Savouries, Blakes Natural Kefir and Bo-Peep preserves.
Healthy Living Week 2019 from Ballinamore Community School on Vimeo.