Mayo school named Northwestern Region’s Travel School of the Year

East Mayo school, Tooreen National School was named the Northwestern Region’s Travel School of the Year at a ceremony in Dublin on Thursday.

An Taisce Green-Schools presented the school with their award at the event honouring the winners of this year’s Green-Schools Big Travel Challenge 2024 in Haughton House of Dublin Zoo. Four other schools were also awarded on the day for their efforts promoting sustainable and active travel modes to school.

Schools took on the Big Travel Challenge from March 4 to 15, during which they were asked to concentrate on one or more sustainable transport modes for two weeks to see if they could achieve real, lasting change in the travel behaviour of their staff and students. The Challenge is an initiative of the Green-Schools Travel theme, which is supported by the NTA and the Department of Transport.

Tooreen NS, a school of 114 pupils near Ballyhaunis excelled and embraced the challenge by promoting multiple forms of sustainable travel, such as walking/wheeling, cycling or carpooling, to suit different members of the school community, with a main focus on Park n Stride to reduce the number of cars idling at the school gate.

The initiative was such a success that the school saw their number of families leaving the car behind nearly double from day one to day ten.

Congratulating Tooreen NS and the other awarded schools on their achievements, An Taisce Education Unit Director Cathy Baxter said: “It's so uplifting to see such enthusiasm and creativity in making the journey to school sustainable! Initiatives like these, as part of Green-Schools Travel programme, are so important in creating real sustainable behaviour change and are testament to the work of the students, teachers and whole school community, as well as our partnerships with Local Authorities, the National Transport Authority and Department of Transport.”

The top schools from each county were awarded for their part in promoting green travel modes to school as part of the BIG Travel Challenge, with a regional winner chosen from them. The Staffroom Challenge was back by popular demand as well, extending the competition to school teachers and staff to travel more sustainably, and get creative doing so.