FLOURISH: Blakestown Micro Forest

Seanchaí Woods is a micro forest on the grounds of Blakestown Community School, planted by Gareth Kennedy and the members of the transition year art class along with their teacher Mary Quinn and woodworker Eoin Donnelly. Planting commenced in October 2020 and was completed in April 2021.

As part of the programme, young people learned a variety of old techniques such as wood splitting and turning, digging and tree planting and mulching. They erected tents and lit fires, and used the circular space of the micro forest as a location for learning outdoors and outside of the classroom. The intent of this project is to bridge the gap between the idea nature being ‘out there’ or elsewhere, and it also being apart from our culture and everyday learning and experience. The intent is to give young students a valuable and enriching learning experience and to embolden them to take on their own environmentally sensitive projects.

This project is seven months in the making. It began in autumn 2020 and has survived all seasons and the pandemic. We couldn’t be more proud to be part of this excellent team which planted 450 native broadleaf trees on the school grounds.

This project brought so much hope to these students and to us all in the last seven months. It will continue to grow and flourish for years to come.

Thanks to the amazing Gareth Kennedy, Rayne Booth, Eoin Donnelly, Mary Quinn, and the students Aaron, Kayleigh, Nathan, Fernanda, Daniela, Marina, Marta, Amy, Pol, Leah, Ciaran, Iulian Christian, Sean, Elizabeth, Raphael, Chisha. Julie Clarke, Youth & Education Officer, Fingal Arts Office.

This project. is a collaboration between Superprojects and Fingal County Council Arts Office. It was made possible through funding from the Arts Council Ireland.