School diet includes oysters and scarecrows

Some thought there had been a rave party. Some said there was a Celtic mystic link. A few people who noticed a JCB digger in a nearby field were convinced that the eco-warriors had come. In fact, the scarecrows stuck in a bog near Letterfrack in Connemara are not meant to be scary at all.

Made by pupils of Letterfrack National School, the figures have a purpose. Hardy Langer, the German graphic designer who inspired the project, says they symbolise the fragility of the landscape and how easily it can be harmed.

For him, working with the children was a game. "It was important to let kids do the creative part, because even if they try hard [and some did], kids are incapable of creating truly scary things. It was only me, the adult, who changed their work into a strange performance."

Vincent Lacey (12), one of the sixth formers, described it as "painting heads and sticking them around the countryside".

Vincent, who starts in Clifden secondary in September, had a memorable last year in primary school. One of the highlights was marked last week, with a fairly significant commercial deal. A batch of oysters was sold by the Letterfrack NS pupils to the Renvyle House hotel. Roly's in Ballsbridge, Dublin, is also a customer. Another batch of 50 dozen has also been earmarked for the restaurant.

The yield is the fruit of two years' work, since fifth and sixth formers used nature class to set up a gigas oyster farm in Derryinver Bay.

The enlightened teacher is Leo Hallissey, Letterfrack NS principal, who also credits Tomas Burke, aquaculture development officer employed jointly by Bord Iascaigh Mhara and Forum, the local community-based initiative.

In 1996, a site was donated by John Fouere of Cleggan Lobster Fisheries. Part of that farm's licence was also used, and over 30,000 juveniles were supplied by Boet Mor Seafoods hatchery in Streamstown Bay.

The seed was set with the help of about 26 pupils in fifth and sixth year. "We put 500 into 65 bags, brought them down and put them out on trestles," Patrick O'Toole (13), one of the class, recalls. About once a month, they donned wellington boots and went down to the strand, where they learned how to shake, turn and tie the bags.

"We counted them and checked to see if there was any seaweed on them or on the trestles," Vincent says. "It was good fun. We all enjoyed it."

His fifth year colleague, Matthew Heanue (11), who is now going into sixth class, says it was brilliant fun. The work wasn't too bad, he says. He also participated in the scarecrow project, but he won't be becoming an artist or a shellfish farmer. His main passion is music, he says. He plays guitar, tin whistle, and has written songs about the environment.

As Tomas Burke explains, the physical effort could be heavy going. "We taught them basic husbandry, but also showed them how to measure the temperature and salinity of the water so that they became aware of the marine environment. Obviously, it depended on the tide, which is why the visits were about once a month."

About 1,200 oysters are now being sold and a new batch of children will resume the work next term. Proceeds from the yield will be used to buy more seed and equipment. Leo Hallissey, who is the brains behind Conamara Sea Week and Bog Week, believes there is nothing quite like exposing children to their habitat. "Kids are protected so much these days, as we all are. We are losing our links with our own environment."

So impressed was Patrick O'Toole's father that he is considering getting into the shellfish business. His son is not so sure, but admits it is a little early to be thinking about his future.

A video, commissioned by Galway County Council and made by Aesop Teo of Cill Chiarain, filmed the children at work on the trestles and gathering seaweed, and this will be shown when completed in other schools in the county.

Leo Hallissey doesn't stop here; having roped in Digital to sponsor some tanks in the school, he intends to start up an aquarium next year. Forum, the community-based company which was set up in partnership with the EU in a Combat Poverty initiative, is planning a comprehensive youth scheme within the next two to three years.

Canoes and a mobile trailer have been purchased and there are plans to buy dinghies and to give local children the opportunity to go walking on hills - a simple activity which some believe to be solely the preserve of "tourists".

The philosophy is one which many teachers would embrace, if they had the local support and opportunities. Writing in the Guardian last week, a senior university lecturer bemoaned the effect that the current education system was having on young minds.

When science was introduced at primary level, the aim was to allow them to ask questions about the natural world, Jon Turney, senior lecturer in science communications at University College, London, wrote. This still happens, initially. "Kids experience science as play. They mix and separate, dissolve and heat, begin to understand the states of matter, the turn of the seasons and the more elusive properties of electricity and magnetism."

Come sixth year, however, and fun is replaced by dull rote-learning. An exciting creative subject becomes pointless and boring. The result, he said, is "the end of exploration". Not so, thankfully, in Letterfrack.