And the winner is…   Ireland’s new Travel School of the Year for 2023 is St Brigid’s National Junior School from Meath Hill.

At a ceremony in Dublin Zoo on Tuesday, St. Brigid’s National School were named Ireland’s Travel School of the Year by the Green-Schools Travel Programme following their participation in the programme’s Big Travel Challenge in February. Eleven schools were awarded at the ceremony and named as Cycling, Walking, Scooting and Park ‘n’ Stride Schools of the Year.

St Brigid’s National School, Ireland’s Travel School of the Year 2023

During February schools undertook the Green-Schools Big Travel Challenge – now in its eighth year – which asked them to concentrate on one sustainable transport mode 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 Green-Schools Travel,  and supported by the NTA and the Department of Transport.

Eleven schools were awarded at the ceremony and named as Cycling, Walking, Scooting and Park ‘n’ Stride Schools of the Year. Two Special Schools were awarded for their achievements during the Challenge as well.

And this year was the first year of the Staffroom Challenge, to promote sustainable travel among teachers and staff, and the TikTok Challenge, to motivate schools to get creative during the Big Travel Challenge.

List of all winning schools:

Ireland’s Walking School of the Year 2023

· Piper’s Hill College

· St. Mark’s Junior School

St Mark’s Junior School

Ireland’s Cycling School of the Year 2023

· Adamstown Community College

· St. Aidan’s National School

Adamstown Community College

Ireland’s Carpool School of the Year 2023

· Scoil Naomh Gobnait

· St. Brendan’s College

Scoil Naomh Gobnait

St Brendan’s College

Ireland’s Park ‘n’ Stride School of the Year 2023

· St Brigid’s National School

· Loreto Secondary School

Loreto Fermoy

Ireland’s Special School Sustainable Travel Award 2023

· St. Joseph’s Special School

· St. Cecilia’s School

St Joseph’s

St Cecilia’s

Big Travel Staffroom Challenge Winners 2023

· Scoil Mhuire

Scoil Mhuire

Big Travel TikTok Challenge Winners 2023

· Presentation College, Castle Island

Ireland’s Travel School of the Year

· St Brigid’s National School, Meath Hill

Congratulations, and well done to all the winners! And a big thank you to everyone who took part!