Tidy Towns Heritage Award
The TidyTowns Heritage Award, sponsored by the Heritage Council seeks to recognise those who work at community level to nurture, promote and inspire new connections with natural, cultural or built heritage.
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Encourage greater awareness in your school of Ireland’s rich built, natural and cultural heritage with an engaging and stimulating visit from one of our Heritage in Schools experts.
Encourage greater awareness in your school of Ireland’s rich built, natural and cultural heritage with an engaging and stimulating visit from one of our Heritage in Schools experts.
The Heritage in Schools Scheme provides a panel of 160 Heritage Specialists who visit primary schools in-person and virtually throughout the country.
The Specialist's areas of expertise range from bats to whales, from Vikings to the history of bread, from story-telling to traditional dance, and from charcoal making to military heritage, to mention just a few.
The Scheme supports the stated aims and objectives of the Social, Scientific and Environmental Education (SESE) curriculum and provides an additional educational tool and resource for teachers.
Visits should relate to local heritage and may cover heritage topics as defined by the Heritage Act: monuments, archaeological objects, heritage objects such as art and industrial works, documents and genealogical records, architectural heritage, flora, fauna, wildlife habitats, landscapes, seascapes, wrecks, geology, heritage gardens, parks and inland waterways.
Through the Scheme, the children can also develop a knowledge and appreciation for the uniqueness of their locality through trips to local parks, woods, lakes, rivers, sea-shores, old graveyards, castles or churches or other places of interest through structured field trips with a Heritage Expert. The visit is part-funded by both the school and the Heritage Council.
1. Obtain approval for the online/virtual visit from the School Principal or Board of Management.
2. Select a Heritage Expert from the Heritage Experts list.
3. Contact the Heritage Expert and arrange the date, time and duration of the visit.
4. Plan the content of the visit with the Heritage Expert and decide what preparation must be undertaken by the expert, the teacher and the pupils prior to the visit.
5. All bookings must be made in advance of visit with the Heritage Council. Please use our online booking system. Failure to book in advance, may result in the visit not being subsidised by the Heritage Council.
6. The cost of the visit must be paid directly to the Heritage Expert after each visit. Travel costs are covered by the Heritage Council.
7. A short evaluation form must be completed after each visit.
8. The number of children participating in a visit by a Heritage Expert should not exceed 30.
9. The teacher must remain with the class and the Heritage Expert at all times during the visit.
10. The Heritage Expert is not expected to supervise pupils alone, or to visit for longer than the agreed time.
11. Bookings can only be made for the current calendar year.
Duration of visit | Half Day (2.5 - 3 hours) | Whole Day (5 - 5.5 hours) |
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Cost to school | €60 | €100 |
Cost to the Heritage Council | €80 | €150 |
Cost to designated disadvantaged school | €40 | €60 |
Cost to the Heritage Council | €100 | €190 |
Visit the Heritage in Schools website to search the profiles of Heritage Specialists in your area – you can search by county, subject and filter to see who provides visits through Irish.
The printed resources provided under Teachers Resources and online video tutorials have been submitted by Heritage Experts, teachers or prepared by other educational organisations. The resources are both fun and educational and are designed to inspire and develop an appreciation and curiosity about Ireland’s wonderful natural and cultural heritage.
There are many wonderful places to visit throughout the country which really bring Ireland's rich heritage to life for children. Search Places to Visit by county or subject to see what’s available in your area.
The TidyTowns Heritage Award, sponsored by the Heritage Council seeks to recognise those who work at community level to nurture, promote and inspire new connections with natural, cultural or built heritage.
Our podcasts this year will explore a broad overview of the multi-layered experiences which encompass Ireland’s past. These podcasts will also put into context how this sense of heritage is all part of our collective experience, and why so much of what went before, still resonates in the present.
The Mayglass Farmstead is an exemplar and rare survivor of a type of two-storied thatched rural dwelling of the Irish vernacular tradition and one of the most significant conservation projects ever carried out by The Heritage Council.