Beaufort College students win national award for sustainability campaign

Students at Beaufort College have been recognised at a national level for their outstanding efforts in promoting sustainability, earning the Best Creativity Award in this year’s Daily Swaps Challenge, a nationwide initiative from the Green-Schools programme, run by An Taisce.

The award celebrates schools that bring bold, imaginative, and inspiring ideas to raising awareness—and Beaufort College stood out for doing exactly that.

Throughout the initiative, students designed a wide range of engaging promotional materials that brought the campaign to life across the school. Their work included eye-catching graphic designs, a lively social media campaign, a dynamic school noticeboard, and even colourful murals around the school’s water fountains to highlight the importance of water conservation.

The creativity extended beyond promotion, with students organising inventive activities that encouraged participation throughout the school community. These included opening the “Beaufort Boutique” for clothing donations, linking with ExamRevision.ie to distribute free reusable water bottles, and hosting an interactive water awareness workshop with a facilitator from Concern Worldwide.

Through these imaginative ideas and hands-on initiatives, Beaufort College transformed the campaign into a vibrant and engaging experience, inspiring students to think creatively about sustainability and the everyday choices that can help protect the planet.

The Daily Swaps Challenge invited students across Ireland to take simple everyday actions—such as taking shorter showers, boiling only the water needed, or donating unused clothes—to reduce water and energy use.

Taking place from 9th–13th March, the challenge saw participation from schools in 18 counties, with students recording an impressive total of 22,923 daily swaps.

The initiative reveals the close connection between water and energy use in everyday life. Heating water for showers, running washing machines, producing food and manufacturing clothing all require significant amounts of both resources. For example, washing machines consume an average of 50 litres of water per cycle1, while producing a single cotton T-shirt can require around 2,700 litres of water2. By making small changes to everyday habits, we can help reduce pressure on ecosystems and lower environmental impacts.

The Daily Swaps Challenge forms part of the Green-Schools Water Theme, supported by Uisce Éireann, which works with schools across Ireland to raise awareness about protecting water resources and promoting sustainable water use.

Geoffrey Bourke, Head of Customer Operations at Uisce Éireann, a sponsor of the Green-Schools Water Programme, commented:

“Daily Swaps shows how small, practical actions can make a real difference. By empowering students to lead sustainability campaigns in their schools and communities, we’re helping young people understand the connections between water, energy and the everyday choices we make.”

Tori Rickman, Green-Schools Officer for the Water Theme, added:

“Beaufort College’s Daily Swaps campaign is a fantastic example of how students can lead meaningful environmental action in a creative and engaging way. By running their own challenges, Green-Schools Committees build real skills in communication, teamwork and motivating others. It highlights that environmental action doesn’t have to be about giving things up—it can be about challenging ourselves and our peers to make small changes together in a way that’s fun and impactful.”

For more information about the Green-Schools programme, visit www.greenschoolsireland.org.