Kilbehenny National School students were delighted last Friday to welcome Minister Patrick O’Donovan to the school, as they were presented with their very first Platinum Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Curious Minds Award. The school are no strangers to accolades, having in the past years won no fewer than 17 SFI prizes, but this was their very first prestigious ‘Platinum’ award.
They were not the only school in the locality to win the top award, as Scoil Teampall Toinne in nearby Ballyporeen also scooped a ‘Platinum’ prize: the schools were just two of 26 schools around the country to win the top honour.
Minister O’Donovan was joined at Kilbehenny NS by Dr Ciarán Seoighe, the Deputy Director General of SFI, and the duo answered many of the students’ science questions from the floor, including why clothes get damp, how static electricity works, and how gravity works. Minister O’Donovan, who holds a BA in Science from UCC, also slipped into the role of a primary school teacher on Friday morning, with at least one ‘ciúnas’ slipping from his lips as the pupils got a bit restless as the morning wore on.
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 Curious Minds Award. The school are no strangers to accolades, having in the past years won no fewer than 17 SFI prizes, but this was their very first prestigious ‘Platinum’ award.){kind=link}