Anyway, that brings me onto Laura, my best friend. She is seven months older than me and has really long straight hair and freckles all across her nose, which she hates. We have been friends since Junior Infants. Dad says it’s a miracle we are friends at all because Laura is everything I am not, i.e. responsible, mature, hardworking and not a rebel AT ALL. But, as they say, opposites attract, and she is the most fun person I know and great at helping me with my amazing plans.

Of course, me and Laura are not the only kids in our class. There are 15 of us in total (which I think is a rather small class, but Múinteoir Emer says it’s more than enough for her to handle). There are eight girls and seven boys, and we all get along fine (well, most of the time).

The only other person I guess I should tell you about is Mr Manley. He is our school principal, and he thinks I’m a TOTAL PAIN in the butt. His favourite thing to say is, ‘Ciúnas, inside voices please, people!’ He spends a lot of time in his office doing paperwork and getting angry that the school down the road, St Gobnait’s (the one with the white shirts and socks), has had yet another write-up in our local newspaper, the BALLYBROGIN WEEKLY, about an amazing new project or another brilliant competition one of its students has won. But I think the biggest reason that Mr Manley doesn’t like them is because their principal is Marcus Manley, his twin brother, who, according to rumour, is a whole two minutes older than him and therefore his BIG BROTHER.

This is why it was so great when we won the competition, and why it made Mr Manley so happy. It is also why what happened later was so bad and made Mr Manley so cross.

But really, now that I think about it, it all started because of SESE. Let me explain.

One of the subjects we study in Fourth Class is what Múinteoir Emer likes to call Social, Environmental and Scientific Education, but we call it SESE for short – sure who could be remembering that big long name?

It sounds PURE FANCY but really all it means is that we learn about the planet, nature, animals and how to look after the world so it will still be there for our children’s children’s children and stuff. Múinteoir Emer totally loves the subject. This year we have already created a nature table, built a bug hotel – which, after a long debate, we decided to name
  BUG-ING-HAM PALACE,
although I still think MILLY’S BEE AND BEE was a better idea – and we even grew our own cress. Mam made us eat it in a sandwich with mashed-up egg, and Dad said it tasted like grass, only worse.

So, you can only imagine how EXCITED Múinteoir Emer was when she came into school the first week of March to say she had read about a competition called Irish Climate Heroes that she wanted our class to enter. She said all we had to do was come up with a class project around CLIMATE CHANGE and sure wouldn’t it keep us grand and busy until Easter break – and also get that bloomin’ Mr Manley off her case?

And, with any luck, we might even achieve that GREEN FLAG Mr Manley had been coveting ever since St Gobnait’s down the road got awarded theirs.

Múinteoir Emer said it would be killing two birds with one stone, which I thought was an awful cruel thing to say, what with her being an environmentalist and all.