We were delighted to shape our very own 'Stepping Stones' forest today with the support of Amazon Communities and a team of fantastic volunteers.

Stepping Stones is a charity working in the community, whose vision is to create a series of natural stepping stone habitats for Irish wildlife to live in and move through our urban environments.

Stepping Stone Forests are small woodlands which are planted using native Irish species of trees and shrubs. They are planted very densely with three trees per square meter. These forests absorb more than 30 times more carbon than grass lawns and they help to reduce global warming.

Today's first step was Soil Preparation. This focussed on preparing the soil correctly. This involves putting down sheets of cardboard and then cover that with a 5/6cm layer of wood chip mulch. The team of volunteers coordinates this event and worked with a fantastic team of Second Year's from Mr Deasy's woodwork group.

We look forward to Planting Day in about six months time. Using a mix of bare root and potted trees, Stepping Stones will come back to support and work with our community to plant MSCC's very own forest.

Huge thanks to John Kiberd, the fantastic coordinator & our link with www.steppinstoneforests.org and also to Amazon Communities who sponsored the project.

Thanks also to our own team - Stephen our caretaker for supporting preparation, to Mr Wilhare, Mr Deasy and Mr Dillon who all got involved in today's soil preparation and facilitated student involvement.