Scoil Naomh Erc, Glenderry

Green School

November 2019

Green Schools

Global Citizenship Litter & Waste Examines what our rights and responsibilities are on a National, European and Global scale and encourages staff, students and parents to look at the impacts our consumptions habits have on other parts of the world.

Green Schools – 7 STEPS

Step 1

Green Schools Committee -Composition and Selection

We set up our Green Schools Committee. Children were invited to write a piece on why they were interested in joining and what they could bring to the committee. The children were selected from the essays/labelled pictures and a committee was formed. The following people were selected:

Zara Mcgrath, Sean Kenny, Jenna Lynch, Makayla Roche, Mikayla O Sullivan, Sarah Hobbert, Niamh Harty, Kayla Gleeson and Liam Carroll.

Step 2

Environmental Review

The committee carried out a litter and waste survey. So much work has been done in the previous flags they found that the only bins now in the classrooms are paper-bins which are emptied and recycled each week. There are no more waste bins in the school except for the staff room. It was decided that this area would have to be addressed.

Water-taps are monitored daily to make sure they are off and not leaking and white-boards and lights are switched off at break times and when they are not necessary.

Step 3

Action Plan

The action plan aims to identify goals and provide a structured timetable for the reduction of the environmental impacts identified in the review.

Initially a rough plan was set up and ideas come up they are added to the plan. The full plan can be seen on a separate document.

Step 4

Monitoring and Evaluation

Aspects of the action plan are monitored by the Green Schools Committee. Areas that need adjustments or improvement are added to the action plan.

Step 5

Curriculum Work & Links

Teachers are encouraged to link where possible the theme to as many curriculum areas as possible.

Step 6

Informing and Involving

This involves spreading the Green Schools message throughout the whole school and the wider community. Currently we are doing this through our Green Schools notice board, messages from the Green Schools Committee. We display of results and project work. We use letters to parents informing them of progress, our school website and our Facebook page.

Step 7

Our Green Schools Code was created by the Green Schools Committee. It is on display on our Green Schools notice board and a copy of the code was given to each teacher.

Green Schools Update

We have been working on our new Green Schools theme – ‘Global Citizenship – Litter and Waste’.

We began the theme by putting together our new Green Schools Committee. We then carried out litter and waste surveys, a nationality survey, a survey to analyse the use cling-film and tin foil, single use plastics survey.

     Namejs Balodis with Green Schools Committee

During Climate Action week we were busy learning about the affects of Climate Change. We had a very interesting visit from Namejs Balodis who is the Chairperson of Fridays for Future as well as the Chairperson of the Tralee Institute of Technology Environmental Society.

This week RTÉ On Climate will include news features with brand new documentaries and features with an Irish perspective on the global climate crisis and practical ways we can all make a difference. Some of these may be shown in the senior classes if time allows. These programmes will be very interesting for the children and tie in with our theme well.

Over the coming weeks we will also be learning about Fair Trade, reducing the use of Single Use Plastics in our School and eliminating tin-foil and cling film in the school. What can you as a parent/guardian do to help?

• Encourage your child to only bring a re-usable bottle to school.
• Help to eliminate tin-foil and cling-film in lunch boxes.
• Share photos/ideas of clever tips for plastic free/package free lunches. We have many children who bring zero waste lunches so it would be lovely to share these tips with the school community.
• If you have any wrappers from Fair Trade products at home please send them into school.
• Reduce, Re-use, Recycle!
  

   Green Schools Committee Members

Thanking you for your on-going support!

Green Schools Committee

June 2015

Travel Action Day – May 28^th 2015

We held our Green-schools Action Day on May 28^th and worked with the Active Schools and Health Promoting Schools committees to plan the day.

Students who would generally travel to school by car began a week of walking to school in groups.

All children dressed in green colours and were treated to a healthy breakfast on arrival, organised by teachers and parents.

Over the coming week students will take part in a variety of active games to promote Active Schools Week 2015.

February 13th 2015

February 2nd 2015

Green-schools

This year, Scoil Naomh Erc have begun to work on the fourth theme in the Green-schools programme – TRAVEL. We will try our very best to promote more sustainable modes of travel to and from school, for example: walking, cycling, carpooling, park n’ stride and the bus.

Sustainable travel modes have many advantages:

· Helps to improve the environment and reduce emissions
· Helps to reduce traffic congestion at the school gate
· Reduces journey time (by reducing the number of cars on the road)
· Saves money by sharing the cost of fuel
· Improves fitness level
· Allows for more fun for your children on their school journey
· Develops social skills

Greenschools Committee
Aoibhe O’ Halloran
Evan Casey
Emma Woods
Lauren Glennon
Caoimhe Flahive
Nathan O’ Shea
Laura Reidy
Jack Stack

The committee have a very important job of recording how students travel to school. They will also maintain work on the other previous green-school themes (Litter and Waste, Energy and Water) by collecting the recycling bins, checking that light switches/computers and whiteboards are turned off and by reading the water meter.

Road Safety

Road Safety Talk with Senior Infants – January 29th 2015

Angela Wall visited all classes during the year to speak about road safety. Children    are allowed to bring their cycling helmets to school and Angela showed them how        to fit them in the correct way.

June 2014

Scoil Naomh Erc, Glenderry have been working on the Green-schools Water Theme for the past two years.  We were thrilled to receive our flag and we raised it with all students and staff on the 19th of June. We have an absolutely fantastic committee within the school who have worked extremely hard to conserve water and raise levels of awareness amongst students and staff.  Our very helpful caretaker, Noel, was always on hand to share his advice. Turning off taps, reading the meter and checking for leaks may have seemed like a small thing but with 129 children practicing this every day, it has made a massive difference to our school. We held a Water Experiment Day to mark World Water Day and invited parents in to spread our message to the wider community. Guest speakers also visited to share their knowledge with the children.  By taking part in Green-schools, our students have been given the opportunity to develop decision making skills, build their confidence and sense of citizenship through participation while contributing to a cleaner and safer environment for all.

October 2013

Great work is under way towards the school’s third Green Flag.  This flag is awarded for the schools efforts in the area of water conservation. Check out Gallery/Green Flags for some pics of the story so far.

 OUR GREEN CODE  –  WATER 

I pledge to save water

in my school and in my home.

I pledge to do water a favour

by being a saver!

I pledge to turn off taps

when I’m not using them

and use rainwater when I can.

I pledge to use a basin

to wash the car and a

watering can when watering the plants.

I pledge to brush the path

instead of hosing it

and take shorter showers

instead of baths!

I pledge not to waste water

by pouring glasses of it down the sink

and fill my water bottle and not let it spill!

I pledge to fill the kettle with

only the amount of water that I need

and remind my family of the water saving tips

if I come across any leaks or drips!

When the weather gets hotter,

I’ll try not to use too much water,

I pledge only to use and make ice when I need it!

But most of all, I pledge to

use water in a wise way

because I know

how precious a resource it is

and on this Earth I want it to stay!

Second Green Flag awarded to the school for its great work on energy conservation.  Well done to all involved.

Scoil Naomh Erc received its first Green Flag this year, which is proudly flying high in the school yard. It was awarded for completion of phase one of the Green Schools initiative, which related to waste management. The Green Schools Committee and all staff and pupils are now working hard on achieving our second green flag which is awarded for the schools efforts in Energy Conservation.