September 2019

Our Green Schools Committee was selected and the following students received the following Committee jobs:

Chairperson: Pearse  (6th class)

Vice Chairperson: Paul (5th class)

Secretary: Chloe  (5th class)

Assistant Secretary: Edel  (4th class)

Treasurer: Ross (4th class)

Assistant Treasurer: Annie (3rd class)

PRO: Seanán  (4th class)

Assistant PRO: Stacey  (2nd class)

Our Green Schools theme is Global Citizenship Litter and Waste. The Committee has carried out a litter and waste audit of the school grounds. Some litter has been discovered in the school grounds but overall it is not a problem in our school. We conducted an audit of the classroom bins and found that some people are putting litter/waste in the wrong bins. We will label all bins in each classroom and the staff room so that rubbish is put into the correct bin. We will contact Barna Waste and ask them for our bin weights so we can track our progress in reducing waste. We are losing heat through outside doors being left open at break times, we will discuss with Mr Conefrey removing the door latches so the doors can no longer be left open at break times allowing the heat to escape.

October

We have decided on a Slogan for our Sixth Flag. It is ‘Ireland is green, so let’s keep it clean! Save our Planet – bees and trees, and all nations will be at ease. Everyone has a part so let’s start. The Senior Room designed posters based on our Slogan and we have displayed them around the school We had a  ‘Heritage in our schools’ Nature trail with Martina Butler on Tuesday 1^st of October. We really enjoyed it. Our clothes collection is taking place next week. We are hoping to get a Permanent Clothes Recycling Bin at the school that the community can use it all year round.

November

The school has decided to take part in The Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal. Any family that would like to participate needs to return their shoe box to the school by Friday 8^th November. The clothes collection in the school was a great success, we raised almost €300. As part of our recycling we are putting a big effort into collecting used batteries as this also helps the Laura Lynn Foundation. We have filled nearly all of our blue boxes. We have decided to hold a colouring competition to raise awareness for our battery recycling. There will be a winner and runner up prize for each classroom.

December

The committee judged the WEEE battery poster colouring competition and the following people were our lucky winners – Junior Room: Winner – Tommy Mitchell McKeon, Runner Up – Sophie Svan. Senior Room: Winner – Jane Prior, Runner Up – Caitlín Fee. Well done to all who took part! We are currently practising for our School Christmas Concert and are on a search for a wide variety of props. If anyone can help out by donating or lending it will help us cut down on buying new ones, save extra costs and reduce our waste.

January 2020

We have filled up all our blue WEEE battery recycling boxes, we have contacted WEEE Ireland to ask for more recycling boxes and to get ours collected. The teachers did lessons in each classroom from the WEEE Ireland website. The senior classroom made a cool art project using recycled plastic, wooden and metal everyday household objects inspired by American artist Mike Kelley’s “Memory Wave Flat # 18”. Climate Change is very much in the headlines and in school we are looking at what is causing it in SESE. We will make a poster based on our finding for our Green Schools Board. We have also discussed having another clothes collection as our Permanent Clothes Recycling Bin has not been delivered yet and we already have bags collected.

February

The Green Schools Committee organised a survey of the school grounds to find litter and after that we looked for signs of Spring. We found very little litter, and lots of signs of spring. The Junior and Senior Room have both been looking at Fairtrade this month. Everyone has been encouraged to look for Fairtrade products in the supermarket. The Committee have asked the teachers to use Fairtrade products in the staffroom and they have agreed. The Senior Room made a poster on what we have discovered about Fairtrade for The Green Schools Notice Board. We had a Clothes Collection on the 26^th of February as our clothes bin has not arrived. The Senior Room did a project on Wind Energy. They collected and used only recyclable materials for this project. They have also decided to have a jumble sale in aid of Children helping Children. This is a charity we support every year but we are making an even bigger effort this year as part of our Global Citizenship Green Flag. Some of the parents are going to fix the insulation in the attic as we discovered that some of it was missing and heat in the school has been escaping this way