Green Schools

St Conleth's Progress

June 2014 Update:
Our school now has five green flags for Litter and Waste, Energy, Water, Travel and Biodiversity, after we were awarded the fifth flag in 2014.

On June 6th 2014 we had a huge day of celebrations. All sorts of activities were organised for the children. There was sponge throwing, welly throwing, Tug-o-war, Penalty shots and face painting. We had bouncy castles and obstacle courses.

The flag was raised officially by Eoghan O’ Flaherty at 12 noon. Eoghan is a past pupil of the school and a well-known Kildare Gaelic hero.

We also had a special tree-planting ceremony on the day to celebrate biodiversity. The first trees were planted on the school grounds as a result of a campaign by Mrs. Marjie Morrin. She was on hand this year to plant a red oak in front of the school.

A special thanks must be extended to Ms. Keown, the driving force behind the school’s Green Schools Programme. She is ably assisted by a very dedicated Green Schools Committee, namely:- Craig Thompson, Aaron Hoey, Elliot Mooney, Seán Hogan, Ryan Dunne, Ryan Grace, Eabha Moss, Paul Fleming, Oisín Malone, Kayla Kavanagh, Sophie Kenna, Erin Owen, Katie Byrne.

We thank the Tidy Towns Committee for their help with our Green Schools work. We also extend our gratitude to the Community Garden Committee.

A special acknowledgement goes to Mark and Bridget Henchy for the fantastic work they did on our frog pond, ensuring that we have plenty of biological diversity. Congratulations to everyone at St. Conleth’s National School on receiving the fifth Green Flag.

However we also need to keep working on the themes we have already done.

LITTER AND WASTE: Remember to take your litter home. No tinfoil is allowed in school. Always recycle and re-use when possible. Remind your teachers to photocopy pages front and back to reduce paper used and re-use old pages when we can!!

ENERGY: Remember to turn off all lights and appliances when you don’t need them.

WATER: Remember all our water tips. Don’t leave taps running. Always check for leaking taps. You should have a water monitor in the class.

TRAVEL: Remember all the hard work we did over the last two years. Always try to walk or cycle to school, bur especially on Wednesday, our WOW and COW day. Always be safe. Wear brightly coloured clothes and a helmet if cycling. Junior Infants have all received high visibility jackets to keep them seen when walking or cycling. Our work will start soon for our new flag. Let’s work as we have done for the last number of years and hopefully in two years time we’ll be raising our fifth Green Flag!

 

Our Flags
To date the school have managed to get four Green Schools flags.

Our first flag was awarded in 2006. This flag was awarded for Litter and Waste. The children had to audit the amount of waste being produced and find ways of reducing, reusing and recycling.

The second flag was received in 2008. This time the theme was Energy. Meters were read and efforts were made to switch off appliances and turn down heat. The school invested in new windows to reduce heating requirements and reduce the cost of energy and the damage to the environment.

Our third flag was awarded in 2010 for our work on Water. Saving water is not just about saving money. Water is an important resource and a sufficient supply of clean water is essential to the health of both people and the environment. All of our food production and agriculture needs water.

Our Fourth flag was awarded in 2012. This was on the theme of Travel. By promoting sustainable transport modes (walking, cycling, car pooling and park and stride), we have improved pupils' safety, health and fitness. We’ve also lessened our impact on the environment by reducing emissions and pollution. On Friday 15th June 2012 there were huge celebrations at St. Conleth’s National School. The children welcomed local celebrity Adrian Brereton of ‘Operation Transformation’ fame. Adrian brought his collection of exotic animals and all the children had a chance to take part in the spectacular animal show in the hall.

The children were delighted that Adrian was available to raise our fourth Green Flag and almost more excited to see all the exotic and rare animals that Adrian had on show. Among the animals were tarantulas, a chinchilla, a snake, a parrot, an owl, rabbits - to name but a few. It was a wonderful start to our special Green School Flag Celebration Day. See photos of the day here.

 

Our Green Schools Committee
Our Green Schools Committee has worked tirelessly all year to ensure that the school managed to achieve its goal of earning our fourth Green Schools Flag. Each week they gathered and collated data on methods of travelling to school. Only after careful consideration was the Golden Boot Award presented by the committee to the winning class.

The committee members also had to liaise with representatives from An Taisce and conduct a cyclability audit of the area. We are very proud of the dedicated members of the committee and we thank them for all their hard work. Three cheers for the Green Schools Committee and their wonderful coordinator, Ms Keown.

 

COW - Cycle on Wednesdays
COW is a scheme which aims to promote cycling to school on a regular basis. The scheme has been very successful. The idea behind the scheme is to dedicate each Wednesday to cycling to school. The scheme is a great way to encourage children to cycle and in turn it creates a cycling culture within the school. Each Wednesday lots of children cycled to school. Anyone that didn’t have a bike walked instead.

Those who lived further away opted for the ‘Park and Stride’ scheme. They parked their cars nearby and walked the last leg of their journey to school. As a result of the efforts of all the parents, staff and pupils we were awarded extra cycle parking by An Taisce. They were amazed at the number of bikes which appeared every Wednesday and said they have never seen such a fantastic response to the scheme in a school.

Once again St. Conleth’s leads the way. The benefits of the COW scheme are very clear. Not only have we reduced air pollution, but we have helped everyone to get fitter. Congratulations everybody and keep on cycling!

 

The Golden Boot
The Golden Boot Challenge is a great way to promote alternative modes of transport on the school run. Students score points when they walk, cycle, car-share, park and stride or use public transport to school. The challenge is a great way to start some friendly competition amongst classes and has resulted in great competition every month.The class with the highest score is awarded the coveted Golden Boot Award for their efforts and the winning class proudly displays the trophy.

The Golden Boot challenge has become so successful that classes actively compete against each other for the award, often begging parents to allow them to walk or cycle in spite of the weather. We thank all the parents for allowing the children to participate in the scheme and applaud the children for their enthusiasm.

 

• Return to the Main Green School page
• Return to the Themes key to making the Green Schools Programme successful