GREEN SCHOOL
2008/2009
St Mary’s
Green School Committee has begun it’s newest campaign to retain its long
held Green Flag. Previous themes
successfully completed in St Mary’s were Waste And Litter, Water, Energy
and a combination of all three. Pupils worked hard on these themes –
turning off unnecessary lights, recycling, composting, conserving water and
began working on the new Travel theme in September 2008.
Fiona Kidd, Green
Schools' Co-ordinator in St. Mary's, organised a workshop examining changes
to transport and travel in the New Ross area over the last 100 years. Ms
Yvonne Kelly, Green Schools Travel Education Officer, presented the workshop
which is designed to encourage students, teachers and parents to walk,
cycle, park 'n' stride, car-pool or use public transport instead of using
the private car on the school run.
GREEN SCHOOL -
OUR HISTORY
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In 2001 St. Mary's was awarded its first prestigious EU Green Flag. The Green School initiative is a Europe-wide project encouraging and
acknowledging whole-school action for the environment. St. Mary's
became the first school in Ireland to be awarded the flag in less than a
year.
The 3-Rs, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, are an
intrinsic part of the life and ethos of the school. St. Mary's students and
staff compost all organic materials daily. Cans, glass, newspapers,
cards, plastic bottles, ink cartridges and batteries are all recycled.
The school is divided into indoor and outdoor
green zones with each class group responsible for one of each. Each
week green points are awarded to the best areas.
Wexford County Council implements the programme
in conjunction with An Taisce and is a regular presence in the school. The
programme involves the whole school; teaching staff, maintenance staff,
cleaning staff and students, all are represented on the Green School
Committee.
In 2003 St. Mary's added the Green
Schools' Energy Programme to its Waste and Litter Programme A very active Green School Committee spearheaded
the programme. Window box
competitions and poster competitions were used to support our
programme.. Energy awareness week was a
great success and following a review by An Taisce, we were once again awarded the Green Flag.
Ms Anita Fennelly initiated and co-ordinated the Green School Programme from
2001 to 2004
Renewable Energy Project 2004
Well done to class 2:3 on their presentation at the
Renewable Energy National Conference. The event was organised by Wexford
Energy Management Agency.
As St. Mary’s is a designated green school, the students
researched the mechanisms behind various forms of renewable energy and then
carried out case studies on their own areas and suggested suitable sources
of Sustainable Renewable Energy taking all factors (culture, economy,
tourism, planning and climate) into consideration. All sites were plotted
onto a 3-D plan of the south east from Forth Mountain to Tory Hill and from
the Saltees to Mount Leinster.
The class exhibit was awarded a
prize of educational Lego and from this, the girls
constructed a solar – powered car and a wind turbine.
In 2005 St. Mary's was involved in a number of
projects which led to the retention of the Green Flag for another two years.
Mrs Eva Duhig was appointed co-ordinator of the
Green School Programme for 2007 and works with a very active Green
School committee on a number of environmental projects including energy and
litter and waste management. Following a review by An Taisce, in
May 2007 we were once again awarded the Green Flag.
In 2006/2007 Class 2.4 were won the prize for
the best classroom and green area.
Sarah & Amy
who were the Environmental Representatives ( E.R.'s) for the class
collected the Green school
award on Award's night October 13th. on behalf of
class. Their prize was a day out at the Dunmore Adventure
Centre which they enjoyed on October 23rd.
The winners of the best
classroom and green area in 2007/2008 was class 3.3. Congratulations
to the girls and their class tutor Ms Walpole for the great effort put
in during the year.
A lot of effort went into winning this award which requires a class to keep
their room tidy at all times, keep their green area tidy & separate the
waste put in their bins. This class were a wonder
with a sweeping brush and also participated in other Green school projects
to do with litter.
Members of the Green School
Committee take turns in emptying compost bins and raising and lowering
the Green Flag.
Reduce Reuse Recycle
Conserve energy by turning off
lights and closing doors when rooms are not in use.
A dripping hot water tap wastes energy
and in one week wastes enough hot water to
fill half a bath.
Leaving electrical appliances on "stand by"
wastes energy and means higher E.S.B. bills
Think Globally, Act Locally
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
THE 10 MOST POWERFUL WORDS IN THE
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARE:
"IF IT IS TO BE - IT IS UP TO ME"
Celebrating the earth on Green Day with a dance called "Colours of the Wind"
Darina Allen, Ballymaloe presenting Lisa Brennan with her prize for best ER of 2001
We receive our first of many compost bins from Carol Walsh, Composting Unit, Wexford County Council
.jpg "Colours of the wind")
Celebrating the earth on Green Day with a dance called "Colours of the Wind"
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.jpg "Colours of the wind")
.jpg "ER of 2001")
.jpg "Our first compost bin")
