Green Schools

The Green Schools Committee has fourteen dedicated members who are currently serving their second year on the committee. They are not only trying to regain our previous flags but also working towards a new Green flag for Scoil an Linbh Íosa. It has been a few years since we last earned a Green flag.  The Green Schools Committee are  Alex Stynes, Ruby Cullen, Sophie Cronin, Alex Shields, Síne Lee, Rhys Connolly, Grainne Boland, Bríona Colton, Sophie Lewis, Abbi Coulahan, Aoife Bartley, Lauryn Reilly, Max Spelman and Nia Jenkins.
Working alongside the Green Schools Committee are all the hard working children in Ms. Lowe’s class who empty the recycling bins for the whole school every Wednesday. The children work in pairs and collect recycling bins from two classes. They bring the bins outside where they empty them into the larger school bins. Two members of the committee monitor the class bins and award a mini green flag to the best class bin for that week. Sometimes the children have to remind classes that plastic wrappers especially popcorn wrappers do not go in the recycling bin. Gerry,  our caretaker empties the compost bin from each class everyday.
The theme the committee are working on is Global Citizenship, Litter and Waste. As part of this theme the committee are
  • Showing classes how to recycle properly at school and at home
  • Attending meetings when they are scheduled
  • Raising awareness of the litter in and around the school
  • Organising a roster for classes to litter pick
  • Labelling the bins properly
  • Monitoring the bins and awarding the best class each week
  • Working on the Green Schools noticeboard
  • Communicating with the school through the noticeboard, visiting classes and the newsletter
  • Raising global awareness by finding out nationalities of children in our school
  • Create a Green Code
                                                     
The Green Schools Committee have many other ideas that they hope they can realise. They would love to help Gerry with the new garden as they have great memories of being in the old garden when they were younger. The committee were shown how to make eco-bricks  and would love to create  a structure with them, involving the whole school community. The committee are also currently considering how to celebrate the many different nationalities in our school.
 
Following a whole school competition, the Green Schools Committee combined a few entries and created an amazing Green Code. Well done to everyone !
                                                          Green Code
                                         There is no planet B
                                         so keep it clean
                                         Cycle, carpool or walk to school
                                         instead of burning fossil fuel
 
                                         Don’t throw litter in the ocean
                                         or you will cause a huge commotion
 
                                         It is our duty to protect nature’s beauty
 
                                         SO SLAM DUNK THE JUNK !

Our Green Schools Notice Board:

9/01/20​
​Hi Everyone,
Welcome back to our green schools notes.
We have had our first meeting of the year and are looking forward to our visit from the council in February. There are a few areas we need to work on.
  • Firstly we have noticed a big increase in the amount of hand towels we are using. We have placed signs on the dispensers to remind people to only use one sheet; we will have classroom monitors to keep an eye on this.
  • Secondly we are trying to reduce the usage of single use plastic bottles therefore we are hoping to see an increase in reusable bottles in classes throughout 2020. We have counted them today and will again at the end of January.
Tip of the month: NEW YEAR, NEW BOTTLES-CHOOSE REUSABLE

February 2020
Hi,
Welcome back to the green schools post. Last month we checked the use of reusable vs non reusable bottles and the results were reusable 452 and 60 non reusable. Today we rechecked the use of plastic vs reusable bottles and the results are 466 reusable and 46 non-reusable. This is a great improvement but we are still trying to reduce this number.
Please come and visit our green schools noticeboard. On it you will find our global display. This display will show you where our students are from. You will also find that we want you to think before you throw away rubbish. Ask yourself, “Can it be recycled”? Are you helping or hurting the environment?
We are making progress on our action plan and now have 12 sections completed. This month we will be welcoming Dara Wyer to Scoil an Linbh Íosa. He will meet with the committee and show us areas we need to improve on to get our Green Flag.
Our Tip Of The Month Is.....ONLY USE THE AMOUNT OF HAND TOWELS YOU NEED.
 
The Green Schools Committee.