We received the amazing news that we have achieved our 6th Green Flag for Global Citizenship-Litter and Waste !! 720 schools have been awarded green flags to date this year in Ireland.
Massive congratulations to our amazing Green Team who have lead by great example and to all our wonderful pupils,teachers,special needs assistants,secretary, caretaker , principal and our school community at home! We were thrilled to hear that even in the midst of a global pandemic we were awarded this flag for being great global citizens and for working on all our other green school themes! Never has global citizenship been more important than right now and it is so apt that this was our green school theme these past two years.The girls learnt through our global citizenship slogan that:
“ Every change no matter how small makes a difference to us all”
By our actions of staying at home and helping in our countrywide effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus we are all using our global citizenship skills now more than ever !
A small but extremely effective change we have made in our school over the past two years was our pledge to use reusable bottles.Our school is now 100% committed to using reusable drinks bottles and eliminating single use plastic. Our global awareness surveys have shown us that our girls' awareness levels of : where food come from (locally and globally), awareness levels of fair trade, community cleanups and different cultures have also improved over the past two years. These awareness levels improved through project work ,through actions,through assemblies and through discussion. We are delighted with these results.
We were also delighted with the success of the classes who entered Green school linked competitions. Ms Shearin's 3rd/4th class last year were winners in their category in the T.L.C. design a bottle recycled art competition with their amazing bottle design.. Ms Barry's 6th class last year came in the last 50 schools in the country with their One Good Idea project on sustainability and climate action for the S.E.A.I. with their "Plastic it Yourself"/"P.I.Y." idea and Ms Mc Grath's 2nd class last year were runners up in the L.E.A.F. environmental song competition with their song "Go Visit Our Forests". All these projects helped us to achieve this green flag!
Thank you so much also to all the girls who recycled, used reusable bottles, cut down on food packaging , kept their classrooms tidy , got involved in green school competitions , joined in our surveys , walked /cycled to school ,planted flowers/fruit or vegetables , took part in projects , took part in mission week , took part in the L.E.A.F. project , took part in the T.L.C. competition , took part in the S.E.A.I. One good idea project , gave to charities , used recycled materials in art & crafts , researched their cultural roots ,wrote poems /songs/reports , donated Christmas shoeboxes for the hope foundation appeal , donated food for our St Vincent de Paul hamper appeal ,took part in T.L.C. Spring Clean , brought in clothes to recycle , birdwatched , pond dipped , studied our native trees and animals , went on field trips to Curraghchase & Westfield's Wetlands , fed the birds , fed the fish , fed the hamster , used water sparingly , composted , learnt about fair-trade , learnt about global goals ,discussed climate action and turned off the lights when not needed . Thank you to all the families who encouraged greenschools actions in their homes.
All these seemingly small actions are very important and are making a huge difference globally when joined with all the other green schools' actions worldwide. A very special word of thanks to all our fabulous green team girls who have helped in so many ways-sharing their ideas, giving feedback to their classes,collecting surveys,collating results, collecting walk on Wednesday results,collecting compost, feeding the birds, taking part in presentations, planting flowers and taking part in our school open night! You are all amazing !
Our Green Team :
Faye Duggan-1st class
Keiva Mc Namara- 1st class
Lily Smite- 2nd class
Niamh Cobbe- 2nd class
Erin Cronin- 3rd class
Cara O’Rahilly -3rd class
Tiegan Costelloe-4th class
Faye O'Callaghan -4th class
Naomi Mc Dermott -4th class
Carrie Mc Namara-4th class
Alice Kennedy- 5th class
Chloe Garvey-5th class
Jordan O'Halloran -6th class
Clodagh Walsh -6th class
Lily Sue Moylan-6th class
Esther Lee- Special Needs Assistant
Damien Masterson – Our Caretaker
Suzanne Cobbe-Principal
Carmel Mc Grath –Green Schools Co-ordinator
Another very special word of thanks must also be given to Damien our caretaker who keeps our school grounds and garden looking so well and who leads the girls by his example in all things greenschool related . Also special mention must be given to Lucy Hartigan – her Climate Action & Global warming presentation this year was amazing. She inspired the classes through her own powerpoint presentation and she reminded us all that "There is no planet B !" . Well done Lucy! Inspirational work !
Eventhough we are living in such strange and uncertain times presently, the world of nature has never looked so beautiful .Pollution levels are down , we have cleaner air,we are seeing images of empty streets with wild animals roaming free, jellyfish gliding in clear Venetian canals, foxes running around Dublin city, goats wandering around Llandudno in Wales,even ducklings waddling through our quiet Limerick city streets ! All of these images remind us of nature’s amazing resilience. There are more people cycling and walking than ever before it seems also .
The images we are seeing worldwide highlight our roles as guardians of our beautiful planet.Hopefully as we move forward towards normality we will bring with us a re-awakened love of nature and hopefully we will remember to protect our precious world. Our Earth is in our Hands !
We will raise our 6th Flag with great pride when we are back in school !