Step 1 – Green School Committee
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Our Green School Committee usually consists of 6 children and 4 adults. Each class (First- Sixth) has one representative on the Green School Committee. Priority is given to sixth class children and any sixth class pupil who hasn’t had an opportunity to be on a Green School Committee previously will automatically be on it in their final year in primary school (if they wish). If a number of children from the same class want to become a member of the committee, a lottery takes place.
Adult members usually consist of teachers, parents and non-teaching staff. Parental committee members are selected by lottery also. The committee changes after completion of a theme. (NOTE: Due to COVID there are no parents or non-teaching staff on the committee currently. )
Green School Meeting are usually held once a month. However, due to COVID, we are unable to facilitate Green School meetings until the can be held outdoors. This is to prevent pods and bubbles mixing or being in close proximity to each other.)
Children on the Green School Committee have roles as Chairperson and Secretary. The Chairperson ensures the meeting agenda is followed. The secretary is responsible for recording the minutes of the meeting.
The meetings update everybody on what has been done and future events and actions that have to be completed. At the school assembly, Green School decisions and/or information is shared with all the children. The children not directly involved on the committee have an input and share their ideas at these assemblies.
Information is also displayed on the Green School Notice Board which is located in a prominent position in the hallway. We also use the School Newsletter and School Website to circulate information to the wider community.
Step 2 – Environmental Review
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As part of the Global Citizenship Litter & Waste Review a Litter and Waste Audit and a Global Citizenship awareness survey was carried out.
Litter & Waster Review
For a week in Year 1 (December 2020), the children and teachers in all classrooms recorded each time an item of waste was put in any of the four bins – Landfill, Recycling, Compost or Bread bin. Each evening for the week, all the bins were collected and the total waste for each type of bin was calculated (weighed) and recorded. A graph of the results was created and the results discussed. It was obvious that the level of Landfill waste had increased due to COVID measures put in place i.e. paper towels, wipes, tissues, face masks etc.
A Global Citizenship Awareness survey was carried out by the senior room in Year 1 (2020/2021). The children answered questions about citizenship and litter and waste. Graphs of the results were created and the results discussed. The results showed that only 1 person recognised that they had a food/drink from an African, Asian or South American country in the past week while nearly half of the children surveyed didn’t know. Three quarters of the children surveyed didn’t know what fair trade products were and nearly three quarters didn’t know if they had anything in common with someone living in a poorer part of the world.
The children also completed a Global Connections Survey.
As the younger classes have never worked on the theme of Litter and Waste before they will focus mainly on this.
Step 3: Action Plan
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An Taisce Spring Clean
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We took part in the An Taisce Spring Clean and cleaned up the roads around the school.
Step 4: Monitoring & Evaluating
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- The regular meetings held by our Green School Committee ensure that a progressive approach is taken to achieve our action plans and to keep us on track concerning the tasks assigned to individuals/groups.
- We get feedback from the children at the whole school assemblies.
- We check and revise the Action Plan.
- We display graphs, pictures and results on the Green School Notice Board.
- We monitor bin usage by conducing frequent mini reviews and recording the results. Rewards were given for correct bin usage.
- Kahoot Quizzes are used to monitor children’s knowledge and awareness of a range of Global Citizenship Litter and Waste issues e.g. what goes in each bin, flags of the world, countries of Europe etc
Litter & Waster Audit Year 2
For a week in Year 2 (February 2022), the children and teachers in all classrooms recorded each time an item of waste was put in any of the four bins – Landfill, Recycling, Compost or Bread bin. Each evening for the week, all the bins were collected and the total waste for each type of bin was calculated (weighed) and recorded. A graph of the results was created and the results discussed. The volume of landfill waste has reduced by 8% in the year and the volume of recycling waste has reduced by 19% in the year. There has been an increase of 50% in bread waste (crusts given to birds) and an increase of 32% compost waste due to an increase in fruit composition.
We evaluated levels of awareness by revisiting the Global Citizenship Awareness Survey carried out in Year 1. Another Global Citizenship Awareness survey was carried out by the senior room in Year 2 (2021/2022). The children answered questions about citizenship and litter and waste. Graphs of the results were created and the results discussed. The results showed that only 1 person recognised that they had a food/drink from an African, Asian or South American country in the past week while nearly half of the children surveyed didn’t know. Three quarters of the children surveyed didn’t know what fair trade products were and nearly three quarters didn’t know if they had anything in common with someone living in a poorer part of the world. As you can see below, in Year 2, the children and staff improved their knowledge in nearly all areas.
Step 5 – Curriculum Work
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Step 6 – Informing & Communicating
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The members of the Green School committee are changed every two years when a new Green School Theme is introduced.
Every month an assembly is held with all the children in the school via Zoom (due to COVID). The Green School Committee report on targets that have been achieved and information is provided and discussed.
All children in the school are involved in implementing actions from the Action Plan.
Two Green-Schools notice boards are located in a prominent spot in the hallway for all the children in the school to see. One notice board displays the action plan and up to date information about Green-School activities. This notice board is regularly changed and updated. The other notice board displays the results of our Global Connections Research Project.
The school newsletter is used to bring information about the Green-School programme and the children’s on going work to parents, teachers and the Board of Management.
The school website www.cloonlooschool.ie is regularly updated with Green School news.
Various Green School activities undertaken by the school have been published by various media to bring attention to a wider audience e.g. Boyle Today
Day of Action
Last modified on 2022-04-19 15:25:15 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
On Tuesday 22nd of February we held our Day of Action. We had a Global Citizenship Day at school focusing on Fair Trade as Fairtrade Fortnight began on the 21st of February. The children and staff dressed up in the colours of World Flags or items of clothing associated with different countries. All the children were taught about Fair Trade and the Fair Trade Symbol. We taste tested Fair Trade and non Fair Trade bananas and voted on our favourite. We also tasted Fair Trade chocolate.
The Senior Room played some games focusing on Fair Trade such as the Banana Split Game. The Junior Room learned about how bananas grow and where they come from. They also pretended to be farmers growing cocoa beans and learned how beneficial it was to be a Fair Trade farmer.
Step 7 – Green Code
Last modified on 2022-03-12 20:23:29 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
In January 2022, the school held a Green Code Poster Competition. All the children were asked to create a catchy Green-School Global Citizenship Litter and Waste themed rhyme, slogan or saying. The winning slogan would be used as the schools Green Code. All the children participated and there was a very high standard of entries. It was decided that Ella Moore (5th Class) was the winner of the Green Code Competition.
The Green School Global Citizenship Litter and Waste Code is said on a daily basis and is displayed proudly on the Green School Notice Board and in the classrooms.
