In an attempt to encourage birds into our school garden some of our wonderful students have taken to making small birds nests in the school hedge. They have been adding berries and seeds to feed birds who may be looking for food.
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In June 2017 we had a wonderful day of celebrations as we raised our 4th Green Flag for Transport. Fiona O`Loughlin T.D. raised the flag for us and gave us wonderful words of praise and encouragement for our Green Schools efforts and our community spirit.
In March 2017, we made an application for our 4th Green Flag for Transport and in June 2017 we were invited to D.C.U. to collect our flag. Mrs. Noonan collects our fourth Green School Flag for Transport in DCU with Cara and Megan.
We held our “Day of Action” for Transport.
Activities included: Bling Your Boot Competition, Green Code Banner, Transport Junk Art, Food Miles Workshop, Prize Giving, and our Human Bar Graph showing how we travelled to school on our “Day of Action”. In Spring 2016 we held a very successful “Carpool Day”, where all pupils and staff were encouraged to carpool on their journey to/from school where possible. There was a great response to this initiative so the Green Schools Committee decided to begin a weekly P.O.W. day.
Each week, data was collected in each class about numbers of pupils who carpooled/walked/cycled/travelled by electric car to/from school. The “Golden Car Award” was designed by the Green schools Committee and awarded to the class who had the highest percentage of pupils travelling to school in a sustainable way that day. There was great excitement and anticipation about which class would win each week. As time went on, the committee decided to award the “Golden Car Award” to the most improved class , to encourage classes who weren’t winning the award frequently. In February 2016 our school took part in the Green Schools National Travel Competition, where we detailed our efforts to improve levels of sustainable travel in our school. In April 2016 we held a successful day in conjunction with “National Spring Clean”. Pupils worked on cleaning up the school grounds and parents collected litter on approach roads to the school. In May 2016, Camilla, our Green Schools Travel Advisor held a very enjoyable Bike Workshop in our school with pupils from senior classes. In November 2016 we developed a “Green Schools Code” for Transport: “Cycle, Walk or Carpool. Save our planet on your journey to school”. Having elected our committee we set to work. On November 24th 2015 ,Camilla visited our school and conducted a“Walkability Audit” and ”Traffic Count Survey” with Cara, Katie H and Katie F. and Mrs. Noonan.
We checked the nearby roads for signage, surfaces, ramps, litter, bins, flashing lights etc. - We noticed flashing lights on the approach to our school from Allenwood and Derrinturn. - We noticed that there were no rumble strips to slow traffic. - The footpath outside our school is 370 cm wide which is good for safety. In November we held a Transport Poster Competition. Here are the winners:
In Sept 2015, each class revised work to date on the three previous Green Flags.
Pupils were invited to prepare presentations for their class on why they would like to be on the Green Schools Travel Committee, what they have learned so far about Green schools and what ideas and skills they have to offer. Eight suitable candidates were selected, one from each class. The committee is as follows: - Junior Infants - Fionn Mulligan - Senior Infants - Ava Dunne - First Class - Sarah-Jane Melia - Second Class - Lily Gill - Third Class - Katie Farrell - Fourth Class - Megan Sands - Fifth Class - Cara Gill - Sixth Class - Katie Hendrick On 19th June 2015, the sun shone, as we proudly raised our 3rd Green Flag. We already had two green flags to our credit, earned for our efforts in reducing and recycling litter and waste and raising energy awareness.
The third green flag was awarded on the theme of Water and for Killina N.S’s achievements in the conservation of Water. Lily Mae and the committee explained about the great work that had been done in the school over the past two years. We have reduced our water consumption from 12 litres per person per day to 6 litres per person per day. We were delighted to have Fr. Murphy, to raise our 3rd Green Flag on the occasion of his 60th Jubilee. The pupils, parents and wider school community joined us to celebration this fantastic achievement and a great day was had by all. We look forward to working together on the theme of Travel for our 4th green flag over the next two years. In April 2015 , Dara Wyer, Environment Officer from Kildare County Council, visited our school to assess our progress with Water. He was very pleased with all the work we have done on the theme of Water.
In May 2015, after 2 years working on Water Conservation, An Taisce informed us that we were being awarded our 3rd Green Flag. Emily, Lily-Mae, Heather and Mrs. Noonan travelled to the Green Schools Awards Ceremony in The Helix, DCU on May 20th 2015.They had a very enjoyable day and collected our 3rd green flag. On March 5th 2015, 4 Green Schools committee representatives, Emily, Lily-Mae, Kirsten and Abbie travelled to a Water Forum in Kill, Co. Kildare. We shared ideas with other schools on activities for our Water Programme. The pupils made a presentation on the work being carried out on Water, in our school. They worked collaboratively with other schools on planning the ideal Green school from a water point of view. They also enjoyed a Water Quiz and some fun experiments. |