Energy

1. Who sits on your green schools committee and how were the members selected?

Each year in September we elect our new green schools committee. This is done in the following way.

  • Candidates from 5th and 6th class are nominated and seconded by fellow students.
  • Those students nominated are then put forward to the election.
  • Students who are nominated write and present speeches at the school assembly stating why they are good candidates and what they would do for the green schools movement in our school.
  • Following this assembly the children from 1st – 6th vote for the candidate they believe would be an asset to the green school’s committee.
  • The committee is seen to be active leaders in promoting the green schools ideals within the schools and being team leaders within the various themes.
  • Each committee member has a certain area that they are responsible for and they have a group of three/four other students who work on these sub committees with them.
  • The full green schools committee meets on a monthly basis with smaller meetings of each group when necessary.

 

2011/2012 Robertstown Green School’s Committee 

Maeve Stynes Chairperson Green Schools Co-Ordinator
Shiela Lynch Vice Chairperson Recycling/Compost co ordinator
Aine Gillen

Elian Percival

 Secretary Recycling Centre
Jack Murphy

Kayleigh Riordan

 Assistant secretary Bird Feeding/ Close it/Temp Monitoring
Jamie Lyons

Lisa Lyons

 Treasurer Water Conservation
Ollie Hogarty

Jodie Murphy

 Assistant Treasurer Composting
Eoghan Fitzgerald

Craig Condron

 PRO Electricity monitoring/Switch it off
Niamh Donohue

Jodie Govender

 Assistant PRO Electricity monitoring/Switch it off
Liam Murphy Parent Support and Guidance
Miriam Lyons Parent association Support and Guidance

 

2. How does your committee operate?

Our committee meets every month on the first Friday of the month at 2.15 in Ms Stynes room for half an hour approx. During our first full meeting on 1/11/12 officers were elected, secretary treasurer etc. Following this minutes were recorded and kept. During these meeting we discuss how our green school initiatives are working and what improvements need to be made. We also discuss new ideas and plan how these ideas can be shared with the rest of the school.

 3. Environmental Review.-

     a. How did you undertake your environmental review?

     b. Who was involved?

     c. What were the results?

In September 2010 the green schools committee undertook an environmental review with focus on transport within the school and the following things were seen to be of importance to both the staff and the pupils of the school.

  • The majority of children were using cars to get to school
  • There was a general sense that people used their cars for short distances
  • There wasn’t a culture of walking or cycling to school.
  • Pupils were unsure of the rules of the road and cycle safety was seen as an issue.
  • The whole school community was involved in the review.

 

4. How did you decide on the targets for your action plan?

We decided on the targets for our action plan by looking at things that the school community found important and also by deciding on targets that we could achieve as a group. The targets were researched and discussed during our committee meeting.

Action Plan ’11/12

From our environmental review the following actions were seen to be of importance to our school:

Target Group Responsible Date Achieved
1. Promote awareness of alternative methods of traveling to school Whole School  Ongoing
2. All classes to participate in curricular activities to support the green schools travel theme Whole school Ongoing
3. To complete a walkability survey of Robertstown and to see if we can get our walking bus up and running Green schools Committee/ Parents Association and Katherine Poxon 13th October 2011
4.  To take part in workshops based on sustainable travel and creating an awareness among pupils on energy efficient ways to travel to school Whole School May and June 2011
5. Workshop on electric cars ESB/ Whole School June 2011
6. Encourage pupils to participate in cow wow day Whole school Ongoing
7. To participate in garda cycle safety week 3rd – 6th class 01/10/11
8. To participate in a school fun cycle with local gardai 3rd – 6th class 01/11/11
9. Children to participate in a witchy walk to school Whole school 01/11/11

 

5. Monitoring and Evaluation

  1. Promote awareness of alternative methods of traveling to school

Children from 4th and 5th class have made projects for our green school notice board giving reasons why we should walk or cycle to school. We have also taken part in various workshops emphasizing the importance of walking and cycling in reducing our carbon footprint.

  1. All classes to participate in curricular activities to support the green schools travel theme

All children from Junior Infants to sixth class will participate in lessons which will encourage children to think of alternative means of travel and also think of the effect cars have on our environment.

  1. To complete a walkability survey of Robertstown and to see if we can get our walking bus up and running

Unfortunately this plan did not come to fruition this year as there was not enough parents willing to participate in this project we will however try and try again to get this project off the ground.

  1. To take part in workshops based on sustainable travel and creating an awareness among pupils on energy efficient ways to travel to school

Children from all classes participated in workshops based on sustainable energy and creating an awareness on energy efficient ways to travel to school – all pupils really enjoyed these workshops and it brought a greater awareness to the pupils about energy efficient means of traveling to and from school

  1. Workshop on electric cars

The pupils took part in two workshops based on electric cars and the way in which they work and the benefits they have for the environment. Pupils also got to see and get into two different electric cars.

  1. Encourage pupils to participate in cow wow day

Each week we take a survey of children who walk or cycle to school and these pupils receive a small reward for their efforts

  1. To participate in National cycle safety week

Pupils from 3rd to 6th class participated in a cycle safety course with local gardai.

  1. To participate in a school fun cycle with local gardai

Children from 3rd to 6th got to participate in a cycle around the village with the gardai to show the skills they’d learned from their cycle safety course

  1. School to host a witchy walk to school

Just before Halloween we hosted a witchy walk to school and all children dressed up and walked to school

6. Has the monitoring and evaluation process helped in amending and improving your action plan

7. Numbers and ages of students involved

8. Curriculum Work

Ms O’Sullivan/Ms Murphy Junior Infants   Completed
Ms Poole Senior Transport Sounds: Re-create the sounds of

different transport modes or sounds associated

with travel i.e. traffic lights, horns, indicators,

engines, wheels, puncture, bike bell etc. Identify

which sounds are pleasant. Why are the other

noises unpleasant?

 Completed
Mr Flanagan 1st Art – Poster based on the travel theme Completed
Ms Parle 2nd Music transport sounds one. Also am doing Aboriginal journey prints so could do a dot painting thing in Art linked to our journeys to school. Completed
Mr Donovan 3rd Participate in workshops about electric cars (sese)

Participate in workshops based on cycle safety (sphe)

 Completed
Ms Stynes 4th/5th Participate in workshops about electric cars (sese)

Participate in workshops based on cycle safety (sphe)

 Completed
Mr Brouder 5th/6th Participate in workshops about electric cars (sese)

Participate in workshops based on cycle safety (sphe)

 Completed

9. How was the whole school community informed of and involved in all aspects of the green schools programme?

10. Informing and Involving

We keep the rest of the whole school and community involved in our endeavors by

  • Having an allotted slot during each assembly to discuss green schools issues
  • By posting items that may be of interest to others in the school on our notice board
  • By putting things relating to the green schools on our school website robertstownns.ie
  • By communicating regularly with our local newspaper
  • The parents on our committee update Robertstown Parents Association on what has been going on with the green schools committee
  • Each year we host a green schools open day which allows parents to come and see first hand what projects we have undertaken during the year.

10. Day of action

This year we decided to host two different days of action.

  • The first one was held in October and it consisted of parents being invited in to see a photo story of previous work undertaken by the green schools project with in the school. Following this we held our green schools fashion show which see all children in the school parade around the school yard modeling costumes that they have made themselves out of recyclable materials.
  • The second day of action is to be held in June 2012 and it will be based on cycle  safety awareness. On this day children from 4th -6th will display projects they have made based on the theme of transport.The green schools committee will also make a presentation on what they have achieved with in the school under the theme of travel and they will also show both parents and students how they can reduce their carbon footprint by doing a few simple things.

11. Describe any contacts made with the wider community.

Throughout the year we have been involved with many different groups

  • Robertstown National School Parents Association
  • Roberstown National School Board of Management
  • Robertstown Tidy Towns
  • Kildare County Council
  • Mrs Quinns Charity shops
  • ISPCC
  • Peatland conservation
  • The Robertstown Tidy towns have supported us in many projects. This year’s project has been to create signs welcoming people to Robertstown. These signs were mosaics made from broken tiles and has been a huge success.

12. Green Code

Our green code for our theme of travel  is:

How has the experience of green schools benefited your school?

The Green schools programme has benefited our school and community in numerous ways:

  • We have designed and made bins for our village
  • We have designed and made signage for Robertstown
  • We have taken part in the spring clean and helped the tidy towns
  • We have decreased our schools cleaning bill by taking responsibility for emptying the compost and recycling bins
  • We have made our school a litter free zone
  • We have the majority of our students and staff using lunch boxes
  • We have lessened the amount of water within our school so that when our water is being metered we will be saving our school money
  • We have made the school community aware of how they can save water and also of how much water they waste
  • We have given the children and the whole school community a school they can be proud of.
  • Pupils in our school are more aware of the impact cars have on our environment
  • Pupils are aware of electric cars
  • Pupils are familiar with cycle safety

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