Green Schools News

Green Schools News 2023

St. Joseph’s NS has been involved in the Green Schools Initiative since 1998. To

date, we have been awarded nine Green Flags covering the themes of:

  • Litter and Waste
  • Energy
  • Water
  • Travel
  • Green Home
  • Biodiversity
  • Global Citizenship

We began our new school year by electing a Green Schools Committee. Our committee is made up of a number of staff and student representatives. We are delighted to have such a wonderful group of enthusiastic students from 3rd Class to 6th Class who have already been very busy in their new roles. Upon election, each member was presented with a Green Schools badge from An Taisce. We are looking forward to an exciting year ahead exploring our current theme ‘Global Citizenship: Marine Environment’.

Competition Winners

At our first Green Schools meeting, we decided as a committee that it would be helpful to carry out a school review to see how well we are maintaining our current Green Flags. We came up with a list of questions we could ask teachers and students to help us identify areas we are doing well in and areas we need to improve in. Our committee did a fantastic job carrying out the survey in all classrooms. When we looked at the results of the review, we could see that a number of classrooms were missing visual reminders to encourage the school community to save water and energy. We decided to run a competition to design signs to replace the ones that were missing in some classrooms. We were amazed with the number of fantastic entries. Mr. Doyle had the difficult job of choosing the winning designs. The winners of the competition were Evie White from 2nd Class, Daniel Kavanagh from 5th Class and Samantha Berus from 6th Class. Their amazing artwork can be found all around our school. Well done to all of our winners and thanks to all who entered.

National Tree Day

National Tree Day is an event organised annually on the first Thursday of October by the Tree Council of Ireland and Spar. The Green Schools Committee celebrated National Tree Day by planting a Hazel tree on October 5th 2023. Mr. Doyle helped us prepare the perfect spot for our native tree. We planted the sapling near the school boundary at Cluain na nÓg, where a number of Wild Cherry, Hawthorn, Crab Apple, Holly and Hazel trees were planted last year. We look forward to seeing it grow in the native tree plantation. Thanks to Mr. Doyle for all of his help!