Green Schools Ireland is a programme operated and co-ordinated by An Taisce. There are seven themes under the programme and schools work through one theme at a time. The themes is sequence are:

1. Litter and Waste
2. Energy
3. Water
4. Travel
5. Biodiversity
6. Global Citizenship – Litter and Waste
7. Global Citizenship – Energy

To learn more about the Green Schools programme please visit: http://www.greenschoolsireland.org

Our Work This Year

The staff and pupils in Scoil Ghráinne are engaged in a number of different activities this year to reduce energy use in the school. These include:

• Green School Committee: The Green School Committee consists of staff and pupils. There are 15 pupils from 1st to 5th class on the committee. In September, pupils in 1st to 5th picked a representative from their class to be on the committee for the year. The committee meets regularly to discuss ways to make Scoil Ghráinne a more environmentally friendly school.

• Classroom Monitors: During lunchtime each day pupils from the Green School committee check the classrooms to see if the lights and whiteboards are turned off and that bins are being used correctly. Each week the two best classrooms receive a certificate.

• Green School Code: In 2012, some of the pupils in 1st and 2nd class created a green school code. This year we will be having a competition to add a second verse to our green code. Our current code is:

‘Don’t be mean, just be green,  Keep our school nice and clean.’

• Recycling: We try to recycle as much as possible in Scoil Ghráinne. Each classroom has a recycling bin and children bring home the rubbish from their lunches.

• Hallway Lights on Sensors: to reduce the amount of electricity we use in the school hallway lights are on sensors so that they only switch on when people are moving through the school.

• Energy Audit: we are conducting an ongoing energy audit of our electricity and gas bills and we hope that our work on saving energy will reduce the amount of money paid out on these bills.

• Collecting batteries for recycling: we are now collecting batteries for recycling so if you have old used batteries at home please bring them in and put them in the box at reception. These will be collected by ERP (European Recycling Platform) Ireland and recycled responsibly.

• Litter Clean-up: Members of the green school committee regularly do a litter clean-up of the school grounds.