Bunscoil McAuley Rice

BUNSCOIL McAULEY RICE




GREEN SCHOOLS 2007/08






GREEN SCHOOLS COMMITTEE



PUPIL REPRESENTATIVES:
Megan Hahessy Madigan
Shane Doyle
Stephen Leahy
Aoife Brennan
Amy Condon
Robert Kerwick
Matthew Lowth
Nathan Coffey
Bill McDowell
Shane Donnelly
Conor Madigan
Linda Byrne
Derbhla Lynch
Gwen Clancy Rea
Katyln Moore
Cian Maher
Owen Brennan

PRINCIPAL: Mr.Moloney
TEACHER REPRESENTATIVES:Mr.Aylward
Ms.Grace
Mr.Hickey
SCHOOL SECRETARIES: Mary Kennedy
Mary O’Shea
SCHOOL CARETAKERS: Kieran Dohen
John Croke

ESTABLISHMENT OF GREEN SCHOOLS COMMITTEE

As a result of the amalgamation of Scoil Iognáid Rís and Scoil Mhuire during the Summer of 2007 it was agreed that a brand new committee be set up for Bunscoil McAuley Rice. Mr.Aylward chaired the initial meeting and explained that the Green Schools Committee must be representative of the whole school community. The committee is made up of pupils elected from 2nd-6th class together with the school caretakers, school secretaries, principal and teacher representatives. An invitation to parents and outside parties to be on the committee was extended, however, ths has, as yet not been taken up. The committee meets once or twice every month.

IT WAS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THE GREEN FLAG PROGRAMME HAD BEEN UP AND RUNNING SINCE 2005 AND THIS WAS INITIATED BY MR.MOLONEY. ALL SEVEN STEPS HAVE BEEN UP AND RUNNING FOR AT LEAST SIX MONTHS PRIOR TO THE AMALGAMATION.

ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW

As a result of the amalgamation of Scoil Iognáid Rís and Scoil Mhuire during the Summer of 2007 it was agreed that a brand new review be carried out also for Bunscoil McAuley Rice. As a result of the school being on two separate sites this provides everybody with extra challenges.
In carrying out the review, however, the committee decided to draw up the review as one entity as opposed to two separate reviews.
The following issues and points were examined:


First of all the question of whether or not a litter problem existed within the school was raised. It was agreed, after consultation with staff, pupils, parents and visitors to the school that our school DID NOT have a litter problem.However it was agreed that the school had Litter Blackspots. These were identified as follows:
BIKE SHED( WEST STREET SITE)
SCHOOL ENTRANCE(WEST STRET SITE)
BASKETBALL COURTS(KILKENNY ROAD SITE)
Shane Donnelly, vice chairperson of the committee took on the responsibility of finding out whether or not the school had a policy on litter. Mr.Moloney gave permission for the committee to create a poster of some kind outlining our policies on litter and recycling.
The schools’ cleanliness inside wa sthen examined. It was found that classrooms got messy at big break. This was because students eat their lunch in class before going outside. However it was duly noted that pupils clean up their own areas of the classroom before going home each day and that the schools’ caretakers and cleaner do an excellent job in maintaining both sites to the highest standards.
With regards the litter blackspots it was agrred that the following times of the day/week were consistently posing problems.
BIKE SHED (AFTER BREAKS)
ENTRANCE (MONDAY MORNING)
BASKETBALL COURTS (AFTER BREAKTIME)


The source of this litter was very important to identify. The committee agreed that a policy of “PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE” should be implemented. The litter that accumulated in the bike shed originated from inside the school. Approximately 25% of the litter that accumulated on the basketball courts at the Kilkenny road site came from inside the school. 75% of the litter accumulated after school hours as a result of people gaining access to the school grounds after school hours. 100% of the litter which accumulated at the school entrance at west street came from members of the public dropping litter. This “eyesore” was targeted specifically as one of our main starting points.
It was suggested that litterbins be placed on the West St. site as was practiced on the Kilkenny road site in the past. However pupils stated that litter bins DID NOT solve the problem of litter. It was decided at an initial meeting of the green schools committee that ALL litter bins be removed from the yards on both sites. With regards the school entrance on West Street it was suggested that Kilkenny County Council be contacted to replace the public litter bin that was removed from outside the school approximately one year ago.
Since 2005 the West Street site had the following in each classroom.
PAPER & CARDBOARD BIN
PLASTIC BOTTLE BIN
TOPPINGS BIN

Our general litter bin was located in the staffroom which also had a PAPER & CARDBOARD BIN. A PAPER & CARDBOARD BIN was also located in the office. This practice from the request of Mr.Moloney and Mr.Aylward will be implemented also on the Kilkenny Road Site.


LITTER SURVEY

After examining the different litter bins in the school it was discovered that certain types of litter were more common than others. Charts were drawn up representing the findings and ideas for action were agreed upon at meetings. In the litter bins the following types of litter was found
ORGANIC WASTE
SOME PAPER & CARDBOARD
GENERAL LITTER eg cereal bar wrappers, sandwich crusts, crisp bags, yoghurt cartons.
With relation to local and national events which help to tackle litter the Green Schools’ Committee looked at four areas and asked whether or not each one was being addressed in the school at present.
RUBBISH AND LITTER WITHIN SCHOOL- YES
RUBBISH AND LITTER IN LOCAL AREA- NO
BATTERY AND MOBILE PHONE RECYCLING- NO
SENDING OLD CLOTHES TO CHARITY- YES

The topic of litter is consistently integrated into the school ethos/curriculum through classwork, art displays, assembly, pupils organising and running recycling programmes and the school newsletter.
In 2006/07 the school( ScoilIognáid Rís) was visited by a representative from Kilkenny County Council who spoke to the children about Environmental Awareness.

WASTE SURVEY

The following was discovered from carrying out the waste survey.
90% WAS PAPER/CARDBOARD
10% WAS PLASTIC
ORGANIC WASTE WAS BEING DUMPED IN OUR GENERAL BINS.

All of the plastic and paper is currently being recycled and this has been in place for the past number of years on the West Street Site. However no composting facility is in place as of yet.

The topic of waste minimisation is also integrated into the school ethos/curriculum through classwork, art displays, assembly, pupils organising and running recycling programmes and the school newsletter.
Any general rubbish that cannot be recycled or composted must be brought home by students. The healthy lunches policy within the school encourages pupils to avoid throwaway materials.
The school uses a notice board on each site to relay information to staff members instead of individual bulletins.
The caretakers and the principal of the school consider carefully any negative impact which certain cleaning products etc may have on the environment when buying them for the school.
Paper and Cardboard from the office and staffroom is also saved for recycling. Casual notes are written on scrap paper in each class. All staff and pupils are reminded that photocopying on both sides of a sheet reduces paper waste by 50% and this is implemented at all times.




ACTION PLAN

Through open discussion at committee level taking into account the results of the review we came up with the following action plan.
ACTION
GROUP/PERSON RESPONSIBLE
TIMEFRAME

Monitor and eliminate litter blackspots
Litter wardens, yard cleaners, pupils and caretakers
September 07-June 08

Appoint litter wardens and yard cleaners
Mr . Aylward
Sep 07

Maintain school garden
Mrs .Phelan and pupils
School year

Staff and pupil policy
Pupils, staff.
October 07

NO WRAPPERS OUTSIDE!!!
Litter wardens
Sep 07- June08

Reduce number of litter bins going to landfill from 3 to 2
Pupils and staff
Dec 07

Remove litter bins in all yards
GSC and Mr. Moloney
Sep 07

Place PAPER BIN, PLASTIC BOTTLE BIN AND TOPPINGS CONTAINER IN EVERY CLASS
GSC and Mr. Aylward
Sep 07

Place PAPER BIN AND GENERAL LITTER BIN IN EACH STAFFROOM
GSC and teacher reps.
Sep 07

Compost facility on both sites
Caretakers, GSC and Mr. Aylward
Dec 07

Recycle batteries and old mobile phones
GSC and Mr. Aylward
Dec 07

DAY OF ACTION--litter in the local area!!!
GSC and Mr. Moloney
Jan 08

Visit to school by local area rep.
GSC and Mr. Moloney
March 08

Train pupils to use phtocopier correctly
All staff members
School year

Healty lunches
All staff members
School year

Corridor displays an GS Noticeboard
GSC and Mr. Moloney
School year



MONITORING AND EVALUATION
After monitoring the action plan from early September the following evaluation was made.

Litter blackspots were virtually eliminated on both sites.
Litter wardens and yard cleaners were appointed to monitor these areas.
The school garden is looking as beautiful as ever.
A student/staff policy was drawn up on both sites and signed by everyone!!
At break times Litter Wardens monitor all classes to ensure that NO wrappers go outside.
The number of wheelie bins going to landfill has been cut to 2.
Rubbish bins have been removed from the yards.
3 bins have been placed in all rooms.
Although a public bin was placed at the entrance recently litter still accumulates at weekends.
Compost bins and Battery bins were received in early November.
Mobile phones were collected by B & O Recycling in October.
Teachers have trained pupils how to use the photocopier correctly.
Healthy lunch policy is constantly encouraged.
Corridor displays have begun and notice boards have been received.


CURRICULUM WORK

All teachers are aware of the sections of the curriculum which contain a number of strands and strand units applicable to the Green Flag Programme. At all times the programme is implemented throughout the whole school in day-to-day work. Some examples are outlined below.

SPHE: Encorage Media Awareness

Promote co-ooperation and communication and personal development

SESE: Study of materials

Promote Env. Awareness & care
Study of natural Env.
Study of impacts of different activities on the environment

ENGLISH: Essays, poetry, public speaking.
MATHS: Use of charts and graphs when gathering data.
ART: Murals, posters
GAEILGE: Dánta, Cartún, Scéalta

INFORMING AND INVOLVING THE SCHOOL AND WIDER COMMUNITY

The schools’ “DAY OF ACTION” will be organised in the new year. However the committee have taken many steps in order to ensure that the school and wider community are informed with relation to the GREEN FLAG.

A GREEN SCHOOLS’ NOTICEBOARD for students and visitors to look at.
School newsletter contains a section on the Green Flag.
Use of assemblies at both sites to announce success and celebrate achieving targets
Exhibitions of school art,charts etc on notice boards.
Making use of local press( the Kilkenny people) to advertise apllication and celebrate successes.



GREEN CODE

Through open discussion at committee level taking into account the suggestions of pupils the following codes were created.


Recycling is what we do

Energy saving too

Composting is our game

You can help us reach our aim

Callan is getting neat

Litter can now retreat

In the beginning we were not that good

Now were getting there like we should

Green flag is our aim and recycling is our game













MCAULEY RICE IS OUR NAME-RECYCLING’S OUR GAME


The greenflag programme has benefitted the community of Bunscoil McAuley Rice immensely. it has helped to bring pupils, staff and parents closer together especially during the process of amalgamation. It has helped to raise environmental awareness an intrinsic part of school life through hands on activity bringing learning outside the classroom. It also developed our attitudes towards responsibility and committment at school, at home and in our community.


APPLICATION FORM

NAME OF SCHOOL: BUNSCOIL MCAULEY RICE
ADDRESS:WEST ST, CALLAN, CO.KILKENNY
COUNTY KILKENNY


PRINCIPAL: JOHN MOLONEY
GREEN SCHOOLS CO-ORDINATOR: DAMIEN AYLWARD