Green schools awards ceremony 14/05/24

Three members of the Green Schools committee alongside Ms. Maloney travelled to  the McWilliam Park Hotel in Claremorris today for the awards ceremony where they received our first Green Flag for Litter and Waste. A lovely way to acknowledge all the hard work of the Green Schools Committee and the entire school community.
St Mary's NS prides itself on fostering a culture of sustainable living and helping the environment. 
​As a goal this year we have decided to embark on our Green School Journey.   Our aim is to focus on the first theme of the green school projects 'Litter and Waste'.  Stay tuned for all the exciting projects and activities that will be happening throughout the year.  ​

                       Our GReen school committee 

from 'encanto' to 'partry' 

well done to the senior room girls who have worked hard on our new green school song... 'we need to talk about green schools'
Our Journey so far...….

Step 1 : Our Green School Committee   

We have selected children from each class group to form our green school committee. Our secretary Mary, our caretaker John, Ms Daniel and Ms Conroy are all members of the green school committee. 

Step 2: Environmental Audit   
We are working hard on our Waste and Litter Flag in St Mary's NS. The children are working on a waste audit in the school and this will help us to make our plan of action in order to reduce our waste. We have identified litter 'blackspots' and have nominated our 'Waste Watchers' to keep an eye on our bin checklists and the number of bags being sent out to our bins every week. 

Step 3: Action Plan
We are gathering lots of information about our bins and how much waste the school produces.  We will soon be ready to put together our action plan.

​Stay tuned for more updates.........




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New Green Schools Committee


​Step 4: Monitoring and evaluaion

St. Mary's N.S successfully implemented an efficient recycling and compost system reducing the amount of general waste they were producing. Bin monitors empty the compost bins twice weekly and report any issues with the class. 

Step 5: Curricular Links

Junior & Senior Infants
The Junior & Senior Infants completed questionnaires which questioned their knowledge of recycling at home and at school. 
Since then they have been  learning how to sort rubbish into the correct bins. They completed a cut and stick activity to sort items into the correct bin. They also worked hard to enhance our garden last year, sewing fruit and vegetables.
First, Second & Third Class
These classes also completed questionnaires based on recycling. They also completed a litter mapping activity around the school grounds and identified that littering is a problem in our school.
Fourth, Fifth & Sixth Class
The Senior room participated in questionnaires about their knowledge of recycling at home, at school and in the community. They made compost signs for each room outlining the items allowed in each bin. They took part in litter mapping around the school grounds and identifying litter black spots. The children designed posters about litter facts and battery recycling.

Step 6: Informing and involving

St. Mary’s N.S. successfully implemented an efficient recycling and composting system reducing the amount of general waste they were producing. To eliminate litter blackspots, we had a litter pick up activities around the school grounds. The Green-schools committee members regularly monitor the bins and complete bin checklists. They empty the compost bins on a weekly basis and report any issues to the Green-schools coordinator. At committee meetings the team evaluate any programmes running to combat litter around the school and discuss if and how they can be improved. 

Step 7: Green Code

Our Green School Code is an acrostic poem. The Green Schools committee distributed the Green Schools Code to each class and remind their class to recite it regularly. 

Cash for clobber Collection 2022

The children all helped to carry clothes bags out to the Cash for Clobber collection van.

St. Colman's Credit union presentation ​

Thanks very much to Laura from St. Colman's Claremorris & Ballinrobe for presenting us with a kind donation towards our school garden.​ She presented the cheque to our Green-Schools committee. 

Green schools committee - weee recycling

​Thank you to everyone who brought in old and used household batteries. We nearly have ten full boxes. When they are all full they will be sent to WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Ireland for recycling. WEEE Ireland will make a donation to the Laura Lynn Ireland's Children Hospice for each box recycled so the more batteries collected then the more money that will be donated to Laura Lynn.

Cash for Clobber Collection Decemeber 2023

Thank you to all the children, parents and wider community for supporting Cash for Clobber in our school.

SEAI Energy Workshop 14/02/24​

 Green Schools Update
We were very lucky to have Robert from SEAI out to visit our school on the 14th of February. The children participated in energy experiments. Robert used bouncing balls to show the conversion of kinetic energy to sound, heat and vibration. The children were shown the laws of motion in action through observing Newton's Cradle. Robert used lemon batteries to investigate the conversion of chemical energy to electrical energy. The students discussed renewable and non-renewable energy sources of energy. They looked at the problems associated with climate change and the things they, can do as individuals to save energy.

Green School Award
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We were delighed to receive news on the 19th of April 2024 that we were awarded our first Green Schools flag. We will have a flag raising cermony in our school very soon.