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Assembly on Green Flag day started as usual with the hymn and a prayer. However things were also a bit strange - last year's Form Six had been invited to attend because they had put so much effort into the Green" School's Committee. Lots of them turned up and they all looked very smart and grown up in their new school uniforms. There were also some other specially invited guests including John Gormley, the Green Party TD and Claire Egan from Dublin City Council who had assessed our Green Schools application.
Mrs. Silke welcomed all our visitors and then Mr. Adair gave a great speech about our accomplishments in achieving the Green Flag. The Choir then sang a Green Song. After assembly we all filed outside to watch the Green Flag being raised on our beautiful new flagpole. It was a beautiful sunny morning and the garden looked very pretty.
Mr. Gormley and Ms. Egan joined Bean Ui Choirbeid on the steps. Mr. Gormley gave a speech praising our hard work and telling us that the future of the planet depended on our efforts. He said he was impressed by our Green song. Then Mr. Gormley (helped by Mr. Adair) hoisted the flag and Mrs. Silke initiated three loud cheers of Hip Hip Hurray!
We felt really happy and proud. We all think the flag looks impressive and when we pass it each morning it will remind us to continue our hard work.
To celebrate getting our Green Flag the whole school planted bulbs. Each class planted up a window box or two for their windowsills. At assembly we also decided to plant boxes for Miss Cunningham's Office, Mrs. Silke's Office, Elizabeth's Kitchen, the Resource Rooms and the Library. The day was lovely and sunny and warm and we really enjoyed our time out in the garden planting. We took turns putting in compost and then crocus, muscari and narcissi bulbs. Back in the classroom we put the window box out on our window sill and then gave the bulbs a good watering. We hope to have a very colourful display of flowers in the spring.
Getting the green flag took us two years and we all worked very hard to achieve it. We started by setting up a Green Schools Committee with representatives from the staff and forms 3,4,5 and 6 (the class representatives changed each term). The first big problem to tackle was how to deal with the waste produced in the school so the committee suggested the following steps to reduce waste going to landfill and recycle as much possible. The committee decided that:
Each classroom got a box for re-use paper and a waste-paper box and a box for parings as well as a bin for waste. Sometimes people forgot to use the correct box but the committee members reminded them. We reduced our black sack rubbish by 66%.