Green Flag Programme

For the past two years (2010/2011), the Green School Committee in St. Ronan’s N.S. has been working on obtaining our first green flag.  We started last year by carrying out an Environmental Review.  We found out that the school sent 3 bags of rubbish to the Landfill and 2 bags to recycling every week.   We also decided there was a litter problem in the yard, around the school and in the classrooms.  We noted that we were not using the bins properly and that there was a lot of waste created from lunches. 

We worked on the above issues.  Chris the caretaker came in to show us how to use the bins properly.  We took photographs of lunches to show parents at the Parent Association Meeting and to encourage the reusing of bottles/lunch boxes instead of tinfoil and plastic wrappings.  We banned food and drinks in the yard and had a Spring Clean to tidy up the existing litter.  Krzysztof, a parent, helped us make a bird table for bread scraps. We began shredding and recycling paper waste. We started Classroom Inspections to keep our classrooms tidy.

The amount of waste we produce has significantly dropped.  Now only two bags of waste leave the school each week, one and a half for recycling and only half a bag to the Landfill.  Our classrooms and the yard are kept very tidy and litter free. 

Also as part of the Green School Programme we encourage healthy eating.  We have set up a small school garden and grow healthy fruit and veg for the children to sample when ready.

St. Ronan’s N.S. Green Code

By putting our rubbish in the right bin,

Everyone in our school will win.

The yards and classrooms will be kept clean

And only healthy foods will be seen.

So let’s reduce, reuse and get recycling.

Bar chart showing the comparison between the number of bags of waste leaving the school before and after the Green Schools Programme.

 Green Schools Programme Activity