Green School Committee 2016/2017
This year’s new Green School Committee in RaLET has been elected. The committee is made up of two pupil representatives from each class from first to sixth, along with teachers and two parent representatives. The committee will meet once every fortnight at the beginning of the year and once per month thereafter.
Green-Schools
Our school has received five green flags to date for our work in the following areas:
- Litter and Waste
- Energy
- Water
- Travel
- Biodiversity
This year we are continuing our work on the sixth Green-School theme – Global Citizenship Litter and Waste. Our new committee members have lots of fresh energy to bring to the theme and they are already busy making some new signage for our recycling bins and delivering surveys to their classes. The Green-School Committee also has a lot of work to do on maintaining the themes of previous flags.
Global Citizenship
Citizenship most often relates to being a member of a country but it can also relate to being a member of a union of states, like the European Union, or even to the global population. Every single one of us is a citizen of the world. Global citizenship is a moral understanding of our responsibilities and our rights in a global context. Being a true global citizen shows that we understand that ALL people have equal rights, while at the same time valuing diversity. In addition, it means that we regard the earth as very precious and as a resource upon which we all depend and should care for.
Our Plan
Our Green-Schools Committee is currently in the process of gathering some important information needed to inform our action plan on this theme, including pupil global awareness surveys, a litter and waste audit and research on the different nationalities in the school. When we have collected and reviewed the information, we will draw up and publish our action plan on the school website.
Our general aims this year will be focused around:
- Raising awareness on how looking after our environment aids people all over the world
- Promoting and facilitating ‘Active Citizenship’
- Integrating the Global Citizenship Litter and Waste ethos into our wider Green-Schools programme
- Making an improvement in the Litter and Waste management in our school
Our efforts on the theme of Global Citizenship so far:
- Classrooms are monitored and rated on a weekly basis to ensure energy is being used efficiently and that materials are being recycled correctly
- We buy Fair Trade goods for the staffroom
- Children in our school have been made Fair Trade-aware
- We have participated in national cycle to school days
- We maintain and grow fruit and vegetables in the school garden
- Classes have participated in Lusk Tidy Towns
- We undertook a whole-school project on the Global Goals
- We became a Global Citizenship School in 2016
- We competed in the regional finals of the Irish Aid Awards 2016
Communications
This year we commit to keeping the school website regularly updated with all Green-School news and activities. We will also keep our Green-Schools noticeboard updated so that you can follow our progress. This noticeboard is located on the corridor outside Wendy’s office. If you have any questions, suggestions or if you are interested in coming along to any of our meetings, please let us know.