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Green Schools

Green Schools News

Welcome to our Green Schools Page.

Make sure to check this page regularly and keep an eye out for any updates!


Green Schools 

***Biodiversity Update***

We are delighted to say that HCNS has recently been awarded its fifth Green Flag for Biodiversity. The Green-Schools team were blown away by the knowledge, effort and manners of the children when they visited in February. A huge congratulations to everyone for all their hard work and dedication towards the theme over the past couple of years.  We can’t wait to continue the great work this year. Mr. Glynn will be in touch in the coming weeks about organising our first committee meeting for this year.

H.C.N.S. as a Green School:

Harold’s Cross National School is very proud to be recognised as a Green School. We are committed to being a Green School and our aim is to teach each child to respect their environment and to hopefully put what into practice what they have learned in school. On this page you will learn all about the various initiatives that are taking place to ensure that we continue to maintain our Green Schools status and to help to increase awareness about a variety of environmental issues.

We have just earned our fifth Green Schools flag which was for the Biodiversity theme. Biodiversity is the study of plants and animals. Our ultimate aim is to make students, parents and teachers aware of the different biodiversity that exists in our world.

Here in Harold’s Cross National School we have been involved in the Green Schools initiative since 2009. Over the years we have earned an impressive five Green Flags and are currently starting to work towards our sixth.

The Green Schools themes that we have explored to date have been:

     1. Litter and Waste          2. Energy          3.Water           4. Travel           5. Biodiversity

Our Green Schools Committee:

Our Green Schools Committee meet regularly to discuss issues in relation to the Green Schools programme. We have been working hard to tackle litter and waste issues in the school and have more recently been working very hard to encourage a wider range of biodiversity within our school.

In January we were busy collating the results of our second Biodiversity Awareness Survey that was carried out by classes from second class to sixth class. This was a follow up survey to the one carried out in November 2018. This years survey has shown a much greater awareness of what biodiversity means among our school community. These figures were really positive and has shown that all of the hard work that we have been doing has been worth it.

Prior to applying for our fifth Green Schools Flag, we held a Biodiversity Slogan Competition. We were blown away by the standard of the various entries and choosing a winner wasn’t an easy task. Well done to everyone who took part. A particular congratulations to Marcel in 5th  class who was our overall winner.  Our runners-up were Niamh in 5th class and Ella in 3rd class. See below some photographs of us hard in deliberation over what slogan to declare the winner!

Thanks to Marcel, our new Green Schools Biodiversity Code is…

“Plants and animals everywhere,

Protect them all and show we care,

From the smallest insect to the tallest tree,

They’re all important…

That’s BIODIVERSITY!”

 

What is Green Schools?

Green Schools is known internationally as Eco-Schools. It is an environmental management and education programme for schools. It’s aim is to promote long-term, whole school action for the environment. Green-Schools is a student-led programme with involvement from the wider community. The programme is operated and coordinated by the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce (FEE member for Ireland).

Say tuned for more updates.

Make sure to speak to Mr. Glynn if you have any ideas or suggestions for the Green Schools Committee.