This is our 7th Green School flag for Global Citizenship – Energy. 

We already have 6 flags – 

1.   Litter and Waste
2. Energy
3. Water
4. Travel
5. Biodiversity
6. Global Citizenship – Litter and Waste

We are very happy and proud to now have 7.

We welcomed Daire O’ Huallachain, our parent on the Green School committee and to Dónal Sheehan our local community committee member to launch the flag.

Dónal is a passionate conservationist, and he has worked hard to combine farming and biodiversity. He has spoken publicly on the need to change to an overall more sustainable system of farming. Something which Rang 4 & 5 witnessed as Dónal very kindly took them on a farm walk. Dónal is our local celebrity and has been on television and radio about many important environmental issues. He is an inspiration to us all so we could not think of a better person to raise our Green School flag this year.

While we have been very busy working on this flag we also have to maintain the previous 6 flags. We had a weekly competition to see who is the ‘Greenest Class’. We recycled over 20 WEEE boxes of batteries this year. We encouraged people to walk, scoot, cycle to school or to car-pool, as they are all great ways to help save energy. 

 We now have a wildflower garden, a bee and butterfly garden and a vegetable garden. Ms Fox and her gardening committee were extremely busy this year. They entered numerous competitions and were very successful. In the Nature Hero awards they were in the top 16 out of 200 and in the Múintir na Tíre gardening competition they won best in category for Biodiversity, Upcycling, Art and Colour. Maith sibh!. 

 We have been developing the Biodiversity of the school environment. We now have 2 Bat boxes, 2 Robin bird houses, 2 small bird houses, a Let it Grow meadow, new wildflower area, 3 new raised beds for vegetables, 3 strawberry bags, a fruit garden with blueberry, gooseberry and blackberry bushes, a pumpkin patch, a new tumbling tomato shelf. 

 Massive thanks to Ms Fox who spearheaded the project and to her Gardening team, all classes especially Sonas and Le Chéile, their SNAs for helping watering the plants and painting the vegetable beds. Also thanks to John McCarthy and Mr de Róiste for their hard work organizing, building and maintaining the gardens. Everyone went on a school nature walk this morning to see all the incredible work that has gone on this year. We hope that this will help to improve the Biodiversity in our school environment.

While we did a lot of work maintaining our previous flag’s our main focus was on this year’s theme which is – Global Citizenship – Energy.

We had 2 very successful Green School Action Days, one in October and one in February. Everyone has worked very hard all year on the theme Global Citizenship Energy and learned so much. Many people have changed their behaviors in relation to Energy and are much better at conserving Energy now.

Last year we examined our energy use in school over a week long period and when we re-examined it this year we were absolutely delighted that our Energy use has decreased. Our Energy monitors did a fantastic job.

 The most obvious global link to the energy theme is of course Climate Change, the most serious environmental problem of our time and is intrinsically linked to our energy use.

The problems associated with Climate Change are vast, and they impact both the environment and people all over the globe, in particular people in developing countries.

Due to its global nature, the consequences of climate change are profound and far reaching and impact on every aspect of life on earth. 

Some of the potential impacts of climate change are:

• Changes in rainfall patterns
• Sea level rises
• An increase in droughts
• Habitat loss
• Heat stress
• The number and intensity of extreme weather events
• Decline in farming productivity

These are all very worrying and we want to do our best to make the world a safe place for all its inhabitants.As our school motto says ‘Ní neart go cur le chéile’ ‘Together everyone achieves more’ and we all need to work together for the future of our planet.

 Each class has been very busy learning about the theme of Energy this year. Rang 4/5/6 created some very informative powerpoints on renewable forms of Energy. We had a visit from Neilya Finn  who spoke to us about Kazakhstan, a developing country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe and their Energy use. 

We would like to say a big Go Raibh Mile Maith Agaibh and well done to each class and their teacher for all their hard work this year. A special word of thanks to Mr Cremin who has written a song for us all about saving Energy. And to Rang 4/5/6 and Ms Fox and Ms Clancy for all their hard work. And thanks to Samantha for playing the bagpipes for our celebration in launching the flag.

 We had a competition for our Green School code and the winners were – Michael O’ Mahony Walsh, Ned Condon, Cionnaith Cotter, Carter Clegg and Ewan McCarthy.

We will plant some shrubs to offset our carbon emissions and each child will received a treat for all their hard work. Many thanks to the Parents Association for  providing treats to the children.

It was a fantastic year and we learned so much and hopefully saved a lot of Energy along the way. Well done to everyone involved.

Go raibh mile maith agaibh!