Kilruane N.S.- A Green School
In 2009 May Casey retired and Christine O Meara took over the Green School journey.The Water theme continued and in 2010 our school was sucessfully awarded our third Green Flag.
Flag number four was embarked upon in 2010.This was our Travel Flag.For the next two years we worked on a variety of topics such as road safety,various forms of travel and also the effect that CO2 can have on the environment.We promoted other healthier forms of travel e.g. walking and cycling and in 2012 we travelled to Kilkenny to receive our Travel Flag.
Having raised our fourth Green Flag we decided to revisit the other themes that had been covered over the past six years and remind ourselves of the reasons why we had been awarded four flags.
In 2013 we began the next step and so we launched our fifth theme of Biodiversity.At the moment we are in year one of this process and we are learning the meaning of the term Biodiversity and how we can promote this theme in our school and beyond.We are currently working on the seasonal changes in the trees growing around our school and having already observed the Autumn and Winter changes we are now awaiting the Spring buds and blossoms to appear.We recently celebrated Tree Week which included encouraging an awareness of trees around us and the study of some unusual but interesring trees that grow in Ireland.
In 2006 May Casey officially declared Kilruane a Green School by commencing what was to become a successful journey.This journey has resulted in our school being awarded a total of four Green Flags to date.
In 2006 the first of our flags was awarded.The theme of this flag was Reduce….Reuse….Recycle.The importance of recycling and reducing the amount of waste we produce was promoted in our school and at home.The children were also encouraged to take care of and appreciate the environment in which they live.
From 2006-2008 the next theme was Energy and the ways we use energy.We focused on the ways we can reduse our use of energy and especially the harmful effects that some forms of energy can have on our environment.In 2008 our second flag was awarded.
The next theme was Water and the importance of using the precious supply of water we have in a respectful and economical way.We encouraged everyone to be mindful of our use of water both at home and in school and to be aware of the harmful pollutants that can destroy the quality of our water.
We have recently bought a bird table, bird boxes and some bird feeders for the school and you can see the fantastic signs that have been put up. We thank Ms.Kirby for her help. We hope our school will be a welcoming and inviting habitat for the birds this Winter. We have filled these and will keep a vigilant check on them over the Winter months.
We have also bought some hedgehog homes which are located beside the Bug Hotel.
The Green Team put together a leaf mound with the fallen Autumn leaves around our school.This will also be a cosy habitat for some little creatures for the Winter.We would also like to invite all classes to take a little wander around these habitats
So we are well prepared for the Winter months and have created many habitats on our school grounds!
Green Team News, School Year 2017
Kilruane School has been busy since Christmas promoting the theme of Biodiversity and keeping the themes of the other flags flying!
Miss Talbots 5th and 6th class have been studying the habitats of the Arctic and the Antarctic. They covered these areas through all the subjects and made fantastic artwork by recycling shoeboxes which turned into amazing scenes based on the North and South Pole.
They kindly presented the fruits of their work to each class in the halla by passing on the information they had gathered to the other children.
The Green Team sent out an appeal for old newspapers to the whole school and we received an enthusiastic reaction! We are busy making newspaper briquettes and you never know we might have a briquette for each child to take home by June!!!!
The vegetable patches have been dug up ready for planting so in a week or two we hope to plant onions and radishes that will be harvested by June.
One of the highlights so far has been the visit of our local Bog Oak Group to our school. They arrived with their beautiful pieces of bog oak, tools and their huge talent and craft in this area. The children were given a wonderful insight into the whole area of bog oak. We thank Johnny Spain, Philly Reddan, Johnny Peters and Andy Whelan for their time, knowledge and expertise.
Another highlight has to be the visit of Bird Study Expert, Arnold Nolan to Kilruane School. Arnold gave a presentation to each class from Junior Infants to Sixth class. Each presentation was followed by a practical workshop around the school grounds where Arnold identified all the interesting birds we have as well as habitats, plants, trees, minibeasts etc. The visit ended with a Green Team meeting where Arnold shared his knowledge and enthusiasm with us. We thank you Arnold for your encouragement and knowledge.
We had another great day at Kilruane NS, thanks to a visit from local beekeeper, Tom Starr. He gave the children lots of information about bees and wasps. He showed the children the protective clothing worn by the bee keepers. He brought along a straw bee hive from long ago. The children got to taste some of Tom’s honey, made by his very own bees. We would like to thank Tom for sharing his hobby and vast knowledge with us. The children really enjoyed his visit.
So Kilruane N.S. is indeed a busy place and hopefully we are getting nearer to achieving our 5th flag -BIODIVERSITY
Our Green Team Slogan for Biodiversity
MOSS,TREES.BOGS AND BATS,
PROTECT OUR NATURAL HABITATS
(Kieran Spain Green Team Rang 6)
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