Green Flag

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.

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.

We hope to construct a Bug Hotel in the near future which will encourage the appearance of minibeasts into a new and welcoming habitat.Our birdfeeders are keeping us busy filling and refilling them!

And so we are continuing to work towards our fifth flag which we hope to achieve in 2015.

We are continuing to work on our BIODIVERSITY theme.Our Bug Hotel is well established  offering an alternative habitat for any bugs etc wishing to live there!

We were delighted to see a family  that made their home in one of the trees at the front of our school last year.Hopefully the bird-feeders encouraged these birds to locate their nest so near us.

In late October we welcomed Áine Ní Fhlatharta from Seed Savers in Scariff who delivered a workshop on BIODIVERSITY.It began with a presentation by Áine to fourth,fifth and sixth class, which was both interesting and informative.This was followed by a questionnaire filled in by each child.We had prepared a map of the school beforehand and Áine studied this map to get an  idea of the surrounding habitats and natural environments.The Green Team and Áine then went outside to examine the habitats and identify the plants and trees already growing in the school grounds.Áine finished off her workshop by discussing a WISH LIST with the class.She shared her expertise with us in this area and gave us many helpful and practical ideas that could be put into practice.

We are continuing our study of GLOBAL WARMING which is so important in the area of BIOIVERSITY. At the moment we have a display in reception on the subject of  GLOBAL WARMING.We also tuned in to Eco Eye which gave a very comprehensive description of the causes and effects of GLOBAL WARMING e.g.over use of fossil fuels,increased levels of CO2 in the environment,climate change throughout the world and increased risks of flooding.In Trócaires Lenten campaign we heard about CLIMATE INJUSTICE.

We discovered that many of the poorer countries are suffering greatly because of the richer countries of the world and their lack of concern for the whole area of GLOBAL WARMING and its effect on countries such as Ethiopia.

Tree Week 2015 was indeed a week of many weathers as the children enjoyed snow at the start of the week followed by a few days of nice Spring weather.

We have recently signed up for An Taisces National Spring Clean programme and we will receive a free CLEAN UP KIT for our school to use in April.

In our Art Press we have organised a collection point for used batteries,old newspapers and cereal boxes.So any old Guardians,cereal boxes etc can be brought to school!

Before Christmas we purchased a paper briquette maker to put our old newspapers to good use!

With some trial and error we have now perfected the art of making paper briquettes.We discovered it was a question of more haste less speed when it came to making these briquettes as they can take quite a while to set and dry out properly.With the onset of nice weather we hope to have a good supply of briquettes towards the end of the year!

At the moment the school is looking well with a Spring theme,daffodils galore decorate the school grounds.Last Summer Miss Kirby organised new window boxes at the front of our school with many evergreen plants included, which have enhanced our school throughout the Autumn and Winter.As Spring is in the air we hope to put some of Áines ideas into practice and so move closer to achieving our fifth Green Flag!!

Green Flag update May 2017

We are delighted to announce that our school was awarded it’s Fifth Green flag in May 2017. We are so proud to have all our flags on display outside our school. Well done everybody!