St.Louis Infant School

Raising the flag to celebrate our Green School Success

Well done to Mrs. Greenan and her hard working committee for reaching their goal of obtaining Greenflag status for our school and helping to protect the environment. Juste,Caolán and Sam accompanied Mrs.Greenan to Dublin to collect our Greenflag which was presented at an awards ceremony in Croke Park. We will have a special ceremony and school celebration to raise the flag on Thursday 26th May. Congratulations to everyone who played their part by Reducing, Reusing and Recycling.

St Louis Infants registered with the Green School programme on 13 Sept. 09. Our achievements to date are as follows:
An 84% reduction in waste going to landfill. This reduction was brought about by our ongoing and effective waste management policies.

Food Waste policy. Previously the waste bins were overladen with uneaten food. Children are now encouraged to bring home all uneaten food. This policy has proved most effective in reducing waste and promoting cleanliness/hygiene around bin areas. Parents are also made aware of how much food children actually need for their school lunches.

Ongoing recycling policy using coloured coded bins eg Green in our school for card board, paper and washed juice cartons. Washed plastics go into a plastic box which is collected separately

The compositor provided by Monaghan Co. Council has also played a part in reducing waste. Fruit peelings and tea bags are collected and emptied by the green school monitors in each class

Children are encouraged to recycle at home and to retell of their experiences to the class eg home composting, trips to the bottle bank, clothes bank etc. We encourage children to recycle their milk bottles at home.

Following a visit by Benjamin the Bin acommittee meeting was held The children spoke about their experiences on the committee and of what they enjoyed the most. Some cited the bus trip to Bunscoil San Lughaidh in Carrickmacross. Others enjoyed the litter picking on Action Day. Another child referred to the prize which he had got from Benjamin the Bin. Overall the feedback was positive. The children were presented with a greenschool badge and partook in a'waste free' snack which proved most popular. A new committee was selected in Sept.2010 to replace members who had graduated from 1st class to their new schools.

Our policy of Go Green Stay Clean is working. Our bins and bin areas are clean. We are recycling two bags of good quality clean plastic per month. The children are aware of what it means to be part of the Green School Programme. They have an understanding of the environment and of why we need to care for and preserve our natural resources. They have an understanding of the value of recycling and know that what we don’t need may help others. The phone recycling for the Jack and Jill Foundation was a major success -not only in raising money for the charity but as a reward the school received an interactive white board for Ms. Rocks' Room.

The Green School Programme Provided an important Curriculum Link with Oral Language, Writing, Maths , Science, Art, Gaeilge and S.P.H.E. etc.There has been a fun element with the visit of Marvin the Magician and Benjanin the Bin courtesy of Monaghan Co. Council and with the recycling at home project using recycled materials for arts and crafts. (View the projects in our Greenschool Gallery.)
As the saying goes ‘ Lots done Lots more to do’ but we are well on the road.

After a successful 2010 our Greenschool Application was lodged on 1st December.We had our assessment at end of January 2011 and were delighted to hear that we had achieved Green School status.We continueto work with enthusiasm and a determination to keep our school green.

Caolán, Juste, Sam and Mrs.Greenan travelled to Dublin to represent our school at an award ceremony and to receive our Green Flag. The flag will be raised an the school grounds on May 26th