Green Schools 

Tidy Towns , Bin your Gum ' Poster Competition.

Monaghan Tidy Towns Committee   have very kindly sponsored the prizes for the ' Bin Your Gum'  poster competition held  recently. Prizes were awarded to each class- The judging Committee  remarked on the use of   slogans,  creativity and original ideas and the use of  lettering to highlight the message.   Below are some of the prizewinning posters.

       
       
       
       

We have 'won' our second green flag for Energy.On Tuesday 28th  May some members of the Green Schools Committee will travel to Ashbourne to receive our second Green Flag - A fantastic achievement for all involved.

Green School Committee 2012 - 2013

This year our committee is aiming to win another 'Green Flag' for our school. The theme of this flag is Energy. The committee meets as often as we can to discuss ways of saving energy in our school. So far we have put notices on all the doors asking people to keep the doors shut to stop the heat escaping. We have signs at the light switches urging people to turn off lights if they're not needed. At breaktimes we switch off the laptops and interactive white boards to save electricity. We are also monitoring the school's electricity and oil bills to see if all our work is cutting down on the amount of fossil fuels we use. We hope we're making a difference. 

 

We think we've been working really hard at reducing the amount of energy we use in our school. We will find out soon after the Easter Holidays if we've been successful. 

In the past year our Committee (with the help of our headmaster ) has done the following: 

  • Installed an energy monitor so we can check how much energy we use from minute to minute
  • Had all the external doors re-insulated and put on new hinges so they close automatically. 
  • Put new energy efficient lights in all the corridors and in our school hall
  • Put a meter on our oil tank so we can measure exactly how much oil we use each day. 
  • Set up our Energy Squad, these boys check the rooms at break time and make sure laptops and smartboards are turned off
  • Sent notes home to every family giving them advice on how to save energy at home. 
  • Asked each class to conduct experiments on energy 
  • Tried to reduce the amount of paper we use in photocopying by using a scanner and whiteboards
  • Invested in a new energy efficient photocopier
  • Carried out an energy audit to see where we use and waste energy in our school

All this has been a lot of work and we've been busy all year.

 

 

 

Green Schools 2010 - 2011

Nial O'Connor from Monaghan Council inspected our school to see if we deserved the 'Green Flag'. It was an anxious day for all the committee who worked so hard helping get the school ready. Mr. Mac Cinna's class noticed that last year the waste from our school weighed the same as a 'Hummer' but this year it weighed only 36kgs, the same weight as a fifth or sixth class boy! 

Nial had a meeting with our Green School Committee who told him of the progress they'd made and the difficulties they'd overcome. The committee got a  chance to tell him about some of the great things they'd been doing all year. After a long meeting Niall went to visit some classes so he could see that it wasn't just the Committee who were 'Green'. He got to see some Art made from recycled materials, read our posters, hear a 'green' song and poem and see some scientific experiments on the 'green' theme. 

Special thanks must go to Niall MacManus and Karthikeyan Manoharan, our committee's Chairman and Secretary, who escorted Niall to the different classes around the school. 

 

 Recycle More

We are now recycling used batteries, mobile phones and ink cartridges in school.
Please remove sim card from phone before sending it in.
We can only recycle certain types of ink cartridges - please check if yours can be recycled before sending it it.

     

 Green Schools Committee

The Green Schools Committee includes a boy from each class in the school.

All of these students had some great ideas of how we could strive to make our school environment a “greener” place, after each meeting the boys report back to their own classes.
Our motto is "We're a mean, green recycling machine"

Green Schools Noticeboard

Check out the green school noticeboard for all the latest information.

 

A decision was made to make badges for each committee member using  old boxes. The boys designed and made the badges with the help of Ms.McEntee. 
  

New water meter installed


A water meter was installed in the seomra spraoi.
Ronan and Mark from 5th class check it every morning and record the reading.

 

Labelling of Bins


We labelled all of our bins to make everyone aware of things that can be recycled or composted.

We have noticed a huge reduction in waste.The graph below shows the amount of waste for February 2011 compared to the amount of waste for Ferbruary 2010. See how much we have reduced due to recycling, composting, reducing and re-using!!

 Next Target

Now that we have reduced the amount of waste going to landfill, our next target is to reduce the amount of recyclable waste in the school. We plan to do this by encouraging reuse of many things.

 Litter Bugs

Mr. MacCinna's 5th Class went on litter picking days throughout the school year. They focused mainly on the school grounds and surrounding areas. They searched different areas each time they went out litter picking. On their first outing they found 9kg of litter, which was a lot more than they had anticipated. On their second day they recovered over 8kg and on their 3rd day they found over 4kg. This came as a surprise to the boys who had not realised that there are still so many Litter Bugs out there!!
 

Third Class Posters

Ms. Hughes's 3rd Class have been busy making posters. Each boy designed a poster with a different message e.g. saving energy, do not litter, reduce, re-use, recycle etc. These were laminated and put on display all over the school as a constant reminder to everyone of the right thing to do.

4th Class Pigs !!

Ms. Murphy's 4th Class made lovely pigs out of recycled materials. Well done boys!

 

5th Class projects using recycled materials

The boys in Fifth Class have been busy designing and constructing models of “eco houses”. The boys aimed to include as many energy saving features as possible and also to build the models out of recycled materials.