St Joseph's N.S.

Choose the right bin to put things in!

This is our Green Schools slogan. Aiden Mullally from 3rd Class came up with it. Well done Aiden.

Green Code
Bite your lunch away.
At the end of the day, put everything away.
Litter is a bad thing.
Leave things as you find them (except for litter).
It is good to recycle
No more landfills
Go to the bin and put things in.
At the end of the day, clean out your bag.
Recycle your lunch bag.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
You only use one paper towel.
(James McGrath from 4th Class came up with this very clever acrostic.)

Green-Schools Committee
The Committee for 2008/09 is as follows:
Adam Kealey, Darren Prout, Ciara McGovern, Conor Ivors, Lauren McGovern, Oran Ivors, Jack Kealy, Aiden Mullally (Students)
Mr. Oliver Gleeson (Teacher)

The Commitee will liaise with the following people:
Mrs. Marie Clancy (Parent)
Mr. Eddie Mullally, Mr. Pat Walton (Board of Management)
Ms. Evelyn Healy (Caretaker)

Green-Schools Latest+++Green-Schools Latest+++Green-Schools Latest+++
Progress
We started working towards getting our first Green Flag in September 2007. We made our application at the end of February 2009. We received a favourable response from An Taisce and having implemented their recommendations we awaited a visit from our assessor.
Ms Marie Grant from the Environmental Section of the South Tipperary Co. Council came to visit us on April 29th. She spoke first to the Green-Schools Committee and then to all the students in their classrooms. She seemed pleased with the efforts we had made.
On May 14th we received a letter from An Taisce informing us that our application had been successful. We were finally going to get our hands on the Green Flag!!
On May 28th a special envoy was dispatched to Cork City to collect the flag.
On June 9th. Shane Long was the guest of honour at our Green Flag Raising Ceremony.

Flag Raising Ceremony - June 9th, 2009
Shane Long was the Guest of Honour at our Flag Raising Ceremony. He was the one who raised the Green Flag over St. Joseph's for the first time. Thank you to Shane and to Father Breen for blessing the Green Flag beforehand. Our gratitude also goes out to Vinnie Hannigan for erecting our flag pole at such short notice, to Maura Kerwick for providing the sumptuous cakes and buns for our guests, to Sarah Cleere, Martina McGarry, Timmy Cleere and Liam Noonan for accompanying our musicians and dancers, to the Parents Council for providing and serving refreshments and to Anne Long for ensuring that Shane was able to visit us again.

Collecting the Flag - May 28th, 2009
Mr Gleeson and three other members of the Committee; Ciara McGovern, Conor Ivors and Adam Kealy travelled to the Lifetime Lab in Cork City for the Green Flag Presentaion Ceremony. Arriving early allowed them the chance to explore the various exhibits at the Lifetime Lab which is located in the old Cork Waterworks. After being provided with a lovely meal the team headed into the Ceremony. The Flag was presented by noted Environmentalist Jim Wilson. The Green-Schools Committee would like to thank the organisers An Taisce for a wonderful day.

Day Of Action 2009 - Ballingarry Litter Pick

Friday May 1st was our Green-Schools Day of Action where we took to the streets of Ballingarry once more in a bid to clear our village of litter. Because of the inclement weather we only got going after lunch. That didn't deter our students though, they were only too willing to work twice as hard to get the job done

Reusing

During a recent art lesson students use their imagination to turn rubbish into castles.

Planting Trees

Three Fourth Class boys plant a rowan tree at the front of the school. Thank you to South Tipperary Co Council for giving the school five trees recently.

Recycling
Thank you to all the students and parents who supported our used clothing and old mobile phone collections. We collected 50 bin bags of clothes and 22 mobile phones which were taken for recycling by Lenrec (a Kilkenny based recycling company). Please bear in mind that the school is continuously collecting old mobile phones and used ink cartridges for recycling.

Composting
Our first attempts at composting were hampered by the theft of our compost bin. On securing a replacement bin from South Tipperary Co. Co. we found that our efforts proved unsuccessful due to the large amounts of citrus fruit peel we were putting in the bin. Orange skins do not break down as quickly as say, apple cores and therefore are not suitable for composting.
Having learned a few lessons we decided to start from scratch. Students from the middle room helped to clear the sod from under the compost bin and secure it in the ground. Senior students gather composting waste from the classrooms on a daily basis and add it to the bin. Once a week used paper towels (having been soaked in water first) are added. The school has procured an old style manual lawnmower which is used by the students to keep the area around the bin tidy. The grass cuttings are then added to the bin. Hopefully our efforts this time will 'bear more fruit'.

What We Are Composting
fruit peels and cores
tea bags
shredded newspaper
wet paper towels
grass clippings
weeds
leaves
pencil parings

We Don't Compost
orange peel
processed food scraps
plastic, glass, metal

2007/08
St. Joseph's are currently trying to obtain the Green-Schools 'Green Flag' for our school. This year the focus is on litter and waste management. The first step was to form a committee. Votes were cast in all classes from 2nd. to 6th. to elect nine students to this committee. A parent, a member of the Board of Management and a teacher were also asked to join.

The committee for 07/08 is Marie Clancy, Eddie Mullalley, Pat Walton, Jack Kealy, Oran Ivors, Lauren McGovern, Ciara McGovern, Conor Ivors, Adam Kealy, Darren Prout, Sarah Condon, Luke Britton and Mr Gleeson.

Steps have been taken to reduce the amount of refuse being produced by the school. Closer attention has been paid to recycling and composting. Teachers have been encouraged to cut down on photocopying. Thankfully a new photocopier has arrived at the school as the old one was unable to photocopy both sides of a page. This should help. Overall everyone in the school is more conscious of the need to Reduce, Recycle and Reuse. A Green-Schools notice board has been erected in the school to help keep us on track.

Day of Action - May 30th. 2008
As part of our quest to obtain the 'Green Flag' the school had to organise a 'Day of Action' where we would make the local community more aware of our efforts. We decided to give the streets of Ballingarry and the local GAA grounds a bit of a clean up. The Senior Room took to the streets, the Middle Room picked up the litter in O'Sullivan Park and not to be outdone the Junior Room had the school grounds sparkling by the time we got back.
In all the students and their accompanying teachers collected twelve full bags of refuse, three full bags of plastic bottles and two bags of cans. The Co. Council collected the rubbish from us the following week. Well done to all our students for working so hard to try and make our community a nicer place to live in.