Our Green School

An Taisce, the foremost environmental organisation in Ireland has awarded our school four Green Flags to date. These flags were for Litter and Waste, Energy Conservation, Water Conservation and Travel. We are currently working towards our fifth flag for “Biodiversity”.

Abbeyleix South N.S. has in the past and continues to make environmental awareness and intrinsic part of the life and ethos of the school. The staff endeavours to extend learning beyond the classroom and to develop responsible attitudes and commitment both at home and in the wider community.

In our school, one pupil form each of the classes 1st – 6th is chosen as a member of the Green School Committee. Committee members, Ms Whiteford (Green Schools Co-Ordinator) pupils and teachers have shown a huge interest in our Green School’s programme , achieving each of our Green School’s Flags is a gradual process, it doesn’t happen overnight,  a long term programme is needed so that we foster environmental awareness in the entire school. Each and every pupil and teacher has played an active role in taking on the responsibility of keeping our school “Green”…..well done to all!

Our Green School Motto for Litter and Waste is:

“It’s our school, let’s keep it clean! It’s our dream. Let’s go green!”

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We were awarded our first Green Flag in June 2010 testament to the hard work of the Green Schools Committee which met weekly under the guidance of Miss Galbraith (now known as Mrs Mythen) and included such things as a bird table in the school grounds, a hat project making hats from recyclable materials. Also there was a huge effort to make the school a litter-free zone, recording liter black spots and incorporating a compost bin into each classroom and on the school grounds, under the guidance of Ms Whiteford. We were also awarded “Litter Free Status” in 2010.

We raised our second Green Flag for Energy Conservation in June 2012. Our Green School’s Committee carried out an Environmental review, devised an action plan for ways to conserve energy in our school, mentioned and evaluated the programme and integrated environmental issues in to curriculum work. Having moved form our old school to our new premises midway during the two year period for achieving this flag, made the project all the more interesting and challenging.

We raised our third Green School Flag for water conservation on Wednesday 25th June 2014. The programme began with an environmental survey which involved looking at water bills, auditing the toilets, taps, sinks, measuring the amount of water used in 1 minute for a running tap, knowing where our water comes from and where our waste water goes. Our pupils, over the course of two years learned how to reduce water use in their homes and came up with the motto for water conservation.

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“Never let the water run, saving water can be done”

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We raised our fourth Green School’s Flag for Travel on Thursday 23rd June 2016. During the year we had many pupils who joined our Wednesday Walk, where pupil/parents and Ms Whiteford congregated at the library at 8.45am and walked to school. This initiative was a great success.