Main menu:
Activities > Green-Schools > Flag 3 - Water
Green-School Initiatives completed this school year 2008/2009
Here is an outline of our initiatives that took place in St. Senan’s Primary School this school year 2008-2009. All extra information is provided in our appendices.
Water Conservation Awareness Presentations
In September, our Green-School’s co-ordinator, Ms. O’ Grady felt a need to educate the whole school, staff and pupils on the importance of water conservation. Two power-point presentations were presented to the school, one aimed directly at Junior and Special Classes and the other was aimed at classes from 1 to 6 classes. Ms. O’ Grady spoke to the junior classes which the members of our Junior Committee directed and spoke at the senior talk. All teachers were given an information pack for their class on that day. The talks proved to be very beneficial and informative and the colourful images acted as a powerful learning tool for all pupils.
Water Conservation Action Days
Action Day (1)
We organised a ‘Class Water Log Day’ where every class has to calculate in litres how much water they used as a class and per pupil average.
Action Day (2)
This was where we organised a 2 ‘Water Action Day where we calculated the cost of how much water we use as a school community.
Turn off the Taps Campaign
We organised a ‘Turn off the Taps’ Campaign, where pupils from 2 to 6 class, designed posters containing a ‘catchy’ slogan to remind pupils and teachers alike to conserve water. Posters were adjudicated by our Junior Green-Schools committee members with the help of our senior members. The winning posters were laminated and put up in all mainstream classrooms above the class sinks. All winning posters are currently being displayed in our school hall and winners received a treat for all their well-earned hard work!
Educating our school of our ‘new’ Green School Code
All pupils and teachers were taught the new green code at school assemblies. We chanted it off before class on Tuesdays and Thursdays led by our Junior Committee members and our Principal Mr. Goff. A copy of the new green code was laminated and displayed in every classroom. The junior committee spoke of the importance of why we must ‘live’ and abide by our new code.
Top Tips for Water Conservation
Ms. Farrell and the 6 class girls from our Junior Committee announced top tips for reducing water consumption both in the school and in the home at school assemblies every morning before the Easter Break. Ms. Farrell used the over-head projector to provide a visual stimulus for pupils to look at as they listen to the girls speak about the various ways we can conserve water.
Green-Schools Newsletter
Mrs. Mc Cauley, Ms. Stafford and our 5 class boys on our Junior Committee willingly wrote up a newsletter for all pupils and their parents about Water Conservation. Parents and other members of our community were able to read about our aims and efforts and what initiatives that have taken place in our school since last September.
Trips to the Water Treatment Plant
Our Green-Schools co-ordinator contacted Wexford Water Services in hope that some of our senior classes could visit the treatment plant and see first hand the importance of safe, clean drinking water. Ms. O’ Grady arranged for our three 6 classes to visit the plant under the direction of the plant caretaker and the local water technician. It was a very successful day and the number of questions the pupils asked was phenomenal! All classes had studied water treatment before arriving at the plant with their class teachers which made the visit more appealing and interesting for the three 6 classes. We are arranging more class trips in the future for our 5 and 4 classes. We have included the water treatment service area maps in our appendices.
Curricular Work designed by class teachers
This area is fully explained further on in our application. Basically the general aims that are listed below are aims that the Green-Schools committee set out at the beginning of the year in informing the whole school about conserving water.
General Aims:
All class teachers with this view in mind set out designing a series of lessons and/or projects at their class level. Teachers were given a template in which they had to outline their own specific objectives, give a summary of the lessons or project taught and they had to include what subject, strand, strand unit the theme of their work falls under and whether or not this work could be integrated with other subjects etc. The teachers were given clear guidelines and were provided with topic ideas for each class level. This made their focus clear and their aims reachable.
Litter and energy monitoring competition
We have continued to monitor our classrooms and school on the grounds of cleanliness and energy efficiency. This year, Ms. O’ Grady’s 3 class offered to check our classrooms on a weekly basis. The times of these checks differed from week to week throughout the months of October, November and December. Two pupils requested the permission of the class teacher if they could mark the classroom under the following headings: the correct use of bins, correct disposal of materials, tidiness of lunch areas, taps turn off fully in all sinks, unnecessary use of lighting or heating etc. The class that earn the most ticks over half a term were the winners. All classes worked very hard and this initiative reminded everyone that St. Senan’s Primary School not only works hard on water conservation but also on litter and energy awareness.
Classroom spot checks
After our February Mid-Term, our Junior Committee discreetly monitored classrooms on a spot-check basis during small lunch. This took place on five continuous days of the school week. The purpose of these checks was to see if classes are still managing to ‘live’ by our Green Code. Overall, our monitors were impressed that most classes are maintaining a good status quo.
Energy awareness signs
Children throughout the school have made signs for our entrance and hallway doors and corridors, reminding the school community and visitors to our school to close the door behind them. ‘Let’s save energy, shut the door!’ This signs were laminated and displayed throughout the school. We also have signs up in classrooms reminding all to ‘Switch off the Light,’ when not needed. This reminds pupils and teachers alike of one of our previous campaigns, ‘Switch off the Light Campaign.’
Christmas Recycling Art Competition
It was decided in November that the Parents Council would judge our Christmas Recycling Art Competition again this year. The theme was of course any topic related to Christmas. The teachers and pupils had the option of constructing a 3D model or a 2D mural. Areas along our school corridors were designated for the art work. The main objective was to construct a model or an image using as much recyclable material as possible. Instead of painting, pupils made colour using sweet wrappers or tore up old cloth. Some classes made their models and murals entirely from recycled paper and old card. Pupils and teachers proved to be very creative with their imaginations. We even had green Santa’s and reindeer! Ms. Byrne’s 6 class made a winter scene out of sweet wrappers, it was called, ’Quality Street!’ Mr. Jimmy Gahan, a local news reporter and broadcaster on South East Radio acknowledged the hard work the school community put into the displays and he announced the winner and highly commended classes in school on the day we got our Christmas Holidays. Once again, this initiative proved to be an overall success.
Wexford County Council Christmas Decoration Competition
Our Green-Schools committee were awarded the overall county prize for the Christmas Decoration Competition 2007. We got our award last November’08. Many pupils took part in the competition again this year. Even though we had no winner from our school this year, we hope to continue participating for many years to come!
National Spring Clean Day
During the month of April we had our Litter Action Day, where all participants of our school community helped to tidy up the school grounds. Ms. O’Grady rotated the litter pickers and refuse bags among classes at different times, areas and intervals of the day. We also disposed of old radiators the school no longer needs.
Top tips for water conservation in the home:
St. Senan’s School
Green School Code
Think about the green flag,
Put the rubbish in the bag.
Think about our green school,
A green school is really cool.
Recycling is the way to go,
Do it fast, don’t be slow.
Switch off the light,
Do be bright.
Shut the door,
And there’s more.
Don’t forget to check the tap,
A dripping tap is not a laugh.
Reduce, Reuse that’s our aim,
Saving energy is our game.