The Green School Programme incorporates cross-curricular elements of English, Maths, History, Geography, Science, and Art. It is very much a whole school approach. The children are also learning how committees work. It is a very valuable and worthwhile experience for our pupils. Mr Kinnarney is the Green Schools coordinator and Ms Ounnar is the green schools assistant.
The Green School Programme incorporates cross-curricular elements of English, Maths, History, Geography, Science, and Art. It is very much a whole school approach. The children are also learning how committees work. It is a very valuable and worthwhile experience for our pupils. Mr Kinnarney is the Green Schools coordinator and Ms Ounnar is the green schools assistant.
For more information on the programme which we are engaging with check the website www.greenschoolsireland.org
What is a green flag?
A green flag is helping make the world a better place. A green flag is for schools who have accomplished their tasks on making their local environment clean. We have achieved the waste and litter flag along with the energy flag. We are currently aiming to conserve water and raise awareness of how important water is ahead of our assessment in Spring 2018. Green Schools is an environmental Education programme. Over 3,600 primary and secondary schools in Ireland are working on the programme.
Newsletters
These newsletters are to inform our school community about our efforts to be more environmentally friendly at Old Bawn Community School. The Green Schools’ Programme has been running successfully here for many years now.
Our green schools updates will be available here on our school website throughout the academic year.
Green School Update
Grace Lynch our TY student designed the new green schools crest, to reflect the areas where OBCS is currently focusing their efforts on – Litter & Waste, Energy saving & Water Conservation.
Green Schools Newsletter November 2017 - Election & meetings We had a committee election on Monday 6th of November to elect key personnel to take leadership in various fields. We have decided to continue having regular meetings at 8:45am on Mondays. The Elected Committee Head of Green Schools – Katie Cullen Deputy head - Karen Finn Secretary – Ben Rogers Assistant… ...more
Give Your Environment a Voice; Competition Article
By: Saoirse Laird, aged 16
Old Bawn Community School, Tallaght, Dublin 24
Identifying a Problem: I identified a local litter problem in Seán Walsh Park, Tallaght. I noticed this problem when I was volunteering to clean with Litter Mugs. The problems associated with litter is huge. Seán Walsh Park is a local litter problem but compared to a national litter problem or even global litter problem, it may seem only small, however, it is in reality a snapshot of what the global or national problem is.
A hotspot is a place that litter is common or is most likely to receive litter from. Seán Walsh Park is a massive hotspot because there are multiple schools (including both Primary and Secondary) in the area and young children would not have the education to not litter. Children and teenagers might be walking through the park on lunch times and at home time. Another reason it is a hotspot is because there is a shopping centre across the way.
Research: My school, my teacher and my local area were involved in this project. This project took place from the 15th of February to the 8th of March. My school agreed with my idea and my teacher was very pleased with the effort and research put into the project. I researched ways to stop waste and litter in my area and I brainstormed a lot of ideas and I picked upcycling because it can be an arts and craft too. I used google, my teacher, videos, my local area and an interview on Ellen DeGeneres about a young boy who created a recycling company. I am concerned for my generation and the next generations future as litter and waste are killing off our animals and bringing down our food supplies down due to waste. I got involved by upcycling myself and using the recycling bins properly. Every person I asked, friends and family, said that it was a brilliant idea and that they would like to know how to upcycle. My target is to get people aware of the problems of litter and waste and to prove to them that recycling and upcycling can be fun and easy and can turn out with great outcomes. In my opinion, I don’t think that there is enough education about recycling and littering, people don’t understand why it’s bad to litter and people see recycling as boring, useless and a waste of time. There isn’t a lot of people in my area who recycle or upcycle. There is one recycling bin for nearly every house. My solution is to make recycling and upcycling fun and colourful and an arts and crafts activity for children.
Report: I am writing this report to explain my photograph and my idea surrounding it and why it is linked to environmental studies.
Disseminate: I have spread the word of my project on 3 social networks as I feel this is the best way to spread ideas. The social networks I used were Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram. My school has also offered to place my project on the school website and in the school newsletter.
Saoirse Laird won an Green School’s art competition, coming 1st in Leinster and winning a Samsung tablet and a framed version of her poster. Well done Saoirse!
greenschoolspicswithsaoirselairdandgreenschoolsrepresentative 
