Green Schools

The Green-Schools Programme is an international environmental education programme, environmental management system and award scheme that promotes, recognises and acknowledges long-term, whole school action for the environment. It is a long-term programme that introduces students, teachers, parents and the wider community to the concept of an environmental management system.

2022-2024: Flag 4: Travel Flag

Green Schools Committee for 2023/24

The GreenSchools Committee braved the elements to track down drivers speeding past our school - the results would horrify you!

They really enjoyed using the Speed Gun and observing the different speeds that pass our school doors everyday.

We'll be reaching out to locals in the coming months asking them to please slow down outside our 2 locations in order to protect the pupils walking and crossing the roads everyday.

We'd love to make Boherbue a safe village to walk and cycle in! 🚲

As part of Clean Air Week 2023, 2nd - 5th Class took part in an Air Pollution / Quality workshop hosted by Angela Wall, our school's Travel officer.

Angela explained what Air Quality is, how Air Pollution is created, its effects and how we can reduce it.

She posed a great question to the pupils and they took part in a walking debate - they chose their answer, debated their reason for choosing that answer and either stuck to it or changed their minds.

Who breathes in more air pollution while travelling to school?

What do you think? Ask your child for the correct answer!

November 2023

November is shaping up to be a busy month for the committee as they tackle vehicle idling in the school. This new mindset will kick off on November 20th to celebrate Clean Air Week. 

The committee will be writing to parents/guardians and the bus drivers asking them to stop/reduce idling during drop off, collection and all other times. 'No Idling' pledges will be sent to each household and we can't wait to see all the returned and signed pledges! 

UPDATE: We received signed pledges from over 90 families! Thank you so much!

October 2023

October 2nd to 6th was Walk to School Week! The committee reminded the classes about the different ways to travel to school to reduce car usage. We are very lucky in Boherbue that a large number of pupils get the bus to school, this takes a lot of cars off the road! Pupils were reminded to Park and Stride, those walking to the School can park in the Supervalu car park and walk to school, while those in the Hall can park in the Church car park and walk to school. 

2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th Class were delighted to enjoy a lovely walk around Slí na Sláinte on Walk on Wednesday. WOW is all about promoting walking to school at least once a week, if you can, while also promoting the health benefits of a lovely stroll in the fresh air. All the classes really enjoyed this break and even asked to do extra laps!

Each class also designed their own Walk to School shoe, these can be seen on display around the Hall.

September 2023

The new committee met to discuss their plans for the upcoming school year. They are delighted to carry on the wonderful work of the previous committee and Ms. O' Sullivan. They are looking forward to organising and taking part in fun activities as well as learning about the importance of protecting our local and global environments while promoting cleaner travel options.

With Walk to School Week coming soon, it was decided that Isabelle and Donnacha will survey the classes in the Hall and gather each class' daily Walk to School figures and Walk on Wednesday figures.

2nd Class were delighted to take part in the Globe Ireland and An Taisce Clean Air Project. 4x Air Quality Monitoring tubes were placed around the village at the end of September. They will remain there until October 24th when the tubes will be sent to the laboratory to be tested. 

The class had to choose 2x areas where there would be high vehicular emissions and 2x areas where the tubes would be sheltered. They choose sheltered areas inside the village playground and at the back of the main school, and high vehicle areas in front of the Parish Hall and at the crossroads. Huge thank you to Ms. O' Reilly for helping us to put up the tubes :-)

Summer Break

Speed Check

In June 2023 we did another speed check outside the school in Boherbue.

Our Green Schools Meetings

The committee met throughout the year to discuss our Action Plan for Green Schools in Boherbue N.S.

Our Green Schools Committee 2022 - 2023

Our Green Schools Committee for 2022 - 2023 was Shannon Knee and Tómas Aherne (6th), Jodie Biggane and Gearóid Drew (5th), Sophie Murphy and Óran Aherne (4th), Caoimhe O’ Callaghan and Richard Delaney-Morris (3rd), Layla Buckley and Dylan Walker (2nd), Sive O’ Connor and Jesse Anunihu (1st).


Walkability Audit and Speed Check

In February 2023 the Green Schools Committee met with the travel officer Angela to do a walkability audit in Boherbue and each member of the committee got a chance to use the speed gun! We had great fun!

2019-2021: Flag 3: Water Flag

Boherbue NS received its third Green Flag for Water Conservation in June 2022. A number of activities took place to achieve this flag. A “Walk for Water Day” was held on Wednesday June 9th 2021. The children walked up to 5 KM with 5Litre bottles of water to highlight the challenges of obtaining and carrying water many miles in drought stricken countries. All pupils and staff wore blue on the day. Colm Ward Irish Safety presented a webinar to highlight water pollution and to look at what happens at water treatment plants. Sincere thanks to Elaine O’ Sullivan and Margaret Kiely who coordinated the event

Boherbue NS has already achieved two Green Flags for the reduction of waste and litter (2015-2017) and the conservation of energy (2017-2019) We are currently working towards our third Green flag for water conservation.   

On Water Day we  wore blue for water and completed ‘A Mini Walk for Water’ to spread awareness of water poverty around the world. We hope to raise awareness about women and children in countries around the world who walk on average 6km a day to access water and have to carry heavy loads of up to 20 Litres on their way back. Participants are encouraged to carry water on a walk to get some experience of what this is like.

OUR GREEN SCHOOLS CODE FOR WATER

LITTER PICK-UPS 

We continue to do Litter Pick Ups to keep our school clean and litter free. We recycle our rubbish too.

Curriculum Work

Here are some pictures of the Curriculum work we have been doing in Boherbue N.S. for Green Schools.

This year we entered the Green Schools Water Poster Competition 2022 called 'Groundwater; Our Hidden Treasure'. Everyone created fantastic posters!! We really enjoyed making these posters. Well done everyone!


THE WATER METRE

We check the water metre every week!

Green Schools Seminar

We attended a Green Schools Seminar in Tralee and learned lots about the Water Treatment Process. We also learned about how much water we waste every day and ways in which we can help save water!

Remember to Turn Off The Tap and to Think Before You Flush!!

The Journey

2018 - 2019: Flag 2: Energy Flag


On Monday, the 13th of May 2019, we were delighted to receive our school's second Green Flag for Energy in The Radisson Blu Hotel in Cork! An Taisce awarded this prestigious flag to our school representatives.

We formed our new Green Schools Committee in October 2017 and began our work on our second Green Flag which is based on the theme of Energy. We carried out an Energy audit and a survey of our school. We also had a school competition where each class came up with a Green Code. Here is the winning Green Code:

Start conservation and let electricity take a vacation!

We really enjoyed our flag raising ceremony in June! 

2015 - 2017: Flag 1: Litter and Waste Flag


In October 2015 we decided to begin our Green Schools journey by working towards our very first Green Flag based on the theme of Litter and Waste. A formal committee was established. Of course this Green Schools programme is a whole school community initiative and we consider all members of staff as members. We work together as a team to achieve our goals. 

Since then, we have made great progress in reducing the level of litter and waste produced in our school. We are committed to recycling of paper, ink-cartridges, batteries, plastic etc. We regularly clean-up around our school and are delighted to report a significant improvement in the amount of litter to be found on the school grounds. Furthermore, there has been a noticeable drop in the level of litter and waste going to landfill. There has been an increase in the number of children using reusable water bottles as part of their daily lunch. Also, the use of hand dryers has increased and less issue paper is being used as a result.