INFORMATION ON OUR FIRST GREEN FLAG

INFORMATION ON OUR SECOND GREEN FLAG

INFORMATION ON OUR THIRD GREEN FLAG

September 2010

Ursuline Secondary School strive for their 4th Green Flag!

2009 saw the beginning of a new Green Schools initiative-Sustainable Transport. The school’s fourth Green Schools project, it would involve the reduction of carbon emissions through the promotion of sustainable transport such as walking and cycling.

While the new task at hand proved to be challenging, we remained committed to the continuation of our three existing initiatives: Recycling, Energy Conservation and Water Consumption.

Our first notable action in the promotion of sustainable transport was a “Bling-A-Shoe” competition. Launched in October, Ursuline students were asked to decorate an old shoe to evoke the Sustainable Transport theme. Another action was our “Walk on Wednesday” day later on in the school year.

The Green Schools Committee-with the help of Chiara Hanrahan, the Traffic and Transport coordinator from An Taisce-launched the beginning of the campaign in May, after Walkability Audits and gaining sponsorship from Dunnes Store and Tesco. On the day, students were permitted to wear green accessories and committee members collected money from each student in the school which was used to buy bikes for our chosen charity, Self Help Africa. WOW Day proved to be a huge success and we hope to continue this initiative.

Other actions throughout the 09/10 academic year included workshops, art competitions and a “Bike to Work” scheme for members of staff.

The 10/11 academic year will see the Green Schools Committee, along with the rest of the school continue to work towards achieving our Transport-themed fourth Green Flag, followed by the submission of our application to An Taisce at the end of the year.

January, 2010

"Bling a Shoe Competition"

As always; the Green Schools Committee is actively trying to combat climate change and this year is putting a special emphasis on alarming, growing trends in transportation.

With this thought in mind, the Green Schools Committee set a task to the student body; to design a mascot for our school. Everyone was asked to decorate a shoe using any medium showing sustainable transport at work. This was the "Bling a shoe competition".

We received a multitude of entries and the standard was breathtaking, but our esteemed panel of judges; Mrs Collins and Mrs Bourke eventually decided on the winning entries. In First place were Aoife Leahy and Orla Campion (5th yr), with "Nelly the walking welly", in Second place was Kim Nolan (5th yr) and in Third place was Michelle E Ryan (1st yr, Room 18). All the entries were used to spell the word "Walk" and this photo will be used at a later date as part of the Green Schools campaign.

The Green Schools committee would like to thank everyone who entered the competition along with our judges. We would also like to remind everyone about the Jack and Jill's mobile phone appeal.

The Jack and Jill foundation will recycle your old mobile phones (without sim cards or chargers, you only need the battery and the phone) There is a collection point beside the Green School's notice board to put your old phones into, so, if you do have any old un-used mobiles lying around the house please do send them in to us. 300 will get us a FREE interactive white board.

Many thanks,
The Green Schools Committee.