St. Patrick’s Senior National School is an 18 teacher, 363 students school located in Skerries, Co. Dublin. The school has three third classes, three fourth classes, three fifth classes and four sixth classes. They have been working on their Green-Schools programme since November 2003. The committee comprises 13 students from third to sixth class, 2 teachers, the caretaker and a parent. The majority of children were voted on to the committee by their fellow students. In addition, some children were selected by their teachers and other children volunteered. The committee meets monthly.

The committee is divided into three sections: Core Committee, School Committee, and In-Class and Support Group. The Core Committee gathers for short meetings, to report on various projects or to tackle emergencies. The School Committee meets once every month, during school hours, to discuss longer term issues, such as Litter Control, Recycling, and Waste Awareness. The In-Class and Support Group meets within its own classroom environment and is responsible for putting the Green-Schools Code into practice at student level.

For the Environmental Review, students carried out a Litter Survey, which involved them collecting, separating and counting the litter from 3 main areas of the school i.e. behind the prefabs, pond area and front entrance, and playground. Another aspect of the survey was a daily collection and measurement of litter from the playground yard after break times. The litter levels within the classrooms were also reviewed. A waste survey was conducted by students, reviewing the number of bins being put out for landfill weekly and reviewing waste levels from school lunches. A further review was carried out of the levels of waste consumption among staff within the school (e.g. paper, ink cartridges, etc.). From the results, the pupils noted that there was no separation of waste and little recycling or reuse of paper within the classrooms. Two large (570 kg) bins were going to landfill each week.

Actions taken to reduce litter included setting up ‘litter squads’, organising poster campaigns to increase litter awareness among students, introducing ‘Yellow Bins’ in the playground to collect organic waste. Actions taken to reduce waste included introducing a ‘Rainy Day’ bin in each room to separate paper for reuse, encouraging pupils to bring home plastics which they brought into school, introducing a healthy lunch policy, and setting up battery/ink cartridge/mobile phone recycling facility.

For Monitoring and Evaluation, pupils continuously monitor litter levels in the playground and classrooms, the number of bins (and weight of waste) going to landfill, and draw up graphs to display. Levels of progress are reported and discussed at every committee meeting. In 2003/04 their landfill output was averaging 1140kg a week. Now in 2006/07 their output dropped to around 285kg a week i.e. a 75% reduction!

Some of the things St. Patrick’s did for Curriculum Work included, drawing up graphs in Maths; writing poetry, letters and reports in English; making musical instruments from recycled materials in Music: making posters and signs in Art; planting bulbs, flowers and vegetables and collecting, observing, drawing minibeasts before returning to their natural environment in SESE; introducing a Healthy Lunch Policy as part of SPHE.

To inform and involve the whole school and wider community St. Patrick’s organised

a Christmas Art Exhibition. The students made a variety of beautiful decorations from recycled materials to display at the exhibition. Invitations were issued to the Green-Schools Committees of the neighbouring schools, the Skerries Community Association, the Parents Association, staff and all the students in the school. Photographs were taken of the exhibits and a PowerPoint presentation made to record the event. St. Patricks’s made extensive contacts with the wider community, including visits to, and communication with, other schools in the area, getting advice and support from Skerries Community Association, gaining sponsorship from local businesses, for example, for healthy lunch launch a piece of fruit for everyone.

Their Green-Code is "Put the rubbish in the bag so we can get the flag

Green footsteps lead to a Green School".

Some of the benefits mentioned by St. Patrick’s of Green-Schools experience include:

• Our children are healthier due to a new Healthy Lunch Policy

• It has increased liaison between the school and the parents through the enthusiasm of pupils working on various projects

• The level of teamwork has improved through the group activities.

• The level of cross-class participation has improved between all year groups.

• It has enabled us to meet with our neighbouring schools, all working and exchanging ideas for a cleaner greener Skerries.