Star of the Sea – National Winners of the Green-Schools Energy School of the Year 2026 (Primary Schools) 

Star of the Sea is a mixed primary school in County Cork with 26 staff and 372 students. Their Green-Schools committee met in September 2024 and soon got to work crafting their Action Plan to reduce energy waste in their school.

The Review

For their environmental review, the committee decided to start by carrying out an energy awareness survey with pupils and staff across the whole school. Conducted in October, the survey gauged the school community’s understanding of energy conservation and pinpointed any habits or practices that were leading to energy being wasted. A month later, the committee completed conduct audits for lighting and appliance usage around the school. These audits are an important step in the Green-Schools Energy theme, as they show clearly where the pupils can focus their action plan and awareness raising campaign. After doing their survey and audits, the committee met again to adjust their action plan based on what they had found. They went on to conduct thermostat, standby and energy use at home surveys to gather more data for their review, as well as investigating sources of renewable and non-renewable energy in Ireland.

The Plan

The students on the Green-Schools committee set themselves the target of reducing energy waste in the school by at least 10%. They did this by promoting energy-saving actions across the whole school, such as making sure that all lights, interactive whiteboards and electronic devices were being switched off when not in use. They also ensured that classrooms were closing doors to conserve heat. Then the committee got to work on one of their first actions. Together, they created a Green Team display board so the whole school could find out more about their aims and what they were working on. They also created beautiful posters and displays of helpful information to spread awareness around the school.  

Two of the committee’s biggest actions took were switching to LED lights with the help of the school caretaker and installing solar panels for generating renewable energy on the school site. Going a step further, the students and staff linked the solar panels to a monitor screen in the hallway so the energy yield could be measured in real time.

Monitoring & Evaluation

The Green-Schools committee met weekly to review progress and share updates. The two team leaders on the committee took readings on the electricity and gas meters at the same time each week. This ensured their energy use tracking stayed consistent throughout the school year. They also regularly reviewed the school’s energy bills to check for reductions in energy usage over time. Meanwhile, student class representatives reported back on energy-saving actions being taken in their classrooms, such as switching off lights, closing doors and powering down devices that weren’t in use. Designated energy monitors were assigned in each classroom to check that these actions were being taken, helping the school stay accountable from day to day. 

Lastly, the live energy display showing real-time energy usage and energy yield from the solar panels provided a great way for students and staff to see how much electricity was being produced and used each day. Making this information accessible in this way served as a great visual reminder for the school community of the important work the school was engaged in. 

Curriculum & Community Links

The students and teachers found great ways to weave together all the important work the committee was doing with the primary curriculum and their engagement with the local community. Here’s a sample of what they came up with:

Informing and Involving

A lot of the hard work being done by the Green-Schools committee goes on behind the scenes. By the time the students reached this stage of the process, though, they were already experts on energy saving. Now it was time to share with the rest of the school what they had learnt. The committee kicked things off by organizing a whole school assembly, where they taught their classmates about renewable energy, and gave examples of which energy sources were renewable, and which were not. They also took the opportunity to launch the Lá Glas Energy Day of Action and a competition to see who could come up with the best energy slogan. 

For their Green Energy Day of Action, all students and staff were asked to come to school wearing green to show their support and commitment to energy conservation. Classes then took part in a community walk, which doubled as a treasure hunt where students had to find and identify different energy symbols along the route. After all the fun outside, the students gathered again for an assembly, where they reflected as a school community about what they had learnt. The day ended with the announcement of the winning energy slogan: “Keep clean – go green”

Green Code

School Green Code: “Every one of us” 

School Energy Code: “Keep clean – go green”