Green Schools Programme in Firies National School
Firies National School has had a long association with the 'Greens Schools Programme'. This dates back to September 2004 when we first registered for the Green Schools Programme. To date, Firies National School has achieved 7 Green Flags.
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Litter and Waste (2004-2008)
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Energy (2006-2008)
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Water (2008-2010)
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Travel (2010-2012)
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Biodiversity (2012-1014)
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Global Citizenship - Litter and Waste (2014-2016)
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Global Citizenship - Energy (2016-2018)
This school year our theme was 'Global Citizenship - Marine Environment' (2018-2020). There are 7 Steps to be carried out in order to achieve a Green Flag. These are as follows
* Green Schools Committee. They direct the school's involvement in the programme. ...
* Environmental Review. A process of examining the school's environmental impacts in order to identify targets for action and improvement.
* Action Plan.
* Monitoring and Evaluation
* Curriculum Work
* Informing and Involving
* Green Code
Green Schools Committee 2018/2020
Our wonderful Green Schools Committee.
Various staff members are also on the committee.
Helen Barry is the Green Schools Co-Ordinator.
Environmental Review
At the beginning of a new theme each school must carry out an Environmental Review. This evaluates how much a school knows in relation the new theme. The sane Review is then carried out 2 years later to see the improvements that hopefully have been made. See reviews on graphs that the 6th Class made to show our results.
Action Plan
An Action Plan is formulated by the Green Schools Committee following the results. 2 Action Plans must be formulated for each of the 2 years that a school is taking part in the programme.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Even though a school may have achieved previous flags work must still continue on the previous themes.
Spring Clean
WOW - Walk on Wednesday
Curriculum Work
Whatever theme is being worked on, all classes must show they have linked the theme into their Curriculum work. This year we had an array of work from all the classes. Look at our fabulous pictures.
Informing and Involving
Parents are informed of our ongoing progress through e mails sent from the school. Occasionally we use the Parish/Mass Newsletter to inform the parish as to what is going on in the school e.g. Annual Spring Clean, Walk on Wednesday.
Green Code
With every theme that is being worked on by a school, they must also develop a slogan/a saying that goes with the theme. Our Green Code for 'Marine Environment' was developed by Niamh Ferris in 5th Class.
Assessment for Green Schools
Our assessor for this years Green Schools was Dave Brooks from Kerry County Council. We hope to meet Dave at some stage in 2020.
