Ard Rí Community NS are proud to have been awarded our first Green Schools Flag for Litter and Waste on 23rd May 2019
A very big congratulations to the entire Green Schools Committee for both the 18/19 and 17/18 school years who worked hard implementing changes around the school. Also a huge thank you to the entire school community for supporting the work of the Green Schools Committee – without your help the programme would not have been as successful.
Ard Rí Community National School Week of Action
Thank you to everyone for supporting the Ard Rí CNS Green Schools Week of Action. The Week of Action took place between Tuesday 7th May and Friday 10th May. Lots of events were planned during the week and each and every pupil was involved.
Every day pupils were encouraged to bring a Naked Lunch – no plastic or tin foil wrapping.
Each class made some recycled artwork using a range of recycled materials found around the school and from home.
On Wednesday, a book exchange was hosted where children were encouraged to bring in a book that they were finished with and swap with a friend.
We also held a Waste Free Wednesday and all bins were taken away for the day – the children quickly realised how much waste is produced each day.
Each child participated in a whole school inter-class quiz on litter and waste and lots was learned.
We held a big National Spring Clean around the school and immediate grounds. Each and every child went litter picking and as a result lots of recyclable and non-recyclable waste was collected. Not to mention the area looked so much cleaner.
Lastly we had a visit from Ashleigh and Alan, Meath County Council Community wardens to speak about litter and waste in the community at our school assembly. They kindly brought recycled pencils and rulers for every pupil in the school, along with some dog poo bags.
We are looking forward to hearing if we are successful in getting our first Green Schools Flag in the coming weeks.
Green Schools 2018/2019
We are in our second year of working towards our first Green Flag. This flag is for Litter and Waste.
Here are our very dedicated Green Schools Committee members who are doing great work around the school.
In November 2019 the Ard Rí CNS Green Schools Committee met and finalised Ard Rí CNS’ Green Code. They found very hard to pick from all the entries. In fact the slogans and mottos were so good that the Green Schools Committee couldn’t pick just one. Having looked at the entries, the Green Schools Committee really liked two in particular. They combined parts of both entries and made the code which reads ‘do not litter because that is bitter, keep it clean to keep it green’.
Well done to all the children who entered our recent Green Schools Poster competition. Congratulations to the eight winning posters below.
Every Friday at our whole school assembly Máistir Darragh awards the tidiest classroom with the ‘smile’ mat. Here are some of the previous winners!
As part of the Green Schools Flag Award, we’ve completed an action plan. So far we have achieved four of our seven 
overall goals. These goals were:
- 20% increase in the amount of recyclables that are recycled in the school
- 80% reduction in food waste going to landfill
- To reduce amount of unnecessary waste going into the municipal waste bin
- To raise levels of awareness about litter and waste amongst staff, students and parents
We are still working on achieving:
- Reducing the quantity of material put into municipal waste which can be recycled / alternatively disposed of
- Reducing amount of food waste being generated in school
- Reducing the amount of single use waste i.e. plastic wrappers, tin foil etc. produced
Check out the Green Schools Ireland Website for more information
We are working very hard on reducing the amount of food waste being generated in school and also the use of single use waste i.e. plastic wrappers, tin foil etc. Please support our ‘Naked Lunch’ campaign. Most children will have received a ‘Food Dudes’ lunchbox and are using them to great effect. Now we want to focus on the tin foil, cling film or plastic food bags which are used to wrap sandwiches, wraps, bagels etc. and other lunch items.
As part of the Green Schools Action Plan, our aim is encourage the use of sustainable alternatives to single use plastic such as lunch boxes or paper bags and refrain from using single use items to wrap lunches. In addition to this we would ask you to buy ‘nude foods’ without packaging for lunches from the shops so that no single use plastic touches the food we eat.
Here are some resources you might find useful to use at home too!
Know Your Waste, Control Your Costs Waste Prevention & Recycling Tricks & Tips
Environmental Protection Agency Preventing Food Waste at Home
