Green Committee

Spring Newsletter    Green Committee

It has been a busy couple of months for the Committee find out what they have been up to below!

Since November and throughout December all students were invited to participate in a competition to come up with our new Green Code.  The code needed to be updated to reflect our work on the Energy theme over the last two years.  After a lot of brainstorming and head scratching the winners were Adam, Ameesh, Danben, Ray Daniel and Daniel from First year.  Their prize was a canteen voucher and the new Green Code can be seen below.  Well done boys and enjoy your prize!

LCA CHRISTMAS TREE

December 1

Well done to the LCA students who made the schools Christmas tree this year from recycled pallets.  Thanks to Mr. Bergin too.  The tree featured in the DLRCoCo Spring Newsletter which was sent to over 110 schools in the local area. 

March 10

During National Tree week TY will be planting trees in Shanganagh Park.

Important Announcement

Our Renewal Visit for the second Green flag on energy took place in late November.  Dean Eaton from the County Council was very impressed with all of the students and their hard work on the theme of energy. Well done boys.  Fingers crossed we will be receiving our second flag in May.

Climate Change Workshop

On January 18^th all Fifth Year students participated in a Climate Change Workshop that was run by Presentation Ecology.  During the workshop students examined issues relating to climate change including:

Climate Change and Energy

Climate Change and Our Food System

Climate Change and Business

Climate Change and Transport

Feedback was very positive with everyone saying that they had learned something and that they particularly enjoyed the activities of buying and selling fossil fuels. 

Thank you from the Green Committee

We all want to say thank you to all of the students who are doing so well at using the new bins.  The new school is looking really well and we are delighted that our First Year Litter Pickers have nothing to do after break and lunchtime!! Please remember to put your rubbish in the correct section of the bins in the canteen and remember no eating on the corridor. 

Our new Green Code

St Brendan's College: Save the power, save the pride, the greener the school, the cleaner inside.

Our new Green Code: written by Ameesh, Daniel, Adam Bushe, Rei Daniel and Danben. 

DO YOU HAVE THE GREEN CODE? 

We need your ideas! As we continue working on our second Green Flag on the theme of Energy we must now update our Green Code to reflect all that we have achieved and are learning on the theme of  Energy. 

  Our existing code is:"St Brendan’s College: As Good as it gets, As green as it gets”. The   Green Committee are running a competition  amongst all students to come up with the new version. You can completely overhaul the code, keep elements but add extra words, use our new name, whatever you like! 

Prize for the winner is a voucher from the canteen

The new code must reflect our work on both litter and energy.

Entries must be written on a piece of paper with your name and handed to any teacher by Friday December 11th @ 11am

 

St Brendans College Green Committee

ACTION PLAN 2014-2015

Litter and Energy

Action	Person Responsible	Timeframe	Achieved
Attend Eco-Conference 2015	12 Green Committee Members	8th October 2015	√
Organise a litter picking rota for 1st yrs.	Ms O’Neill	Within first month of entering new school	√
Participate in “One Good Idea” Competition	Ms Hargan & TY Env Studies Class	Sept 2015	√
Organise fundraising activities and awareness of /for the Green Committee	Ms Hand/Green Committee	Throughout the year
Monitor composting in the staff room & canteen	Ms Hand & new canteen staff.	Throughout the year	New internal composters to be installed in staff room and canteen √
Take part in National Spring Clean	Ms Hand and TY with Shankill Tidy Towns	April 2016
Recycle lockers from old school building	Mr Taylor	October 2015	√
8.     To keep everyone informed about our progress with website, noticeboard, blog and newsletter	Ms Hand	Throughout the year	√
Tinfoil Toss	Green Committee and Ms Hand	Spirit Week 2015	√
Conduct a Draught & Insulation Survey	Kevin Bushe	December 2015
Carry out an Appliance Audit	Kevin Bushe	December 2015
Carry out a Temperature Survey	Kevin Bushe	December 2015
Visit classrooms ad explain what containers go in new bins in canteen and classrooms	Aaron, Callum and Luke	November 2015
Monitor Electricity Meter Readings	Nathan Devlin	Throughout the Year
Prepare comparison charts on Energy Usage Sep 2014/15	Numeracy Group & Ms Syron	November  2015
Appoint monitors to turn off lights and appliances and close doors.	First Years	Throughout the year
Conduct analysis on requirements for the new school	Ms Hand Stephen and Michael	By February 2015	√
18.   Speak to caretaker about turning off all computers and photocopiers at end of day	Ms S Hand	October  2015
Repost Green Code around the  new school		As soon as we finally move!
Attend Green Schools Energy Conference	Ms S Hand	September 2015
Organise Climate Conference SEAI	Ms S Hand	January 2015
Energy Awareness Module	CSPE Teachers Ms M Hand & Ryan C	December 2015
Re - Conduct an Energy Awareness Survey Among 2nd Yrs.	Ms Hand & Analysis by TY	Nov/Dec 2015
Introduce daily reminders about switching off computers	Mr Taylor	In new school building
Survey to check there are enough bins in new school offices etc.		November 2015
Meet with new canteen staff to outline our strategy
Run competition to come up with an Energy based Green Code
Find out about the new heating system and thermostats	Patryk & Jack TY	November 2015
Introduce battery recycling in aid of Laura Lynn	Link with 2nd/3rd Yr. Science Teachers	October 2015
Participate in Climate Workshop	Green Committee and selected classes.	January 2016
Send regular texts with Energy Saving tips to parents	Throughout the year with seasonal relevance i.e. Lights around Xmas thermostat turned down in Spring etc.	All Year
Speak to new cleaners about our Green Flag efforts	Ms Hand & Mr Taylor	November 2015

As you can see there is a lot to do to achieve our second flag!! Please keep up all of the great work that has got us this far. 

The Green Committee have also introduced a mini action plan for the first month or two in our new school building.  If you spot anything that the Green Committee should be looking in to let us know.

Green schools update

Summer 2015

The National Spring Clean 2015 Again this year we were working with Shankill Tidy Towns to clean up Shanganagh Park.  On March 26th TYB and the Green Committee went to the park and scoured the place! We gathered 6 bags of rubbish and had a good time doing it! Thanks to Edel in Shankill Tidy Towns who again provided us with support and equipment.  We also worked with Shankill Tidy Towns on another project this year when the Woodwork Dept. constructed some signage for Shankill Tidy Towns.  We look forward to next year!

ENERGY: What have we done this year?

We began work on our second Green Flag in September and so far things have being going very well.  We have done the following:

v  Designed & Installed signs reminding people to save energy

v  Conducted a Draught & Insulation Survey

v  Held an Appliance Audit

v  Did a Temperature Survey

v  Appointed monitors to ensure lights etc. are being turned off at break tie.

v  Held a Low Energy Day

o    Conducted an Energy Awareness Survey among 1^st Yr. students &     Parents

o    We have put together our Energy Statement for the year, you will be hearing and seeing a lot more about this next year! The details are below too.

o    We took part and had a winner in the Instabin Competition

o    We continued our litter picking Rota and recycling.

o   We increased our rate of can recycling by 15%

The Green Committee want to thank everybody who has helped us through the year. We look forward to a big year next year full of challenges.  We want to set up the new school to be as environmentally friendly as possible, renew our First Green Flag and hopefully achieve our second Green Flag by the end of next year.  Get Involved in September we are always looking for new members.

Our new ENERGY STATEMENT

St Brendan's Energy Statement: St Brendans is dedicated to implementing energy efficient practices, recognising that this is essential to provide a leading example to our pupils and the wider community. We are committed to the following: Setting annual energy saving targets Continual improvement in reducing our energy usage Complying with all energy and other legislation Minimising the impact that our energy use has on the environment Communication of our energy statement and energy programme to all staff, students and parents Ensuring suppliers and contractors are aware of our energy programme Ensuring suppliers and contractors are aware of our energy programme, particularly in regards to our new school build. Support the green school committee in their endeavor to achieve the energy flag.

The Green Committee have put together an Energy Statement over the course of this year and these are the practises that we aim to follow at all times.

Have a great, green summer!

March 6th 2015

Recently, An Taisce ran a Neat Streets Competition called '#instabin' where they encouraged students across Ireland to record themselves binning their rubbish in artistic and creative ways. There was a €50 prize for the winner, who would be chosen from all videos on instragram tagged with #instabin. Nikita Polakovs, from fifth year, was the overall winner of the competition. Other entries are photographed below, along with the winning video!

If you have other entries or videos related to the Instabin competition or any other work related to the Green Committee, send them in to us on sbcbray@gmail.com