Page 66 - royal-times-17-18

GREENSCHOOLS

The Greenschools committee is a long standing initiative
that has been running in our school for years – headed
by Miss McElwaine. This year there are 14 members on
the committee, ranging from 1st year to 5th year. The
Greenschools committee take on an active role in the
improvement and upkeep of the school environment -
both inside and outside the school doors. Meetings are
held every fortnight in Miss McElwaine’s classroom and are student led.
At the start of the year, the senior members of the Greenschools committee
delivered a presentation to each year individually concerning the correct
bins to use as we had identified the incorrect usage of the bins in school
as the leading cause of litter and waste pollution. This proved extremely
successful as most students admitted that they were not actually aware of
what rubbish went in what bin, previous to the presentation.
The committee work extensively to reduce the amount of energy used in the
school and are taking many steps to cut down on energy output including ;
Encouraging teachers to turn off all lights, computers and any other electrical
appliances when leaving their classroom.
Carrying out spot-checks on the computer room and DCG room to ensure
all computers are switched off and not using energy on standby.
The team have noticed a marked improvement in the amount of energy
the school has used this year which was very rewarding for the entire
greenschools committee to witness.
In the new year, 3 senior members of the committee; Emma Abbott, Sorcha
Higgins and Emma Bell, attended a water forum in Navan along with Miss
McElwaine. The forum was held in the Newgrange Hotel and was attended
by 4 other schools from the area. A representative from Greenschools Ireland
spoke to us about saving water in our school and carried out interactive
experiments with the group to showcase how schools can save water in a
fun way. The committee undoubtedly benefited from the forum and were
able to bring back a lot of new techniques to the school to try out.
The Greenschools team hope to continue their good work in and around the
school environment as there’s lots more work to be done!

Emma Bell
Green Schools Committee

Back Row (L-R): Emma Bell, Favour Ajogbe, Lordina Asare, Gabriel Asare, Michelle Ezeudo, Joseph Murphy, Zarah Peeters,
Ms Emer McElwaine, Hannah Fegan, Jodie Olujitan
Front Row (L-R): Emma Abbott, Carla Van Der Laan, Jonah Beju, Megan Smith, Sorcha Higgins

66 The Royal Times 2017-2018