Eanna Ni Lamhna visited our school on 22nd May to judge our entry in the schools competition for Love where you Live which is an environmental initiative ran with Leitrim County Council. Students across different year groups in the school were involved in the project. Well done to all who took part.

Transition Year students recently engaged in two very informative workshops that focused on the sustainable development goals in this last term. RECREATE Ireland is an organisation that takes in unused materials from various business and finds alternative use for such materials. Students engaged in great discussion around the effect of waste on our environment. Using various materials they completed a creative piece to showcase off their chosen SDG which they showcased on their graduation evening. Following on from this they also engaged in a workshop with Waterways Ireland ‘Leave no Trace‘ in which the SDG ‘Live under water’ was explored.

National winners in green school’s Global citizenship, Litter and Waste category 2019

On 21^st may, 2019 Ballinamore was selected as the best second level school in Ireland in the category of global citizenship, litter and waste. Mr Mullen and three members of the green school’s team attended the awards ceremony in the helix, DCU where all the regional winners from around the country received their flags and awaited the announcement of the overall winners in each category. To our great joy we were announced as national winners and received a national winner’s  trophy, a regional winners trophy for the west region, our 6^th green flag and a cheque for €500

Green school programme in Ballinamore

Ballinamore cs has a long tradition of involvement in the green schools programme. We achieved our first green flag in 2007 for our success in reducing litter and waste in what was then a 3-school campus, collectively called Ballinamore post primary schools.

Since then we have obtained the green schools flag for various environmental initiatives including energy conservation, water reduction, environmental conscious travel, biodiversity and most recently global citizenship with special emphasis on litter and waste.

Green schools programme 2017-19

In 2018 various classes in the school engaged in a number of initiatives to improve awareness on global citizenship and implement litter and waste reduction strategies. This was a 2-year programme and in April 2019 we achieved our 6^th green flag.

In addition to this success we were awarded the title of regional winners for the west region and we were invited to a national green schools ceremony, yesterday in the helix, DCU where the best primary and secondary schools were honoured in the different green schools categories.

To our delight Ballinamore cs was selected as the best secondary school in the global citizenship, litter and waste category and our school received a national winner’s trophy and a €5oo cash prize as well as a certificate of achievement and a pennant for global citizenship as well as our green flag.

Our school has undertaken many initiatives to achieve this award. We increased the number of recycling bins from 3 to 7, introduced 4 new bins for collecting compost as well as buying a second compostable bin which we use for flower beds in the school. A recycling roadshow took place where 2^nd year students visited each class with 3 bins and the class had to guess which was the right bin for that object. On average the school is sending about 25kg less waste each week to landfill through recycling better and through composting surveys were conducted before and after the programme and attitudes and actions towards litter and waste and global citizenship themes showed an increase. Fairtrade awareness was increased through workshops and a designated day to promote Fairtrade awareness was conducted. A designated climate change week was organised where each subject area focused on that theme for the week in all classes. Home Ec students participated in Stop Food Waste’s pilot programme on food waste and practical ways to reduce food waste when food shopping, storing, preparing and cooking food at home. Measuring our food portions and planting of our own vegetables took place as well as the planting of crocus flowers which was part of a holocaust commemoration project. We also had an Irish and environmental themed day of action called “ lá glás go glás” which was a non-uniform day where students donated €2 to take part.

this is only a sample of the work that was conducted over the two years and we would like to thank all teachers, students and parents who have cooperated in any way to help us achieve our green school’s flag and national title

Thanks

We thank Ms. Colum, Ms. Cooney, Mr Mullen, Ms. Griffin and Ms. Ni Mháille in particular, for all their hard work, bam our school management company and Niall Gallogly catering, but most of all the students for their cooperation and involvement in this programme and for  making it such a success

In a time when climate change and environmental problems are global issues, we congratulate Ballinamore CS and all involved on their ongoing efforts.

In the future we hope to continue raising awareness about these critical issues and next year we look forward to striving for our 7^th green flag on global citizenship, energy conservation.

Green school’s committee

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