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St. Mary's Convent Primary School

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Green School

November 2006

To help St. Mary's and the environment we must REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

October '04 November '04 December '04 January '05 February '05

March '05 May '05 January '06 September '06

September 2007 - June 2008 October '08 Christmas '08

St Mary’s Go for Second Green Flag

“Saving Energy day and night will help to keep the future bright” is part of the Green-Schools Code this year in St. Mary’s Convent Primary School, Nenagh. Having completed the theme: “Litter and Waste” in order to achieve our first Green Flag in May 2005, the school is now in the throws of the second theme: Energy'. “Green-Schools” is an international environmental award scheme for schools, which seeks to encourage the active involvement of the whole school in caring for the environment.

This year in St Mary’s many energy-saving activities are carried out daily such as

switching off lights, stand-by buttons on computers, TVs and CD players,
turning off radiators when too hot;
keeping doors closed and closing blinds after school.

Electricity consumption is monitored each day and will be compared with last year’s figures. As well as all this our litter and waste management activities continue.

On Nov. 14^th last a Green-Schools group consisting of students and teachers visited Moneypoint Power Station in Co. Clare. It was a great opportunity to see how electricity is generated using coal – a non-renewable energy resource. We learned how the burning of coal to produce electricity creates CO2, a greenhouse gas, which causes global warming and climate change. We saw clearly that by cutting back on electricity use, we can make a difference to the environment. One interesting fact we discovered is that the peak electricity demand is at 7.45pm. This is during the break in “Coronation Street”, when huge numbers of people in Ireland switch on their kettle for a cuppa! We also visited a wind farm that day. We saw how electricity can be generated from a renewable and environmentally friendly resource - the wind.

Our Green-Schools Day of Action was held on Tues 21^st. This started with an assembly at which students and teachers heard a report on the trip to Moneypoint. They also learned of the school’s success in the North Tipperary County Council’s Tidy Schools Awards. We were very happy to welcome Lorraine Power, local environmental awareness officer, to address the assembly. We had a visit from Tipperary Energy Agency whose message on energy conservation reinforced our green policy. Later in the day many environmental activities were carried out such as science experiments, lunch-box, litter and energy surveys, collecting leaves to make leaf mould, an energy quiz and much more. It was an action-packed day!

Click on the photographs below to view our Day of Action