Belturbet school attains green flag status

The Convent of Mercy school in Belturbet has now attained green flag status and the flag was officially raised last week by the Minister for Agriculture, Brendan Smith. The school and the community has really embraced the green schools programme and they have recycled phones, stamps, cards and have successfully grown vegetables. They have also become engaged in seasonal clean-ups and they also operate a clothes bank and they also have put a compost bin in place. As part of the programme they had to devise a green school code and they ran a competition as a means of formulating a winning idea from the senior classes. The junior children devised a litter warden badge. The code selected runs as follows: "Two, four, six, eight, what do we appreciate? It's the new thing on the scene, to keep the convent school nice and clean." Minister Smith said that Green Schools is a long-term programme that introduces participants - pupils, teachers and even parents - to the concept of environmental management. However, he added that the programme also fosters a strong sense of citizenship and leadership that spreads far outside the school and into the wider community. The Cavan/Monaghan minister further pointed out that the savings to participating schools in Ireland were between €2.5 to €3m last year and had diverted at least 12 tonnes a day away from landfill, saved 21 million litres of clean drinking water. Minister Smith pointed out that it's further believed that the indirect effect of the programme in students' homes could be up to ten times greater. The principal of the school, Brid Flynn, said that after much hard work by all involved, she was delighted that they had now attained the green flag status for litter and waste. She added that the focus on litter and waste is now an integral part of the school culture and that is the real measure of success. Thelma Gilleran is the deputy principal and acting co-ordinator in the absence of Patricia Maguire who is currently on leave. Another member of the teaching committee, Theresa White is also active on the Green School Committee. The committee consists of 16 people including students, staff, parents and the wider community. An environmental review of the school was undertaken by the committee with the involvement of the entire school community. Litter and waste surveys were conducted. They also examined recycling in the school. Following the review, the committee formulated an action plan. It set out tasks to be completed by specific groups in a predetermined time scale. Stage four of the programme then involved monitoring and evaluation as the school worked towards its targets. The fifth stage involved curriculum work and environmental issues were integrated into lessons in the classrooms. For example, the fifth and sixth year pupils walked to Belturbet recycling centre and they were accompanied by their teacher, two other volunteer adults, one representing the parents and the other representing the green schools committee. They made recommendations from what they witnessed at the centre and lot of credit must go to Cavan County Council for replying to them and the school is very impressed with An Taisce, the national environmental charity responsible for overseeing the Green Schools programme. The school wish it to be known that they also received excellent support from all the Council staff involved in waste disposal and from Belturbet Tidy Towns Committee and there was also wonderful community support for the initiative.