Green Schools.
Green Flag
Green School Ethos at Rolestown National School
Rolestown National School is proud to be part of the Green Schools Programme,
which encourages schools to take an active role in caring for the environment
and promoting sustainable living.
Our Green School Committee is at the heart of this effort. Made up of
enthusiastic and responsible pupils, the committee works hard throughout the
year to lead by example and raise awareness among their classmates, teachers,
and the wider community. The Green School’s message is simple but powerful: to
help make the school and local environment cleaner, greener, healthier, and
more sustainable — now and for future generations.
2024/2025/202
Theme: Active Travel
This year, our Green School focus is on Active Travel — encouraging pupils to
walk, cycle, scoot, or part-walk to school instead of relying on cars.
The aim is to promote:
Healthier lifestyles for our students,
A reduction in traffic and pollution around our school,
Greater awareness of climate action and sustainable travel choices.
What the Green School Committee is Doing
Our Green School Committee has been busy organising a range of
activities to support and promote Active Travel within the school
community:
1. Raising Awareness:
The committee regularly reminds classes at school assemblies about the benefits
of Active Travel and the importance of energy conservation. They also encourage
pupils to pass on these important messages to their parents and families, helping
to spread the impact beyond the school gates.
2. Organising Events
Special weeks and days such as Walk to School Week /Walk on Wednesdays and
Cycle to School Week are a big part of our Green Schools calendar.
These fun and focused weeks encourage everyone to leave the car at home and
try a more active journey to school.
3. Tracking Our Progress
During those special weeks and days, Committee members collect data on how
pupils travel to school — noting who walks, cycles, scoots or part-walks.
This helps us set goals and track improvements in sustainable travel over time.
4. Poster Competitions
The committee runs creative poster and competitions, inviting pupils to design
artwork that promotes walking and cycling.
These posters are displayed around the school, helping to spread the Active
Travel message.
5. Keeping Our School Clean and Tidy
In addition to promoting Active Travel, the Green School Committee also works
hard to ensure our school grounds are clean and welcoming.
They take part in tidy-up activities, wearing high-vis vests, gloves, and using
litter pickers to clear litter around the school. This important work helps
promote litter awareness and shows pride in our school environment.
6. Reaching the Wider Community
One of the most important goals of the Green School Committee is to encourage
pupils to share what they’ve learned at home, so that the message of
sustainability and Active Travel reaches parents, families, and the wider
community.
By working together — at home and at school — we can all help make Rolestown
and our local environment a healthier, safer, and more sustainable place to live.
We are very proud of the dedication and leadership shown by our Green School
Committee. Their hard work is having a real impact — not just on our school, but
on the world around us.
So, let’s keep walking, cycling, and caring for our environment — together!
Jan 2019:
Single-Use Plastic is a concern of ours and we are planning to be rid of it in our school. Single-Use plastic is self-explanatory – plastics we use once and dispose of immediately- plastic bottles, plastic straws, plastic cutlery and plastic bags. Our slogan is:
Let’s be…Single-Use Plastic-free!
We try to use beakers for our water and lunch boxes for our lunches. We don’t need tinfoil or clingfilm then… We are remembering to ask for paper straws. WE don’t need plastic cutlery and we plan to use more cloth bags – bags for life!
We are raising awareness throughout the school and the wider community here and through bulletins we post throughout the school. We continue to try to recycle as best we can, but reducing the amount of plastic we buy and reusing what we can is best.
Remember: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! (properly!)
Save electricity: Switch off appliances when not in use
Switch off lights when not needed
Only boil the amount of water you need in your kettle.
Try to dry clothes outside.
Pull the blinds in the evening to keep the heat in and open up the blinds during the day for solar-gain
Oct 2018:
With two flags achieved for our school – Litter & Waste and Energy, we continue to do our best for our environment.
Our Green Schools Committee meet each week and update the school community regularly about what we as a community can do.
Our current concern is Climate Change. We are leaning about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( I.P.C.C.) and what work it does. Also we are looking at the Paris Agreement and what that entails for Ireland and our pledges to reduce consumption of fossil fuels for our energy. We are aware that Ireland will not meet its 2020 targets for using more renewable energy and being less fossil-fuel dependent. Mr. Bruton tells us we will meet our 2030 targets. Meanwhile Mr. Trump and the USA don’t want to be part of the Paris Agreement. He thinks that Global Warming is a myth!
Jun 2017:
Our school community cares deeply about environmental issues and wishes to make positive changes in our environment. For this reason we are part of Green-Schools which is an international environmental education programme. In 2014 we were awarded our first Green Flag for Litter and Waste. We are currently working towards our second flag for Energy. Our Green Schools Committee with the whole school community are working together to increase awareness of energy issues and to improve energy efficiency in the school.
In keeping with our Green Schools ethos we:
- Use lunch-boxes and beakers only for our lunches, i.e. reusable containers.
- Avoid using packaging such as cling-film, sandwich-bags and tinfoil
- Ensure our recyclable waste is not contaminated- we clean and dry it- e.g. rinse and dry our yogurt pots
- Sort our waste daily into composting, recycling and landfill
- Keep doors closed to keep the heat in
- Switch off appliances and lighting when unnecessary
We look forward to working together to achieve our second flag soon and will be in touch in September with lots of information regarding the energy-crisis and tips regarding energy -saving.
For further information regarding Green Schools follow the link below .
We hope to have our first green flag very soon, which is for Waste and Litter.
We have looked at our waste disposal throughout the school.
Using the maxim: REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE, we are trying to :
1. REDUCE the amount of packaging we bring to school with our lunches.
So: Let’s not use: Tinfoil, clingfilm, plastic bags or kitchen paper.
Let’s use lunchboxes only.
Let’s use beakers rather than plastic bottles.
All other waste/packaging, we hope to REUSE or RECYCLE.
4th Feb 2017:
Dear Parent,
We are in the process of applying for our second Green Schools Flag – the Energy Flag.
To achieve this we must retain our current flag for recycling by:
- Ensuring we are recycling as much of our waste as we can
- Ensuring we are recycling as well as we can
by using the REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE maxim:
REDUCE: Let’s be careful with our lunches
Beakers and (lunch) boxes are best.
Try not to use any packaging where possible – clingfilm and sandwich bags are not recyclable
soft wrapping e.g. popcorn bags are not recyclable
tinfoil is recyclable but do we need to use it?
REUSE: Try to reuse plastic bags, tinfoil, plastic bottles whenever we do use them
RECYCLE: clean, dry: paper, cartons, cardboard, strong plastic wrapping and bottles
Remember, recycling saves energy, key to our energy saving quest!
We will be keeping in touch, updating and sharing energy-saving tips with you...