Gaelscoil Bhréifne goes green!

We are taking part in Ireland’s leading environmental management and education programme for schools. We aim to promote long-term and whole-school action for the environment. Green-Schools is a student-led programme with involvement from the wider community. The programme is operated and co-ordinated by the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce (FEE member for Ireland).

Litter and Waste

Litter and Waste is the first theme of the Green-Schools programme. This is the theme the Gaelscoil Bhréifne will participate in. It is a great starting point for encouraging a sense of personal pride and responsibility in tackling two visible issues in schools and communities.

What is Litter?

Litter is waste in the wrong place and is always caused by humans. Litter ruins the appearance of our beautiful playground and school. Litter has many forms and many sources, from a sweet wrapper thrown on the street to a dumped bag of rubbish or a fly-tipped load of demolition rubble. Local Authorities spend millions every year cleaning the streets of Ireland and trying to prevent people from dumping their waste illegally. We feel, the money and effort spent on this could be spent on better things! Litter such as broken bottles and cans left lying around public areas can easily result in an injury, while food litter can attract rats and flies, which spread disease. Litter can also be lethal to wildlife, from discarded fishing lines that can maim and kill water birds, to plastic bags mistaken for food and ingested by animals such as cows, sheep, horses and some marine animals. Most schools have a litter problem to some degree. The first challenge on the way to becoming a Green-School is to prevent and reduce the amount of litter in the school grounds and raise awareness about the problems associated with litter. We are doing this by encouraging both pupils and staff at Gaelscoil Bhréifne to take home their rubbish. We have two bins in each class, one for paper and the other for pencil shavings.

What is waste?

Waste is an unwanted or unsalable substance or material. In the past, Ireland sent almost all waste to landfill. However, over the last ten years, Ireland has moved towards a more sophisticated infrastructure of waste recovery and recycling activities. In 2004, a National Waste Prevention Programme was launched in Ireland, led by the EPA and in 2012 “A Resource Opportunity – Waste Management Policy in Ireland” was launched with the aim of moving Ireland away from landfill and towards more waste reduction and recovery. Ireland is well on its way to meeting both the national targets and the EU recovery/recycling obligations but much more still needs to be done. We can all play our part in helping to meet these targets. We at Gaelscoil Bhréifne are aiming to do your bit and educate the future generations by teaching them how to protect the world in which they live.

Our Green Schools Committee

We have an excellent Green Schools Committee who have monthly meetings with the three staff members, Múinteoir Siubhán, Múinteoir Louise and our school secretary Marina, who are coordinating the Green Schools initiative. The Green-Schools programme gives pupils an opportunity to take ownership of an environmental issue and create a positive change in their local community. Taking an active role in achieving an international environmental award is a prestigious achievement and will be a notable addition to a pupil’s curriculum vitae. Being part of a Green-Schools Committee builds pupil confidence, ability to solve problems, communication and organisation skills. Many pupils have used this experience to win membership of Student Councils and Green-Schools Committees at the university level.

Here is our 2019-2020 Green Schools Committee: Harriet, Caitríona, Eiméid, Emmet, Roxanna, Mirella and Elliot.