In September 1999, St. Joseph’s B.N.S., Terenure first entered An Taisce’s Green-Schools Programme. ‘An international environmental programme, designed to promote and acknowledge whole school action for the environment.’  There are over 23 countries operating the programme and over a quarter of our Irish schools are currently enrolled in it. There are seven steps in the programme designed to take environmental issues from the curriculum and apply them to the everyday running of a school. They are as follows:

1. Set up a Green-Schools committee
2. Carry out a whole school Environmental Review
3. Devise an Action Plan
4. Set up a system to Monitor and Evaluate the targets and general progress within the school
5. Integrate Curriculum work and Environmental issues.
6. Inform and Involve the wider community
7. Devise a Green Code for the school

Green-Schools is a long-term programme, the award needs to be renewed every two years and is in the form of a flag which has been flown outside St. Joseph’s for the past four years. They are currently waiting to see whether or not they have been successful in their third cycle of the programme. During the first two years, they focused on waste reduction; the next two-year focus was on energy and their current focus is on water. Here is an account of what the school has been doing in the past two years to retain their ‘Green-Schools’ status and a look at why they took on all this extra work.

Their Green-School Committee started off with one pupil representative per class (from 1st class to 6th class), but in October after discussion and a unanimous vote, they decided to extend it to two representatives per class. The boys felt that this would help them to report back to the class more faithfully, aid their memories, lead to more ideas and opinions and if one of them was sick, then the other would still be able to attend the meeting. They have six teacher members and one community member, Ms. Edie Wynne, representing Terenure 2000 and the local community.

The committee meets monthly to discuss environmental matters, keep a check on how our recycling projects are going, share ideas and concerns and to find out what the next month’s focus is. (The school runs monthly environmental competitions with entries ranging from songs, projects, pictures, science experiments to computer presentations.) The boys then deliver a report to their class and inform their teacher regarding the next month’s environmental focus. Minutes are kept and typed up by one of the 6th class boys with the assistance of a teacher, if necessary. Further tasks such as displaying of posters and pupil work, liaising with relevant authorities have been delegated to relevant teachers and students. The serving term on the committee is for two years.

The school has many short and long term projects, these include:

• Paper recycling
• Carton recycling
• Plastic bottle recycling
• Daily Litter patrols
• The wildlife garden - flower beds, window boxes, grassy areas and places for wildlife to visit safely
• Toner and printer refilling
• An up-to-date website: www.stjosephsterenure.ie
• Tidy class competition run by their cleaning ladies in the senior classes

Monthly projects which have been well received by the pupils and teachers. Various types of media have been utilized and they have often been integrated with the art focus of the term. The winning classes can display a ‘Best Green Project’ plaque for the month and also get to choose a prize. There is a lot of fun and discussion over this bit.

A water conservation project has recently been piloted. Boys from 6th class investigated how much water was being used in the toilets daily and worked out how much we could save by placing plastic bottles into the cisterns to reduce the amount of water used per flush. On average, they will save 3,280 litres of water a week and over 200,000 litres a year. Not an amount to be sneezed at!

While many of these projects have become an integral part of the day to day running of the school, there are other ‘one off’ or yearly projects which are carried out. The boys from 6th class walk to the Dodder River twice a year to clean up the river and its surrounds. They spend the morning trawling through the river pulling out rubbish and debris and getting very dirty and wet. Dublin City Council has been a great help providing equipment and special litter collections afterwards.

Many of the third class pupils go out into the local community for their Annual Terenure Tidy. A poster campaign is held the previous month. Many of the local shops and businesses support us by displaying these posters for us. Then on a dry day in May, a large contingent of boys go out armed with litter sticks, rubber gloves and plastic sacks to clean up their locality. This has proven to be a very enjoyable day within the school year, and this year the boys hope to clean in style - in fancy dress.

Last Christmas, the school participated in a community based project entitled ‘A Green and Friendly Christmas.’ Entries were displayed in Terenure library and Terenure 2000 sponsored prizes for the winning entries. The boys from St. Joseph’s, alongside the girls of Presentation Convent sang at the lighting of the Christmas tree in Terenure car park, opened by Lord Mayor Michael Conaghan. It was a wonderful evening of community spirit with songs and goodie bags for all. As a result of the wonderful turn-out and atmosphere, the Lord Mayor Mr. Michael Conaghan, invited representatives from Terenure 2000 and St. Joseph’s Green Committee to tea with him in early January. What a great evening that turned out to be.

During the past two years, the school has been very active in entering environmental competitions. In 2004, they made it all the way to the national finals of the E.S.B. Environmental Awards for their Terenure Tidy-Up and Dodder Clean.
They won 1st prize in the Wildlife Category of the Tidy Towns Competition 2004 for their wildlife friendly garden and efforts in keeping the Dodder clean and safe. Considering the fact that they only have a very small green space around their school, they are very proud of this award.

The Green-Schools Programme has been hard, yet rewarding work for the school. From their many recycling initiatives, to their days of action in the community, the boys have developed an innate sense of preparing for the future of their environment. Indeed it is the boys themselves who push for more ‘green’ initiatives within the school; half-flush toilets, more litter patrols, composting, sanctions for litter bugs, a ‘green’ catch-phrase and song. It is students like these who will be responsible for the future of our planet, and judging by their hard work and dedication, it is in good hands.