Green Schools

Green Schools

The St. Raphaela's Green School Programme has been running for 19 years. Many have been members of the committee, but every student is well aware of the Green Schools Programme. The impact of the committee can be seen throughout the school and the surrounding grounds. We are affiliated with the national Green Schools programme.

Green-Schools is Ireland’s leading environmental management and education programme for schools.
Promoting long-term, whole-school action for the environment, Green-Schools is a student-led programme with involvement from the wider community. The programme is operated and coordinated by the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce (FEE member for Ireland).

The school has been the recipient of numerous grants from the Department of Education to promote the National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development to 2030. These have helped us to purchase a new shed, various types of gardening equipment and numerous plants and trees.

One of the aims of this programme is to empower students to plan and implement biodiversity projects on the grounds of the school. We have created several areas for the benefit of wildlife, students and staff. While we normally purchase plants, shrubs and trees, we have decided to implement a plan to try to produce some of our own planting requirements from seed. There are several benefits to this plan. We obviously reduce the cost of planting. We also show students, staff and the wider community (Through social media) the benefits of this method of production. We also hope that students and staff in other curricular areas can benefit from this endeavour. For example, we plan to have students produce their own vegetables and herbs for the Home Economics department and, in time, create a small TY led plant/garden centre with some of our products for sale.

Green-Schools Orchard – May 2023

One of the objectives of the Green Schools team is to create a small orchard on the school grounds. We have taken our first steps in achieving this aim. A parent of one of our students kindly donated five fruit trees (apple, pear and plum) to start our quest. In the picture below, we can see an apple tree that Ms. McCarthy grew from the seed of an apple she was eating in the staff room! Mr. Lawlor and Mr. Brennan gave able assistance to see our fifth fruit tree safely planted.

Education for Sustainability (ESD) to 2030 – Grants to Promote Sustainability

The National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) provides a framework to support the contribution that the education sector is making and will continue to make towards a more sustainable future at a number of levels: individual, community, local, national and international.

ESD to 2030 is co-sponsored by the Department of Education, Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.

Last year, with Mr. Browne joining the Green Schools Committee alongside Mr. Brennan, we were delighted to be awarded the Water Flag, recognising our commitment to water conservation and sustainability. This year, we are beginning the journey towards achieving the Travel Flag, a two-year process focusing on how students and staff travel to school. As part of this work, we will organise walk-to-school days, carry out traffic speed and density checks, and aim to host workshops on the topic. This exciting project will build on our existing achievements and continue to make sustainability a visible and practical part of daily school life.

2024 Green Schools Committee Targets.

The Green School Committee have many ambitious targets this year. The key aim, once again, is to promote biodiversity in the school grounds. We aim to improve on areas that we have worked on previously and look at creating new areas that will promote biodiversity. Below is a selection of photos that show the work of the Transition Year students in the Green Schools module.

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