This is a small school with 31 children and 2 teachers. Kinaffe N.S. received their first Green-Flag for their work on Waste and Litter in 2004. When they started the Green-Schools programme in 2003, the school had 4 bags of rubbish going to landfill per week. In the school year 2005/06, this has been dramatically reduced to just one quarter of a bag per week i.e. a 94% reduction in waste to landfill!
While undertaking their environmental review for their Energy theme Kinaffe NS, Co. Mayo discovered that the school contained the following: 19 lights, 12 radiators, 10 taps, 5 sinks, 4 toilets, 1 urinal, 20 windows and 22 appliances. A similar survey of all the students’ homes discovered that they contained 176 lights, 31 sinks, 90 radiators, 60 taps, 11 baths, 20 toilets, 16 showers and 119 windows.
The school also undertook a classroom temperature survey that revealed the following:
- Temperature at front door of the school 13oC
- Temperature in Ms. McLoughlin’s room 20oC
- Temperature in Ms. Noone’s room 21oC
When the classroom door was left open the temperature in classroom fell to 16oC. This was an excellent way to display the effect of drafting and emphasised the idea of keeping the doors closed to save energy.
A checklist of energy saving measures was sent home and everyone was asked to put this on their fridge and tick the changes as they happen.
The pupils in Kinaffe N.S. write and publish a school newsletter, ‘Kinaffe Kidz Kronicle’ that costs €1.50, the money going towards school environmental outings.