The Green-Schools Committee should be as representative of the whole school as possible. A Green-Schools committee can be composed of any of the following combinations; Students +/- Teachers +/- The Principal +/- Non-Teaching Staff (e.g. Secretary, Caretaker, Cleaner) +/- Parents +/- Members of the Board of Management +/- interested and applicable members of the wider community (e.g. local Tidy Towns Groups, Local Businesses, Residents Groups etc).
A committee can have any number of members on it, as long as it works successfully for the school. Some schools nominate members; some schools have committee members that volunteer, whereas other schools will go through a full election process with manifestos, election speeches, canvassing, election posters and ballots all part of the programme! It is important that students make up the majority of the committee if at all possible.
As regards the operation of the committee, it is most important to maintain records and minutes of meetings. Some schools undertaking the programme have found that they need to meet more regularly at the beginning, until their programme becomes established.
When the time comes for applying for your Green Flag, you will need to have details of who is on the committee, how the committee members were selected, and how the committee operates, as well as providing examples of minutes of meetings.
Top Tip! Why not create sub-committee who can keep an eye on your work on previous themes? This is a great way to get more of the school body involved!