St. Bernadette's is a special school in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal with 49 students and 8 teachers. The Green-Schools committee at St. Bernadette's comprises two pupils from each class, principal, member of BOM, two teachers, two SNAs, one administration staff member, one auxillary staff member, and one parent.
It was the aim of the school that the whole school was represented to ensure that everyone in the school was aware of the importance of the Green-Schools programme and that everyone in the school understood the significance and the value of their own special and individual contribution. They wanted to highlight the importance of the individual in the care of the environment and so targeted not only the children, but through them their carers, parents, siblings, wider family members and the wider community. The children are instruments in this process. Committee meetings are held every two weeks. The children are unable to keep minutes, therefore two teachers take responsibility for recording the events of the meetings.
Before undertaking the environmental review, the local authority environmental awareness officer was invited to the school to give a talk. The committee carried out the environmental review checklist included in the Green-Schools materials. From this, the committee realised that waste management was an area where significant improvements could be made. At that time there were no recycling initiatives in place in the school and the school was sending two full wheelie bins and several cardboard boxes to landfill each week. At a school assembly attended by all students, teachers and special needs assistants, the committee briefed the whole school regarding their decisions on areas that needed attention. Subsequently, every class carried out its own environmental review, as did members of the kitchen staff, cleaning staff and administration staff. Realistic and achievable targets were decided upon based on the results of the environmental review.
Monitoring is carried out visually by the children in the school. For example, each class has a paper bin for its own use. So, they can see for themselves the amount of paper they are using (and wasting!) and monitor the amount of paper being recycled. They can also monitor the reduction in their landfill bins. The children attending the school have mild general learning disabilities and need to see visible results. These concrete examples are enough in themselves to allow them to know that the changes they are making are beneficial to the environment and that they are making a difference. There is a clear plastic bin located next to the Green-Schools notice board to collect plastic bottles for recycling. So, again the children can clearly see that they are reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.
St. Bernadette’s were successful in reducing their waste going to landfill from two overflowing wheelie bins and several cardboard boxes to just one bin with no extra boxes!
St. Bernadette’s got involved with the County Council and Tidy Towns Committee for their day of action to clean up the school environment, surrounding area and wider area. All teachers, SNAs and their respective classes went out in turns and collected litter. One class was responsible for sorting the waste for recycling - paper, glass and aluminium cans collected were recycled. The local press came to the school and took photos of the event, which later appeared in the local paper. The school is involved with other organisations with regard to recycling, e.g. the local hospital takes all their cardboard and polystyrene for recycling.
St. Bernadette's were awarded their first Green Flag in 2005.