Assumption Junior Boys School is an urban school located in Dublin 12 with a population of over 200. The school registered with the Green-Schools programme in 2006 and to date have been awarded a Green Flag for the themes of Litter and Waste, Energy and Water.
In Assumption JBS, the Green-Schools committee is made up of 5 boys from First Class as these are the oldest boys in the school. Each May new members are chosen from the current Senior Infants and they are ‘trained in’ by the older boys as they become the Committee the following year when they are in First Class. A teacher in the school, Ms. Strutt, is the Green-School’s coordinator and the Principal and Caretaker also sit on the committee.
As part of the Environmental Review the committee looked at the ways they use water in the school. They also read their water bills in order to calculate their water usage.
Following on from their review the committee then came up with a plan of action. Because their school is a Junior school they decided to focus on water awareness and held a ‘Water Week’. All Classes did a water project e.g. in Senior Infants each child designed a picture to go at the sinks in all classrooms and in the bathrooms. A competition was also held to come up with the Green Code motto and picture and ‘Saving water’ was the theme for the school assembly.
The committee also make sure that work on the Litter& Waste and Energy theme continues and regularly do spot checks to make sure the correct items are going into the correct bin and that lights are not left on during breaks.
In order to involve the whole school community and keep them informed of all the work being carried out the committee take notes during committee meetings and relay them to their class afterwards. They also give talks at school assemblies. Some of the assembly updates have even been recorded and will appear as podcasts on the school website.
The school shares a building with two other schools- the Junior Girl’s School and the Senior Girl’s School so the committee liaise regularly and share ideas with them. The committee involve and inform parents and the local community through the school newsletter and Green-School’s notice-board which is located in the front hall of the school for all to see.
‘The green schools experience has really benefitted our school. We worked very closely with the other schools in our building and everyone has gotten involved in making our school more water efficient. The boys on the Green School’s Committee have put a huge amount of work into getting this Green Flag. They have often given up lunch times to do inspections and have had extra homework preparing speeches for assemblies but they have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the status that has come with the job and I am sure they will train in the next Committee with the same enthusiasm. The school community as a whole has embraced water awareness the boys really enjoyed the Curriculum work and have really put it into action. Green School committee members visit classrooms to ‘fill them in’ on meetings they also do regular spot checks in the bathrooms.’