Loreto High School in Templeogue raises its Green Flag

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED 6^TH MAY 2009

LORETO HIGH SCHOOL BEAUFORT, RATHFARNHAM

RAISES ITS 3^RD GREEN FLAG FOR WATER

5^TH MAY 2009

Loreto high School Beaufort raised its third Green Flag for Water on Tuesday 5^th May 2009. Deputy Mayor Councillor Paddy Cosgrave of South Dublin County attended the flag raising ceremony and he congratulated the staff, pupils, board of management and parents association at the school.

The Green Schools Committee is completely responsible for all aspects of the Green Schools Programme at Loreto High School Beaufort. They run an impressive and organised committee to ensure the whole school is involved.

To achieve their 3^rd Green Flag, the school maintained recycling and litter picking activities. ESB bills are being reduced as classes are encouraged to use natural light in classrooms when possible. For the water flag, water surveys and audits were conducted by students and results posted on the notice board. The whole school took part in various Action Days and Water Awareness Week and teachers integrated water topics into the curriculum. Regular announcements concerning water conservation are made by the Green Schools Committee over the intercom. Other Action Days included Track and Trainer Day which encouraged students to walk to school and pay 2 which went toward the Green Schools Fund.

Recent research by An Taisce on the economic value of the Green-Schools programme to schools in Ireland has revealed that the programmehassaved schools in Ireland aminimum 2 million in waste, electricity, water and fuel costs this year.The results reveal a minimum of 12 tonnes of waste diverted from landfills in Ireland every school day by schools undertaking the programme. Because the programme also involves the wider community the overall savings to the wider community could be several times the 2 million saved by the schools involved.

By the end of January 2009 there were over3,100 primary, secondary and special schools in Ireland participating in the programme. This represented over 75% of all schools in Ireland. The Irish Green-Schools programme is one of themost successful within the international network. One of the main factors in the success of the Irish Green-Schools programme is the partnership between the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce and Local Authorities i.e.the financial and time contribution of the Local Authorities to the programme.

For further information contact Claire Hinch, Environmental Awareness Section

chinch@sdublincoco.ie