Green Schools

Green-Schools and Water

In Ballymoney National School, the pupils are working towards the Green-Schools flag for the Water theme.

Step 1: Green-Schools Committee

Our Green-Schools Committee is made up of 10 pupils ranging in age from 6 to 12 years and from 1st class right up to 6th class.
We also have a coordinating teacher on the committee.
We all have different roles such as litter wardens, water wardens and leaky detectives. These roles will be rotated so that everyone gets to experience them all.
We meet every Friday afternoon at approx. 2 pm in the outdoor shelter.
The committee promises to make sure all 7 steps of the programme are achieved; take responsibility and share ideas for our water theme; and make sure the views of all pupils in the school are listened to and that actions will be taken where possible.

Step 2: Environmental Review

The pupils on the committee undertook 3 essential actions so as to assess the initial situation regarding water in our school.
This review helped the committee to decide on the best course of action for improvement within our small school.

Essential Action 1: Calculate your water usage

The water meter was read once a week for a number of weeks.
The committee was able to get an idea of how much water was used per person per day.
Water bills were also examined but it was difficult to get an accurate picture from these due to school closures with holidays and Covid.
The pupils also made some manual estimations by keeping tick sheets for 5 days and working out how much water is released from the push taps.

Essential Action 2: Conduct a manual water audit

The committee counted the number of taps, toilets, urinals, outdoor taps and kettles. Our school does not have a dishwasher or a washing machine.
All of these items were shown on a map of the school.

Essential Action 3: Conduct leak tests

Committee members checked for any drips or leaks in the taps and toilets.

Step 3: Action Plan

The pupils on the committee have decided on a list of targets for our Action Plan. These include:
Raise awareness about water conservation
Run a water photo competition 'Ways We Use Water'
Create a poster of our school's water cycle, showing where our water is sourced, where it is treated and where the waste water is treated
Conduct a Water Use Survey amongst the pupils in school and analyse results
Send home a Behavioural Survey for each family to complete and analyse results
Compile a list of detergent and cleaners in the school and try to make Eco-friendly ones
Adopt the River Bandon and do a river clean-up over at Riverside Garden
Fix our water butt and collect rainwater for our school garden
We have 3 dual-flush toilets in the school. We hope to put 500ml bottles into these cisterns and 1L bottles into the boys' toilets so as to save on water with each flush
Run a water poster competition
We have water-saving taps but one tap in the girls' bathroom needs to have the water flow adjusted
Turn off the urinals at the end of the school day and at weekends
Learn more about the local water treatment facility
Place 'Turn it off' signs over the lever head taps
Design a leaflet of tips for saving water
Organise a 'Water Action Day'
Set up a Green-Schools notice board
Place a suggestion box near the notice board so that pupils outside of the committee can post their ideas

Green-Schools and Water

In Ballymoney National School, the pupils are working towards the Green-Schools flag for the Water theme.

Step 1: Green-Schools Committee

Our Green-Schools Committee is made up of 10 pupils ranging in age from 6 to 12 years and from 1st class right up to 6th class.

We also have a coordinating teacher on the committee.

We all have different roles such as litter wardens, water wardens and leaky detectives. These roles will be rotated so that everyone gets to experience them all.

We meet every Friday afternoon at approx. 2 pm in the outdoor shelter.

The committee promises to make sure all 7 steps of the programme are achieved; take responsibility and share ideas for our water theme; and make sure the views of all pupils in the school are listened to and that actions will be taken where possible.

Step 2: Environmental Review

The pupils on the committee undertook 3 essential actions so as to assess the initial situation regarding water in our school.

This review helped the committee to decide on the best course of action for improvement within our small school.

Essential Action 1: Calculate your water usage

The water meter was read once a week for a number of weeks.

The committee was able to get an idea of how much water was used per person per day.

Water bills were also examined but it was difficult to get an accurate picture from these due to school closures with holidays and Covid.

The pupils also made some manual estimations by keeping tick sheets for 5 days and working out how much water is released from the push taps.

Essential Action 2: Conduct a manual water audit

The committee counted the number of taps, toilets, urinals, outdoor taps and kettles. Our school does not have a dishwasher or a washing machine.

All of these items were shown on a map of the school.

Essential Action 3: Conduct leak tests

Committee members checked for any drips or leaks in the taps and toilets.

Step 3: Action Plan

The pupils on the committee have decided on a list of targets for our Action Plan. These include:

Raise awareness about water conservation

Run a water photo competition 'Ways We Use Water'

Create a poster of our school's water cycle, showing where our water is sourced, where it is treated and where the waste water is treated

Conduct a Water Use Survey amongst the pupils in school and analyse results

Send home a Behavioural Survey for each family to complete and analyse results

Compile a list of detergent and cleaners in the school and try to make Eco-friendly ones

Adopt the River Bandon and do a river clean-up over at Riverside Garden

Fix our water butt and collect rainwater for our school garden

We have 3 dual-flush toilets in the school. We hope to put 500ml bottles into these cisterns and 1L bottles into the boys' toilets so as to save on water with each flush

Run a water poster competition

We have water-saving taps but one tap in the girls' bathroom needs to have the water flow adjusted

Turn off the urinals at the end of the school day and at weekends

Learn more about the local water treatment facility

Place 'Turn it off' signs over the lever head taps

Design a leaflet of tips for saving water

Organise a 'Water Action Day'

Set up a Green-Schools notice board

Place a suggestion box near the notice board so that pupils outside of the committee can post their ideas

Green Schools