Green Schools

What is green schools?

Green-Schools is Ireland’s leading environmental management and education programme for schools.

Promoting long-term, whole-school action for the environment Green-Schools is a student-led programme with involvement from the wider community. The programme is operated and co-ordinated by the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce (FEE member for Ireland).

Green-Schools is operated in partnership with Local Authorities and is supported by the Department of Housing, Planning, Community & Local Government; Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment; Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport; The Department of Arts, Heritage Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs; Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; Irish Aid, National Transport Authority; National Parks and Wildlife Service, Irish Water and the Wrigley Company Limited

The themes….
Our themes

Litter and Waste
Litter & Waste is the first theme. It focuses on litter and waste issues, encouraging a sense of responsibility

Energy
Energy looks at the steps which can be taken at school to reduce energy consumption and raise awareness of climate change

Water
This theme develops awareness around water conservation and how to effectively manage this important resource in schools

Travel
This theme aims to increase the number of students walking, cycling, scooting, using public transport or carpooling to school

Biodiversity
Biodiversity looks at increasing awareness in schools of the importance of native plants, animals and habitats

Global Citizenship – Litter & Waste
This theme enables schools to discover how work on Green-Schools has positively influenced our global community

Global Citizenship – Energy
This theme gives schools the chance to revise Energy and look at issues surrounding energy use globally

Global Citizenship – Marine Environment
This theme focuses on raising awareness of marine eco-systems and the work being done to save them

What does Amber Flag do?

The Amber Flag acknowledges the efforts made by schools in promoting “Positive Mental Health”.

By preventing the stigma that is associated with mental health it can allow individuals to seek help sooner, when mental health issues arise.

Positive Mental Health aims to:

Promote mental health and well-being for all.
Prevent mental health problems through increasing awareness, social support, reducing risk factors such as racism, bullying and isolation.
Improving quality of life for students/people with mental health problems by promoting recovery through awareness and education.

What have we done?

We established an Amber Flag Project Team
Once established, the team prepared an Audit of the activities and services in the school that promote an ethos of positive mental health.
The team then identified 3 goals/tasks to enhance the existing educational provision and support structures in the area of mental health promotion in the school.
Once the goals had been agreed, an Application for the Amber Flag was made. The team then carried out its three goals over the school year. Towards the end of the school year a presentation of the Amber Flag was made.

The three goals were: