GREEN-SCHOOLS
Mr. Ben Curtin Raises our Green Flag - June 2018
In recognition of all his efforts in making our Sensory Garden become a reality, Mr. Ben Curtin was invited to raise our fifth Green Flag on 29th June. It was a beautiful sunny day and our Green School Committee were on hand to help out and tell us about their endeavours. The choir sang a terrific ditty composed especially for the occasion.
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Edmondstown Is Awarded the Biodiversity Green Flag!
On 22nd May 2018, Edmondstown was awarded its fifth Green flag. This flag was for all our work on the theme of Biodiversity over the past two years. Three representatives of the Green School Committee represented the school with Mr. O'Dwyer. They went to the Helix to accept our flag and then were treated to lunch in DCU. We are all delighted. Congratulations to everyone.
BIODIVERSITY
First and Second Class Plant Seed Potatoes
First and Second Class enjoyed planting seed potatoes on 22nd March. They are hoping for a good crop to harvest in June. Check out the lovely photos under the class tab here.
Green School Inspection
On Monday 12th March, Maebh Boylan from An Taisce visited our school to find out all about the work we have been doing for the Biodiversity theme. She was really impressed with our Green School Committee and how well they could talk about the topic. She loved walking around our school garden to see all the different initiatives in action. Thanks to Mr. O'Dwyer and Ms Brocklebank for all their enthusiasm and help with the committee. Maebh said that she could see the theme was firmly embedded from Junior Infants to 6th class. She loved the little rhyme from Ms Wallnutt's class and the song that the whole school sang - well done Ms Wallnutt! We hope we will get good news soon!
PLANTING ONIONS IN THE VEGETABLE BEDS
Junior and Senior Infants planted onions on Thursday 22nd February. They enjoyed digging with our new spades and raking the soil. We hope our onions will sprout soon. Check out more photos under the Junior and Senior infants class tab.
HABITAT MAPS
Third and Fourth Class studied the habitats surrounding our school and they drew some terrific habitat maps of before and after all our work on the garden.
JUNIOR & SENIOR INFANTS ARE WORKING HARD ON OUR THEME
Junior and Senior Infants were so excited to discover that their broad beans had germinated during the mid term break. They also made a magnificent Biodiversity poster.
VEGETABLE BEDS AND WILDLIFE PICTURES
We really love our collection of Native Irish wildlife and birdlife pictures. They really brighten up our playground shelter. Thanks so much to our fantastic Parents' Association for all their fundraising and to Mr. Mick Behan who spent a lot of time putting up the pictures. Our vegetable beds have arrived and we can't wait to start planting out our peas and potatoes. Soon we will be making our own home made soup!
HOME MADE BIRD FEEDERS
Look at the fabulous bird feeder made by a wonderful student and her father! This will be great for attracting more bird life into our garden. Check out more amazing bird feeders and bird boxes made by third and fourth class.
Two little deer arrived today 1st February 2018 - Spring has definitely arrived!
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We continue to strive for our Biodiversity flag. We are now in year two of our endeavours. The school garden is really starting to take shape with the addition of our Sensory beds and pond and of course our Amuigh Faoin Spéir Learning Zone. We are hoping to create a Bumble bee corridor by planting lots of bee-friendly flowers and shrubs. We are hoping that a hedgehog moves into our hedgehog house. There is lots of evidence of insects in our bug hotel already. Hopefully in the Spring, lots of birds will use our bird houses in which to build their nests. Did you see the beautiful deer that peeped into our classrooms the other week? Wasn't he so curious. We continue to Walk on Wednesdays, recycle our rubbish and conserve water and energy. On 11th October 2017 we re-launched our Walk on Wednesday and despite the rain, we had a small but enthusiastic turn out. Mrs Cleary and Mr. O'Dwyer walked down to the meeting point at Springvale to accompany the children up the hill.
GREEN SCHOOLS' COMMITTEE 2017/2018
BIODIVERSITY
W.O.W - Walk on Wednesday
The Green School Committee are working hard encouraging everyone to Walk on Wednesdays and keeping the scores on the doors.
SOME BIODIVERSITY ART
GREEN SCHOOL NEWS OCTOBER 2016
We will re-launch our Walk on Wednesday initiative on Wednesday 19th October. We hope to have a great turn out. We will meet at the entrance to Springvale Estate and walk up to school together. We are now pursuing our FIFTH green flag. This flag is for Biodiversity. We are really looking forward to working on this theme because we have a huge variety of life in our idyllic setting up the mountain. Just look at who came to visit us in class last week!
SENSORY GARDEN
We are working hard on our Biodiversity theme for Green Schools. In May 2016 we had no garden and now, in September 2016, what a wonderful amenity we have with our beautiful garden. The meandering path through the woodland is an absolute delight and the children really love it. We are so blessed that Susan and Ben Curtin were determined to get this garden up and running. Don’t you just love the pencil fence? Well done to all our parents and children who helped paint the pencils. Hopefully we will soon have our `Amuigh faoin speir” learning zone and our sensory planting beds. The children are making great use of our new playground games. They really love hopscotch and the giant circuit. Declan Nutley has really helped us out with our garden and it is great to know we have an expert gardener on our team.
PODCAST FOR IMPROVEMENTS
During the summer term of 2016 Mrs Cleary's third and fourth class lobbied South Dublin County council along with the help of our green school committee member, councillor Francis Duffy and some brilliant parents and we explained that although we had achieved our travel flag, that it was still very difficult to walk to school. We even sent them in a podcast outlining the problems. Imagine our surprise when we came back to school this September and discovered that the pathways to our school had been improved and that "slow down" warning signs had been erected. Children can have powerful voices for change it seems! Check out the podcast below.
Our New Garden Begins to Take Shape: October 2016 - Biodiversity here we come!
Fantastic parents helping to transform our wilderness into a garden! Well done everyone.