Golden Boot Award February 2017
Well done 6th class for winning the Golden Boot for the first time ever! Here are Fionán and Oscar from the Green Schools Committee presenting the trophy.
The Carrigdhoun 18-2-17
There is a lovely write up in this weeks Carrigdhoun paper about our Green Schools Travel Action Day. Thank you to Lea Berkery-Kelly, sister of Luca, for writing the piece while on transition year placement with the paper. We think she did a great job and wish her well with future work in this area!
Travel Displays in our school
Travel Action Day 8-2-17
Well done to the Green Schools Committee for their input and their work in organising and promoting our Travel Action Day. We made the school area a car free zone for the day with the ‘walking buses’ from our two WOW locations. On arriving at the school the boys were treated to healthy breakfast smoothies freshly made by members of our very busy PA. Fiona Foley (parent) did a range of high intensive exercises for all classes in the halla as part of ‘wake and shake’.
After small break 57 boys from 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th classes who had brought their bikes to school were accompanied by members of staff and 10 parents/ grandparents for a cycle along the Crosshaven- Carrigaline walkway. On Monday Robert, Mary and Becky O’Riordan (parents&sister) had spent the school day doing safety checks on the bikes so that all were in safe condition for the cycle. All cyclists made it safely to the car park by Kilmoney Industrial Estate in Carrigaline and back to school with the assistance of Stephen from the Coastguard.
While the cycle was taking place the remainder of the school went for a walk to various parts of the village accompanied once again by staff and a large number of parents/ grandparents. Juniors, Seniors, 1st and 2nd also visited the playground during their walks.
The boys also got to do a range of activities during the day in class around the theme of Safe Travel. Finally community Garda Damien and local Garda Niall visited all classes and spoke to the boys about the importance of Road Safety.
Many thanks to all in our school community who contributed in any way during the day. This Action Day will help support our application for our fourth Green Schools flag next month.
To see photos of our Travel Action Day please click here.
Golden Boot Award January 2017
The golden boot goes back to 5th class again! Here are Shane and Oisin presenting the trophy.
Golden Boot Award December 2016
Well done 2nd class on winning the Golden Boot for their first time! Here are Cody and Jamie presenting the trophy.
Golden Boot Award November 2016
5th class retain the golden boot award for the second time in a row! Here are JP and Luke presenting the trophy.
Golden Boot Award October 2016
Congratulations to 5th class who are the first ever winners of our Golden Boot award. As you can see from the results below they had the highest percentage of pupils who walked/ cycled/ scooted/ car pooled/ travelled by bus/ park and stride to school for the month of October. Well done 5th class and we will start our Wednesday Golden Boot surveys again in November!
Ryan and Rowan from our Green Schools Committee carried out the surveys every Wednesday and by pure chance their class were the winners. Here they are presenting the trophy to their class!
Golden Boot Competition
As part of our Green Schools Travel flag we are starting a Golden Boot Competition this month. Every Wednesday we would like as many boys as possible to come to school either walking/ park and stride/ bus/ car pooling/ cycle. We will survey each class every Wednesday and award the golden boot to the best class at the end of the month.
WOW
We held our first WOW of the new school year yesterday, 21st September, with a huge turnout for the event. Catherine from the Green Schools came to help us. We gathered at two locations: Crosshaven square and the car park by the exercise equipment at the start of the Carrigaline walk. When we got to school we saw the WOW banner and some balloons. The balloons show us how much CO2 a car puts in the air every 1km it drives so it is much healthier for us to walk to school.
Gouganne Barra Walk for Water Day 27-4-16
ROUTES TRAVELLED TO AND FROM SCHOOL MARCH 2016
TRAFFIC COUNT SURVEY 11-2-16
At 8:20 Thursday morning the Green Schools Committee donned high-vis jackets and clipboards to conduct a traffic survey outside our school wall. It was a cold dry morning and the mock exams were taking place in the secondary school. We counted all the traffic coming from both sides to the school and passing by the school. Some of our pupils walked to school that morning and a few more got the bus. The majority of our pupils traveled in cars or vans which we are hoping to decrease over the coming year to get our green flag. We want:
– To make travelling to school safer for our pupils
– To reduce our carbon emissions
– Our pupils to have healthier minds and bodies
WALKABILITY AUDIT 9-12-15
On Wednesday 9th December we conducted a walkability audit around our school with the help of Catherine, our Green Schools Travel Officer. We took measurements, photos and notes on the good things and bad things we found to help our pupils walk to and from school. Our audit covered from the fire station up to the church. We concluded that the safer route to walk to school is from the church. Catherine is writing up a report based on our findings and this will be forwarded to our local council. We will await their response anxiously in the hope that they will address some of the safety issues for our students.
TRAVEL TO SCHOOL SURVEY November ’15
GREEN SCHOOLS COMMITTEE
Each class held their own competition to elect members to the Green Schools Committee.
1st and 2nd had a brainstorm and drew their ideas on various methods of transport to school other than the car:
3rd and 4th had an election style campaign with speeches and a class vote at the end to nominate their representatives:
I think I would be a good committee member because I know a lot about travel. I’m going to read some to you now.
By promoting sustainable transport modes (walking, cycling, carpooling, public transport) we can reduce our impact on the environment as well as improve pupils safety, health and fitness.
The journey to school is an ideal way for children to take part in regular physical activity, to interact with their peers and to develop their road sense children need as pedestrians and cyclists.
Alternative modes of transport also improve children’s alertness with 90% of teachers surveyed across England and Wales saying that walking, cycling or using public transport increased pupils concentration in class.
The school will also lessen their overall impact on the environment by reducing emissions and pollution.
Please appoint me to the Green Schools Committee and I will make a difference.
by Luke Ryan 3rd class
My Tips for a greener school
1. In 20 years’ time or less we would be using nuclear power.
2. If bees died we would not live.
3. If we could get more people to walk there would be less traffic jams and car crashes.
4. We could have a walk to school day every year.
5. We could put green school comics in the stick man comic club.
By Rowan 4th
5th class wrote their ideas in slogan/ code format and voted on the best one:
6th class drew some of their ideas for modes of transport:
TRAVEL
Travel is the fourth theme of the Green-Schools programme. The Travel theme is funded by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and supported by the National Transport Authority.
As part of their Action Plan, participating schools set their own Travel targets, with the ultimate aim of increasing the number of pupils walking, cycling, park ‘n’ stride, carpooling or using public transport, which will ease congestion by reducing the number of private cars arriving at the school gates.
Click here to go to the Green Schools Ireland travel page for more information.
