Belgrove Senior Girls' School

Climate change is the process of our planet heating up. This has a huge impact on people and wildlife around the world. The changing climate is making our weather more unpredictable and extreme.  A warmer planet could affect our world in many ways, including:

-melting ice caps

-rising sea levels

-the decline of some species of animals

Climate Action Day takes place on Friday the 20th of September. There will be lots of things taking place in our school to mark this day and to highlight the issue of climate change. Girls will be encouraged to walk, scoot or cycle to school. The Golden Boot will be awarded to the best class. Classes will take part in a NO POWER HOUR, where they will refrain from using any electricity in the room for an hour. Some classes will perform raps or poems about climate change. Our 4th classes have also been writing letters to Richard Bruton, Minister of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, explaining the impact that climate change could have on their future. 6th Classes will be picking some yummy pears, apples and raspberries from the garden, showing how fun (and delicious) it can be to grow your own fruit and vegetables, rather than buying them in the supermarket.

We are also trying to reduce the use of single use plastic in the school. We would encourage girls to bring in reusable containers for their drinks.

-The Green School Committee

The Green School Committee have been very busy over the last month. We are delighted to announce that An Taisce have awarded Belgrove Senior Girls’ with our fifth green flag, for biodiversity! Well done to all of the girls for their hard work on this theme. Maith sibh!

On the 12th of April the Green School Committee planted a silver birch tree in front of the school and an apple tree in the school garden. The trees were kindly donated to us by Orla Farrell from easy treesie. We were joined by Richard Bruton, Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment. We were also joined by Minister Frances Fitzgerald. 

The Green School Committee got the opportunity to visit Belvedere College on Friday the 3rd of May. The girls visited the urban farm and learned about sustainable farming. It was great to see the bee hives on the roof of the school and the girls even got the chance to see the inside of a working hive. It was a very fun and informative trip and the committee had a great day

The Urban Farm

Fish in the Urban Farm

Beehive on the Roof

Last year our Green School Committee worked really hard building a bug hotel for our school garden. It is important to clean out bug hotels every year to make sure that the hotel is ready for the next guests. Our bug hotel is currently under renovation and our current committee are clearing it out for future bugs to enjoy!

Congratulations to Sophia Byrne and Keela Moriarty from 4th Class who were the winners of our Green School competition. The girls came up with a great code for our biodiversity theme.

Biodiversity is the key, so we can all live in harmony!

Well done girls!

Biodiversity

Hello everyone,

The new Green School Committee met for the first time in November and already they have been hard at work! Currently we are working on our Biodiversity flag. But what does ‘Biodiversity’ mean? The meaning of ‘Biodiversity’ is easy to understand when we break the word down; “bio” refers to life and ‘living things’ and “Diversity” means just that; range or variety. The word refers to the huge variety and variation of life that surrounds us on planet earth. Maintaining a high level of diversity among plants, animals and all living things all around us is really important in keeping the environment healthy and fit for human life.

The committee are hoping to raise awareness about the importance of biodiversity. They have started by making bird feeders to encourage birds to come to our school garden and to make sure that the birds that come to the garden will get fed throughout the winter.

Aoife Hayden in 5th Class also made her own bird feeder using a milk carton filled with seed.

6th Class girls made fabulous posters highlighting the importance of biodiversity. that will be hung around the school.

Our School Garden

Ms O’Connell and her class have been working tirelessly to get our school garden back to looking its best. They have been outside weeding and have also been planting bulbs. The garden looks great thanks to all of their hard work. Well done girls!

Don’t Forget Our Other Themes!

Although we are working on the theme of biodiversity, it is important that girls don’t forget about our other themes.

                                                 Litter & Waste                   Energy                 Water                    Travel

Our Green Girls from 2nd to 5th have made posters reminding girls about these themes and they will be displayed around the school. Maith sibh cailíní! There is a Green School Suggestion Box located in the corridor if girls have any suggestions for the committee.

Our Committee 2018/2019

Dear Parents, Guardians and Pupils,

A suggestion has come from a fourth class member of the Green School Committee about lunches. It has emerged that the amount of farming land needed to sustain animals is much greater than the amount of land needed for growing vegetables, fruit and grains. If more of us were to eat less meat and more plant based food, we would be able to grow more food per acre, and feed more people. Also, animals produce a lot of methane gas (especially cows!), which is very damaging to the environment.

So, here are a few ideas from fourth class about going ‘Meat Free’ for school lunch:

Sandwiches and rolls

Cheese & onion

Coleslaw

Cheese & tomato

beetroot & lettuce

cheese & butter

maybe just  butter

cucumber & tomato

tuna & sweetcorn

Other options:

You could have your sandwich or roll with a piece of fruit and a piece of vegetable, and maybe a rice cake or a cracker, or whatever snack you want.

The Green School Committee met today for the first time after the Christmas holidays. Today it was decided that the girls are going to be more careful with closing doors and turning lights off when they are out of the room.

The Golden Boot for our WALK ON THURSDAY was announced today. The girls in sixth class were the winners – well done!!! The committee decided that we will run a WALK ON THURSDAY again when the weather is a little warmer.

Dale Treadwell from Naturally Wild visited the school on Monday and taught girls in second, third and sixth class all about hedgehogs and bees. The committee will hopefully put this new knowledge  to good use when working towards our Biodiversity flag.

We would also like to welcome Paul MacDermott as our parent’s representative. Thanks Paul for your help, we really appreciate it.