Everybody in St. Clare's was delighted to hear that our application for the renewal of our Green Flag award has been successful. The Green Flag for Global Citizenship Food and Biodiversity was presented to St. Clare's by An Taisce on Tuesday 23rd May at 10:30 at a ceremony in The Helix, DCU. Representatives from our Green School Committee were delighted to be invited to the ceremony.
Over the past 25 years, staff and students have worked tirelessly to promote sustainability and environmental awareness with great interest and enthusiasm. The initiatives introduced have been sustained over the years in relation to energy and water conservation, litter and waste reduction, biodiversity, transportation and global citizenship.
St. Clare’s was pioneering in many areas, such as banning the use of plastic bags in 2000, as an anti-litter measure, well in advance of the plastic bag levy introduced in 2002 by the government. Furthermore, in 2009, the school introduced the initiative of students wearing high visibility jackets to ensure that students are visible when travelling. As a result of this initiative, every year since 2010, the Road Safety Authority of Ireland distribute high visibility vests each September to every child starting school in Ireland.
We are proud to be a Green School here in St. Clare's. We are already looking forward to the challenge of working towards our next Green Flag.