Green Schools Updates
WOW Days: Our WOW days, (Walk on Wednesdays) will take place every Wednesday throughout the month of May. This is part of our Green Schools (Travel focus), Active Schools & Well Being initiatives. Walking to school reduces the amount of cars on the roads, which reduces emissions and this helps our environment. Walking is also part of your daily physical activity, it improves your wellbeing, the exercise helps with your concentration in class and it is a great positive way to start the day! We will meet at the mill car park every Wednesday morning at 8:50am and walk to school. Everyone will cross at the pedestrian crossing at the school. Teachers will supervise along the way. Please wear a hi-vis jacket for our WOW days, stay on the footpath and be mindful of road safety.We appreciate your support! Our Community Garda will carry out a road safety talk with all classes at our school on Friday 22nd of May.
National Spring Clean: We held our annual An Taisce National Spring Clean on the 26th of March. 3rd 4th classes were involved in a “Spring Clean” of our school grounds. The An Taisce National Spring Clean is Ireland’s largest and longest-running anti-litter campaign, organised by the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce. A big thank you to all the children who took part.
Green Schools Committee 6th Class Members
We would like to wish our 6th class members of the Green Schools Committee the very best of luck for the coming weeks, as they get ready to leave Cloonakilla NS and transition to secondary school. For the last year, they have been a dedicated committee full of enthusiasm and creativity, who always lead by example and worked as a team. They always took pride in raising awareness to make our school more environmentally friendly. Well done to each and every one of our committee members – 2025-2026!
Bike Workshop with Ciaran Hussey
As part of our ongoing work with the Green Schools initiative, our Travel Co-ordinator, Ciaran Hussey, visited 4th, 5th and 6th classes on April 21st and delivered an engaging bike safety workshop. Pupils learned about the importance of road safety, correct helmet use, bike checks, and how to cycle safely and confidently. The workshop was very well received and helped prepare pupils for active travel during WOW Days. Ciaran will visit again in June to carry out a scooter workshop with 1st classes.
Greens Schools Theme – Travel
Well done to our Green Schools Committee for their ongoing commitment and excellent work this year on the theme of Travel and Global Citizenship. Your dedication and enthusiasm continue to make a positive impact on our school community.
Sustainable Communities Workshop
In early February, Ciaran Hussey conducted two Sustainable Communities workshops with both 5th classes. The first workshop focused on Reduced Inequality, serving as a baseline for the Sustainable Communities project. Pupils explored concepts such as climate inequality, travel inequality, and other examples of social and environmental inequality.
For the main Sustainable Communities workshop, pupils worked in groups to design and build a sustainable version of the Athlone/Cloonakilla area. They were encouraged to bring recyclable and reusable materials, including cardboard boxes, empty yogurt pots, cardboard tubes, and plastic trays. The 5th classes thoroughly enjoyed the workshops, applying creativity and teamwork to build imaginative and sustainable communities!
Green Schools Travel Review and Action Day
Ciaran Hussey, Green Schools Travel Co-ordinator, will be visiting our school in March to review our Green Schools Programme. During the visit, Ciaran will meet with the Green Schools Committee, observe the programme in action, and speak with some classes. Our Action Plan is currently being updated, and we are planning our Green Schools Action Day during Bike Week (11th–15th May). If any parents or community members are willing to visit the school to speak about travel, road safety, or any theme related to the Green Schools programme, please email the school. We would love your support!
National Spring Clean
The National Spring Clean (NSC) will take place on 23rd April for 3rd and 4th classes. Run by An Taisce, this initiative is part of Ireland’s national anti-litter campaign. Our students will take part to help keep our school and local environment clean and litter-free, reinforcing the importance of environmental responsibility.
We are very proud of the continued commitment of our students, staff, and parents to making our school a more sustainable and environmentally friendly community.
Litter, Waste & Energy Awareness
Our 2nd class are doing a fantastic job keeping the school yard litter-free at lunchtime! The Green Schools Committee continues to monitor rubbish in the yard and encourage all students to keep our school clean. The Green Schools Committee actively encourages all pupils to bring their rubbish home to help minimise waste in school. All classes are reminded to be mindful of recycling, reducing waste, and saving energy, both in school and at home.
We celebrated our 8th Green Flag – Global Citizenship and Marine Environment – on the 29th of September. We hosted a flag raising ceremony for our whole school community to mark this significant occasion. It was a very proud day for Cloonakilla NS. We were honoured to share our ceremony with the Amber Flag Committee and celebrate their second Amber Flag.
Jonathan Jones, (Environmental Officer, Roscommon County Council) raised the flag with our Green Schools Committee. Jonathan praised our Green Schools Committee and our school for all our hard work, dedication and the ongoing collective effort that has gone into making our school community, a model of environmental responsibility.
The Green Flag and the Amber Flag symbolize our school’s collective efforts to build a better future, one that is greener, healthier and more compassionate. Well done to all involved!
Ciaran Hussey (Travel Officer, Green Schools Programme) visited our school at the end of October. He introduced our new theme Global Citizenship and Travel to all classes. The ultimate aim of this theme is to increase the number of students walking, cycling, scooting, and using public transport or carpooling to school. The programme will run for a two-year duration. There are 7 steps to each Green School theme. We will be focusing on step 2 – Environmental Review and Step 3 – Action Plan for the remainder of this term. 4th, 5th and 6th classes will take part in a Travel Survey this month. The Green Schools Committee will carry out a walkability audit and speed survey this month as part of our Environmental Travel Review with Ciaran Hussey.
At some point this term it would be greatly appreciated if parents/guardians could talk to the children at home about road safety. Road Safety will be a focus in our action plan for our travel theme in Cloonakilla NS.
