St Michael’s pupils water works pays off with green flag

A QUARTET of pupils at St Michael’s Infants School have hoisted the school’s third green flag, this time for their work on water conservation.

Tracie Tobin, principal at the Sexton Street school, said the children would now be in a position to advise their families on how to protect the environment and save money ahead of the proposed reintroduction of water charges by the Government.

“They have been learning how to save water when brushing their teeth; not to leave taps running; how much water taking a bath uses up. And it’s timely seeing as though we’ll all be paying for our water from next year,” said Ms Tobin.

Rather than have dignitaries raise the flag, parents and staff on the green schools committee decided that the children who put in the hard work should do the honours. An art competition was held with pupils from each of the four classes selected to raise the flag. The ceremony was performed by Tristan Sheehan, Armandas Paulauskas, Caoimhe Ryan and Darragh McDonagh last Friday.

Since getting involved in the green schools initiative six years ago, the school has won flags for recycling, energy efficiency and, now, water conservation.

In that time, the school has managed to reduce its waste by 75 per cent and recyclable waste by 25 per cent. Overall energy consumption at the school has come down by 10 per cent and water usage by 15 per cent.

To celebrate their achievement, children enjoyed a bouncy castle, face painting, entertainment and a huge cake baked by parents in the school community.