StPatrick’spupilsdevelop recyclablewrappingpaper
PUPILS from St Patrick’s primary school in Bray have been commended by humanitarian aid agency GOAL for demonstrating their contribution and commitment to helping achieve the Global Goals.
Third-class students were named runners -up in the GOAL Changemakers Award for developing a 100 per cent recyclable Christmas wrapping paper.
Primary school students all over Ireland were asked to share their actions for global change through the awards.
The St Patrick’s Loreto pupils discussed the unsustainability of many traditions at Christmas and felt they should take action in their community. They felt a very pressing issue is the excessive waste caused by wrapping paper and gift wrapping.
In a bid to achieve ‘Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production’, the children created their own wrapping paper which was 100 per cent recyclable. To explain their actions and raise awareness to a wider audience, the children crafted Christmas bauble shaped information cards to accompany the wrapping paper. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals were listed on the festive information leaflets.
To continue their efforts in 2020, the class have decorated a box in the classroom for toy donations that will be donated to local charities throughout the year. The young students submitted their entry to GOAL via a song they composed themselves.
Third-class teacher Breda Dunleavy said: ‘ The class loved getting involved in the GOAL Changemakers Award as they are all so passionate about this topic. They worked together and displayed fantastic teamwork where they all treated each other equally and showed each other respect which in turned contributed to global goal 10: reduced inequalities. The award is wonderful because the project was driven by the students and it inspired me to watch them discover how the tangible changes they make will help tackle global issues.’
The students discussed their entry and said: ‘We know that metallic wrapping paper is not recyclable and a more sustainable option should be available. We wrote the notes about the global goals because we want to share what we know with other people. We know about the global goals but not everybody does so we wanted to share our knowledge.’
The judging panel, comprised of Newstalk presenter Jonathon McCrea, children’s author Sarah Webb, activist and founder of Flossie and the Beach Cleaners, Flossie Donnelly, and GOAL deputy- CEO Mary Van Lieshout, were blown away by the quality of the entries.