Eleven Sligo schools are awarded the Green Flag

A NUMBER of local schools were awarded the Green Flag this week for their dedication to sustainability and protecting their environment. Of 526 schools awarded the flags this week, 11 were based in Sligo. They were St Lassara’s NS, Ballymote; Holy Family National School, Tubbercurry; Rathlee NS, Easkey; Scoil Naomh Treasa, Ballintogher; St Cecilia’s, Cregg; St Michael’s NS, Tubbercurry; Gaelscoil Chnoc na Ré, Ballydoogan; Rathcormac NS, Drumcliffe; and St Aidan’s NS, Cliffoney.

Green Schools is an environmental management programme for schools which focuses on themes including litter and waste, energy, water, travel, biodiversity, global citizenship and marine environment.

Green Schools manager Cathy Baxter congratulated the schools receiving their Green Flag: “We know that you have all been working incredibly hard in your schools over the last year and you continued to find innovative ways to keep the programme going during school closures and social distancing. You managed to have outdoor committee meetings, online workshops and attending online webinars to keep up to date, so thank you.”

Schools were invited to six online award ceremonies which took place last week, with the final

ceremony for the water theme taking place today, Thursday. At the ceremonies, schools enjoyed activities like sea shanties and online quizzes, with messages of support played from ‘Captain Climate’, actor Nicola Coughlan, champion cyclist Lara Gillespie and local authority environmental awareness officers, who support schools during their participation in Eco-Schools.

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