End of year celebrations at St Saviour’s National School
St SAVIOUR’S NS raised its fifth Green Flag during the school’s end of year festivities.
This fifth flag was the culmination of more than a year’s work in educating the school community about the importance of making their surroundings as biodiverse as possible.
To this end, a ‘Feed the Birds’ programme was adopted, which included erecting bird and bat boxes, while areas on the school grounds were left ‘fallow’ so that a range of insects, invertebrates and small mammals could find a suitable habitat.
On the school’s Green Action Day in March, students in each classroom worked on different projects, all with the aim of bringing a greater diversity of wildlife into the school grounds.
Bird cakes were made from seeds, while a bug-hotel and bird boxes were also created.
During the year, the school welcomed biodiversity experts Grace Garde and Aengus Kennedy, who inspired the children by getting them to notice the huge range of flora and fauna in the meadow, hedgerow and on nearby oak trees.
The Green Flag was presented to Green School Co-ordinator Helen Binions and pupil representatives of the Green Schools Committee in a special ceremony held in May. It was raised by principal Heather Lawson, who was assisted by the Green School Committee members Isabelle Cooney, Grace Wakeford, Alannah Bel Wheeler, Ava Codd, Lucy Fitzgerald, Hannah Joynt, Kai Arthur, Isabelle Doyle, Brooke Fitzpatrick, Luke Joynt, Isabella McGuire, Aaron Meredith, William Cherry and Sarah Mason. Also involved were parents Geraldine Fitzgerald and Catherine Wakeford.
The school orchestra played several tunes as the new flag unfurled in the breeze, to the delight of parents and staff.
Afterwards the Parents Association hosted a wonderful evening of entertainment as part of the school’s end of year celebrations.