The Green School Team was very pro-active in taking the next step with the acorns we gathered in the Autumn. It was decided that we would conduct an experiment with these acorns; those that had been put into the fridge in sealed bags with dampened kitchen paper would be planted out in black pots whilst those that had spent the last couple of months buried in sand outside would be planted in pots that were not black. We will be keen to see which lot of acorns will put out green shoots first.
Boys from 1st class up brought in pots and soil. On Jan. 31st we planted the acorns out. It will be exciting to see how many oak trees emerge!
Our school garden is coming into its own now that summer has started. 3rd class have been experimenting, and following recipes with some the vegetables and fruit.
They made some Elderberry cordial which involved peeling, weighing and measuring and lots of fun!
There’s a host of healthy herbs, first rhubarb harvest ( mmm, crumble on the way), lick your lips garlic, spuds springing up, cabbage coming along and strawberries peeking out. The June garden is bursting out!
What a week! We finished our Marine exploration today with videos on octopuses, a rather sad video on face masks in the ocean made by a secondary school pupil and a final video on plastics in the ocean, which is more uplifting! Thanks to all for their efforts – some of which you can see below! We are all looking forward to brighter sunny days when we can visit some of the beautiful beaches around Ireland. Enjoy our sea shanty!
As part of Marine week, we are celebrating ‘Happy Earth Day’ – we have to celebrate the small things in life. Today we celebrate through Art – we have a 5 minute draw along tutorial to complete, and through Science while we research all types of fish and below our infant boys are completing a litter marine colouring sheet just as we post this! The boys also went under the tree in our front garden to check its girth and they gave it a big hug for Earth Day!
We are celebrating Marine Week from April 19-23. We are going to cover everything to do with the sea! Now that we can travel outside our 5 km limit, our boys can’t wait to visit the beaches and waterways around Dublin in the next few weeks. Our Green School team will guide the classes as they learn about types of Jellyfish and other sea life in Ireland. We will also be looking at solutions to microplastics pollution and at what we can do to be better global citizens.
Our active school team will lead our classes in taking part in the Aquatics strand of the PE Curriculum. We can’t get back to school swimming lessons yet but we can learn about Water Safety. We have started the PAWS programme on water safety in all our classes.
As part of our application for the next green flag, Mr. Brennan’s 6th and Ms. Molloy’s 5th classes made some magnificent posters on the topic of keeping our seas and beaches pollution & litter-free. Here is a sample of their fabulous artwork. Well done lads!
We have been very busy in the school garden. We prepared the inner bed for winter growth. We planted purple garlic and elephant garlic. We hope to have a crop in late spring. We also have Amaryllis bulbs starting to grow in our window sills. Some have produced their dramatic flowers already. They were kindly donated by Mark Caslin. Thanks so much, we love them.
Bn Uí Loingsigh also helped the boys plant ‘Spring surprises’ around the church bell, We wonder what will pop up come February/March.
Our sensory garden has treated us to the calming smells of lavender, and a wide range of tastes including sage, mint, thyme and rocket. Winter plans include new raised beds and upgrading of the pathways around our sensory garden. If anybody has access to spare flagstones or gravel we would love to hear from you! (Room 14, Rang 3)
Our Green school team had its first socially distant outside meeting today with Ms Ryan and Mr O’Doherty. The Marine Environment is the next flag we would like to get. Today we discussed marine environments and what we can do to protect them. The committee will work with the teachers and classes to reduce plastic usage in lunches. We will encourage discussion on marine environments and their preservation. We will also let our classes know about a poster competition called ‘Clean Marine’.
Boys in 4th and 5th have been busy gardening. With good growing conditions all summer (warm but not too dry) a bumper crop of potatoes, corn, pickles, lettuce and rhubarb has been harvested from the school garden. Cabbage and kale has now been planted. They should survive any cold weather and grow slowly through the winter.
We are delighted after receiving our latest Green Flag for Biodiversity. Congratulations to all the boys and teachers for their work and support. The flag was presented in The Helix on May 22th and it was a privilege to be there with 70 other successful schools. John C. and Tom C. (4th class) and Jack B. (6th class) received the flag on behalf of St. Joseph’s. Well done to all involved and keep up the Green effort during the summer holidays!!
