OUR future is safe in the hands of this group of pupils.
Each one is a member of the Eco Council at Holy Evangelists’ Primary School in Twinbrook, elected by their classmates to lead the green revolution to help save the planet. Dúlra is tempted to say ‘help save the planet for future generations’, but they are that future generation!
The school isn’t just teaching environmental awareness, it’s all about putting it into practice. So members of the Eco Council are responsible for turning off whiteboards when they’re not in use, as well as classroom lights. They make sure windows are closed when the heat is on and ask pupils to bring in reusable water bottles.
And now they’re starting to look outside the school building. They’re rewilding a section of the school grounds with native Irish wildflowers and they’ve started an allotment – last year’s first harvest of carrots, lettuce and beans were used in the school dinners.
They’ve a couple of bug hotels (minded by the P1s and P2s – isn’t that brilliant?) and now that the grounds are litter-free the Eco-Council members check the wider school area for litter at break and lunchtimes – they’ve expanded their litter picking to Glasvey Drive and surrounding streets. Last year they partnered with the Housing Executive to plant 200 trees on nearby ground.
The Eco Council are all self-motivating, brilliant kids from P4 to P7 like those pictured here: Anthony, Aria, Jason, Zara and Aimee. And they are inspired by their Eco lead teacher Mark Lavery, who was recently named NI Eco Teacher 2024. Mark has thrown himself into this work since joining the school in 2022.
“The principal suggested joining the Eco Schools NI programme and I took it on straight away,” he told Dúlra. “Every kid is involved from nursery up to P7. As soon as they come through the door they start learning about the environment and how to make a positive impact.
“We’re taking responsibility for our actions because anything we do now does good after us when we’re gone. And it’s not just the kids who have embraced it – the staff have too.
“The Eco Code has a number of main points that are applied every day to the school: making sure they are not wasteful; looking after the classroom, like turning off the lights; recycling every day; making sure that the area around the school is clean – key actions so they know that responsibility and sustainability is inherent in every thing we do.
“The kids on the Council are in charge of it all and they keep me on my toes! One kid did an inspection of my room every day to make sure the lights were off and the board was in sleep mode.”
It all resulted in the school winning a Green Flag, which was raised over the school by Lord Mayor Ryan Murphy. “You have to reapply for it every two years,” said Mr Lavery. “With the Green Flag you have key actions throughout the year. This year for us it was a global perspective, biodiversity and outdoor learning. We’ve 230 days left of the Green Flag so we have work to do to ensure we keep it.”
If they are awarded the second Green Flag, they could then become an Ambassador School and help others schools in their environmental work. “That’s our long-term goal,” said Mr Lavery, “now we’re able to look outwards because we’ve made such great progress within the school. You could then make a bigger impact on the community.”
As Mr Lavery pointed out, it’s just as important to build knowledge.
“We have a grow house at the moment to show kids how to propagate seeds but we’re looking to get a greenhouse. I applied to get hedgerows planted around the perimeter – we were unsuccessful this year but hopefully next year. And we adopted the Derriaghy River towpath as well and we litter pick to make it better and safer.
“You find that the kids are teaching other kids – it’s all child-led.”
Principal Claire Robinson says that it helped that the impressive new school building when opened in 2019 had so many environmentally-friendly aspects built into it. “The toilets flush with rain water, we have underfloor heating, roof insulation and LED lighting,” she said.
“We also promote recycling clothing and this year we’re promoting uniform swap and the donation of preloved coats.
“It’s just fabulous to see everyone so excited about how we can do so much to help the environment and the world.”
It’s no wonder this school was shortlisted for an Aisling Guardian of the Environment Award – our future is safe in their hands.
• Dúlra was gutted to see vast swathes of hedgerows – or what little remains of them – being totally destroyed on the outskirts of West Belfast this week. All along the Ballyhill Road, the last remaining tiny outposts of nature have been obliterated.
All that remains are tangled branches in the middle of the bare fields after a digger with a huge blade did its merciless work.
This is still within the hinterland of Lough Neagh, which we are meant to be saving from death. Removing trees and extinguishing wildlife only makes matters worse.
It’s the visiting flocks of winter thrushes that Dúlra feels for – they used to arrive to Irish hedgerows heavy with haws. Now there isn’t even a single branch for them to land on for miles around.
• If you’ve or photographed anything interesting, or have any nature questions, you can text Dúlra on 07801 414804.
