Green Flag--Presentation in Dublin

As you are all well aware, everyone in St. Patrick's has been working extremely hard to get our Green Flag. On the 21^st of April, Sharon Cameron, the Environmental Officer with Mayo Co. Co. came to assess the school. D- day had arrived!
First impressions are very important and every class had risen to the occasion. We had so much on display, not only on the Green Schools Notice Boards, but also outside each classroom. The artwork, poems, creative writing and bar charts were really impressive.
Mrs. Cameron then met with the Green School Committee, who had to answer a lot of questions! They answered very well and made a great impression.
Next was a whistle stop tour of the classes. As the school is so big, only some of the

classes were chosen. From Infants to sixth, questions about compost, recycling, litter wardens and so on were answered expertly.
Mrs. Cameron was delighted with the hard work. She pointed out that it is much harder for a large school to get the flag because so many people have to be involved. She was very impressed by how smoothly things are running in the school, and by how much each child knows - even the Junior Infants.
Thankfully, all the effort was worth it, and on May 16^th we were awarded our Green Flag in An Taisce's headquarters in Dublin. Unfortunately, only four people could attend the ceremony, so we had to choose. Mrs. Grady's class was chosen, which meant that the two committee members from that class - Niall Fahey and James Glynn - would

Ms. Burke, James Glynn, Niall Fahey and Ms. McManamon received the Green Flag in Dublin

travel.
The two boys, Mrs. McManamon and Mrs. Burke set off on the early morning train to Dublin. There were nine schools from Mayo getting their flags that day so there were plenty of children on the train!
At An Taisce's headquarters, Tailor's Hall, we had a lovely lunch before the ceremony began. There were schools from Tipperary, Offaly, Laois and

Roscommon as well as Mayo, but Mayo had the most schools being awarded. St. Patrick's was complimented on how smoothly and efficiently the Green Schools programme is being run, and we were encouraged to start planning the next stage of the programme. Lots of photographs were taken with our flag. These photos can be seen on our website.

Senior infants tour

Senior infants went to Kiltimagh on our school tour. Here is a photo of all the boys in Maghu's Castle.
The boys from Mrs Uí Dhomhnaill's class have been busy writing stories on the computer. There are lots of stories, photos and pictures on our own class website: www.castlebar.ie/education/stpats/seninfs04/