Posts filed under Eco-Schools
NIFSA Forest School - February 2024
Plant a tree event at KNS- One Million Trees project.
A great big thank you to all the kind volunteers that came on 31st January 2024 to help the children plant a tree in support of the One Million Trees project. It was fantastic to see the children so happy being out in nature and our school grounds looking clean and tidy from the litter pick. Thank you also to Aodhan O'Kane from the Belfast Hills Partnership for supplying the variety of trees.
You can find more information about this initiative on https://belfasthills.org/projects/one-million-trees/
NIFSA Forest School - January 2024
Visit from the E.L.F
We were delighted to receive a very special visit from the North Pole! Ellie the E.L.F. (Environmental Litter Friend) came to tell us about how Captain Cleanup saved Christmas last year after all the grownups had littered in Belfast and Santa’s boots got covered in dog’s poo and the reindeers’ hooves were covered on gum and rubbish. We promised to help Santa this year by making sure the grownups put the rubbish in the bin and remember to bring poo bags to clean up after their dogs.
NIFSA Forest School
NIFSA Forest School Family (September)
As expected the sun is out now that the kids are back to school. Here are a few things to do in the outdoors.
Green Flag Award 2023
We are thrilled to announce that Knockbreda Nursery School has been awarded for the third time in a row, the prestigious Green Flag Award! This award recognizes our commitment to promoting environmental awareness and sustainability amongst our Green and Red Apples. From recycling and composting initiatives to planting and caring for trees, the children have been actively involved in eco-friendly activities and meetings throughout the year. This award is a testament to the hard work of our students, teachers and parents and we hope to continue championing green initiatives in the future.
Keep up the good work!
Whole School Eco-Meeting
Today we held our last whole school eco-meeting of the year! We were able to look back at all the great things we have done this year for our environment and to suggest actions for next year at Knockbreda.
As suggested by the children during previous eco-meetings, Mrs Welsh has now purchased some ‘Don’t drop litter signs’ and an outdoor bin, and these will soon be displayed near our gates to help ‘keep Knockbreda, tidy, neat and clean!’ ♪♪♪
Hip Hip Hooray! We have succesfully renewed our Green Flag Award and we have been invited to collect it at Belfast Castle in June!
Mrs Welsh encouraged the children to continue to have green hands when they go home by taking part on the Saving Energy Challenge and by joining on the Translink Challenge by scooting, biking or walking to school in June.
To finish our meeting, Mrs Welsh reminded the children that it is their right to learn about how to look after the environment.
Thank you Green Apples, Red Apples and parents for attending our last whole school eco-meeting!
The Recycling Rat Show
We were delighted to have George from the Belfast City Council back at Knockbreda, with his friend with stripy socks Mr. Rat!
George was able to talk to the children about littering, recycling, reusing and about landfill. The children were able to contribute to the story as they are very keen on looking after the environment and have now a great understanding of what items can be recycled and what bin items should be put in. Great job boys and girls!
Global Action Days- Reuse
Book Swap week!
Thank you to all the parents that have already participated on our book swap!
By swapping your books, you are saving paper, water and energy that goes into printing new books.
Book swap will be available until Friday 28th April 2023.
Earth Day and Global Action Days- Reduce
As part of our commitment to our planet and our Eco-School targets, and as we also celebrate Earth Day, we have had a Meat Free lunch in school today
The menu included a quiche, chips and salad, and we chatted about the impact we can make on our loved planet Earth by reducing the meat that we eat even by one day a month!
Red Nose Day - Comic Relief
It’s our commitment as a Right Respecting School to support those who need it most, and to raise awareness with our Green and Red Apples.
Thank you for all the donations to Comic Relief and for taking part on our eco approach by painting your child’s nose.
Whole School Eco meeting
On Thursday 9th March 2023 we were able to have a whole school eco-meeting. We talked about landfill and how it impacts the animals, seas and even us!
We also did a bin check and discovered that some of our teachers are not putting their rubbish in the right bin!
The children sang the Eco code very proudly and contributed with some ideas about what we can do at Knockbreda to help the environment.
Recycling Rat visit
♻ On Tuesday we had an exciting visit from Mr Rat’s Recycling Show. Here we learnt all about what we can and can’t recycle, which bin to use and how to keep places clean and litter free! We enjoyed the story very much! ♻
Green Apples
Red Apples
Wake Up Spring! Topic
In this topic we have ben learning all about Spring and growth! We have enjoyed spring cleaning our home corner and planting different seeds in Forest School. We have found out about the importance of recycling and how we can help at school and home. We have also loved talking about when we were a baby and how much we have grown!
Green Apples
Red Apples
Green Flag Success for Knockbreda Nursery School
Thank you to all of our pupils, parents and staff for their continued support of our eco ethos, here at Knockbreda Nursery School.
School is delighted to have successfully reapplied for our Green Flag award!
Please see the comments from our Green Flag Assessors below:
Congratulations to all concerned - staff and pupils alike, and not forgetting the caretaker and many parents who helped your school achieve its environmental targets.
The assessors made the following comments about the strengths of your school :
Excellent participation from the whole nursery on the Eco Committee.
Great links and work with Eco Schools delivery partners and other great initiatives such as Earth Day, Energy Saving Week and Comic Relief Day.
Great to see the children taking part in the Busta Bake Challenge which really ties in with their Waste topic.
The Eco Schools Team loved the idea of you School Eco Promise Wall – great idea!
Fantastic to see pupils enjoying so much time spent outdoors, incorporating their learning with nature.
Nursery Eco Promises
Following the success of our Eco Week, Earth Day and Energy Saving Home Challenge, the Nursery children have been making their eco promises.
The children and their families all selected an eco promise to make;
making space for nature
recycling more,
using less water
saving energy
Each of these family promises was represented by a colour.
The children each had the opportunity to tie their chosen ribbon to the Eco Promise Wall to create a rainbow of ribbons on our Eco Promise Wall.
Thank you to all our Knockbreda families for helping to support our Eco School!
Best Kept School
Knockbreda Nursery School was delighted to welcome the staff from the Northern Ireland Amenity Council to visit our school and to view ‘the best kept school’ in Northern Ireland. Thank you for coming to visit us!
Eco Meeting
Knockbreda Nursery School Eco Team met to discuss our progress so far this year. The children were delighted to find out that during Energy Week, we saved the weight of a chimpanzee! Well done Nursery! We
are looking forward to taking part in the Big Garden Birdwatch this month.