The Green-Schools programme is an international environmental education programme, offering a well-defined, controllable way for schools to take environmental issues from the curriculum and apply them to the day-to-day running of their school.

Skerries ETNS has been awarded four flags to date for different themes such as Litter and Waste, Energy, Water and Travel. Skerries ETNS will be applying for a Biodiversity flag in 2023/4. The Green School Committee members are elected by their classmates and stay on the committee for two years. We have fortnightly meetings where we discuss how we can work towards attaining a Green School flag over a two-year period. Some of the actions we undertook to achieve our Green Schools Travel flag were aimed at reducing the use of driving cars to/from school by 20% over two years. We promoted cycling, scooting and walking as an alternative by hosting bike week, Scoot to School week and Bike and Scooter workshops in our school. We also held art competitions to create posters promoting cycling, scooting and walking to be displayed all around the school. We conducted surveys at the start of the two-year period and then at the end of the same period to see how effective our efforts were in reducing parents driving their children to school by car. It was found that use of the car for dropping children to/from school decreased by 22% within the two years. The Green School committee is a great way to help students build confidence and a sense of citizenship and pride in their school through participation with other students. It also helps children formulate ideas for projects and events ongoing throughout the year and opportunities to liaise with and communicate with external agencies that support the Green Schools initiative e.g., Tidy Towns, Dublin County Council etc.