Sus Living
Sustainability
In September of last year the Transition Year students embarked on a new initiative in St. Patrick’s Cathedral Grammar School. This initiative is to involve a number of projects to promote and include a more sustainable approach to life in St. Patrick’s. With the support of the Sus-Living Organisation the aim was to develop an atmosphere of environmental sustainability within the school community. After much discussion the Transition Years decided to build a new bike shelter using as many recycled materials as possible. The ultimate goal was to encourage a greater number of pupils and staff to cycle to school and in our own way to reduce the amount of traffic on the roads. Also it was hoped that exercise habits formed during school years would be continued in the years beyond school. TY students designed the bike shed they wished for and with the help of Liam Boyce, father of one of our TY students, an architectural plan was drawn up and planning permission granted.
Another organisation called MABO’s (formally The Kings of Concrete) agreed to help us with the actual building of the shelter. A number of recycled materials were used including pallets, some wood which was a former set in The Abbey Theatre, a guttering made from Bamboo, and also a number of new materials were used. At the end of the last school year a workshop was held were some TY students learned a number of techniques to decorate and embellish the shelter. The students also helped to make a helmet rack and herb box from old pallets.
As of this September our new bike shelter is nearing completion and is being used by Grammar School pupils and staff. The initial signs suggest that there is already an increase in the number of pupils cycling to school.
The aim to make our school more sustainable does not end here and a number of other projects are lined up for 2013-14. TY students are also going for a day trip to Kings River, Co Kilkenny in October to learn more about sustainability and gather ideas for future projects.
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