No.4 “Walk to School, Slow but Cool”
The following are some of the projects undertaken to achieve green Flag No. 4:
- Bike Day : All children brought a bicycle to school and Ciara Hanrahan from An Taisce did a very enjoyable workshop on bicycle safety. She als organised slow bicycle races and various competitions.
- Walkability Audit, Traffic Survey and Nature Walk with Sennin Gardiner from An Taisce.
- Visit by Yvonne O Reilly, Laois Road Safety Officer and local Garda to highlight the importance of keeping safe on the roads.
WOW Day:
On Wednesday, November 21st the children and parents from Rushall N.S took part in a WOW Day. WOW means walk on Wednesday. . We invited Sennin from An Taisce to lead our walk to school. We also invited Mr Sean Fleming TD, Mrs Detta McCarthy from the Board of Management and Mrs Hannah Delaney, the parent’s representative on the Green Schools Committee to join us. Fr. Hennessy joined us after morning mass and several local parents also walked with us.
We informed neighbours before the event as we had to congregate in front of their houses and they were extremely supportive
At 9:00am everybody congregated at the Pike of Rushall Village. Dressed in high viz jackets and wellies the group crossed the Main Rd. and walked to the Pike school. It was a crisp sunny morning and everything went according to plan. Super Value Roscrea (thanks to a parent who is employed there) sponsored fruit and yogurt to make healthy breakfast smoothies for all on our arrival at the school!
The children from the Senior Room wrote a Report on the walk and together with photographs this was published in both local papers - The Leinster Express and the Laois Nationalist.
Bicycle helmet Colouring Competition:
- Lorax Movie, worksheets, and essay competition on sustainability
- Bicycle Training Day (2nd to 6th Classes)
- Safe Cross Code song and dance for all classes.
- Poster Competition to select winning code shown above.
At Rushall we have no bus service to the school. Five children live nearby and walk to and from the school every day. One child cycle for most of the year and comes by car when the weather is severe. The remainder of the pupils are brought to school by car. Some parents choose to car-pool which saves on CO2 emissions and can also be convenient e.g. if parents are travelling to work etc. Car-pooling works very well for travelling to and from the Cumann na mBunscol hurling and football matches.