Context

All public service bodies are required under the Climate Action Plan to adhere to the Public Service Climate Action Mandate – and to develop Climate Action Roadmaps setting out how they will deliver on their energy efficiency and emission reduction targets. Schools now have a separate Climate Action Mandate under which they are required to adopt a Sustainability Policy Statement.

The second National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development – ESD to 2030 also informs the content of the following Sustainability Policy Statement template. 

ESD aims to ensure that “by 2030, all learners acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including among others through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development”. (Sustainable Development Goal 4.7)

The following has been prepared as part of the School Sector Climate Action Mandate, and in keeping with the principles and themes of ESD to 2030, and has been accepted by the Board of Management of our school.

Purpose

The purpose of this Sustainability Policy Statement (“the Statement”) is to outline how our school promotes sustainability and climate action, through our actions and activities. Sustainability can be defined as the ability to exist and develop without depleting natural resources for the future.

Scope

Sustainability is a community issue and applies to all students, teachers and employees of our school. Parents and guardians should note, and where possible, promote, the Statement. The Board of Management of the school will ensure that decisions made in respect of the school align with the Statement.

Vision, mission and values

Dalkey School Project National School strives to create a happy, friendly, inclusive, educational environment where each child is unique and valued. We are a welcoming school where diverse talents are appreciated and the school community works together respectfully.

Our school values are equality based and multi denominational, child centred, co-educational, democratically run.  This supports Sustainable Development Goal 4 which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. For Ireland, achieving SDG 4 means ensuring that every individual, regardless of their background, gender, or socio-economic status, has access to quality education at all stages of life.

Whole School Approach to Sustainability

• Our school has adopted this Sustainability Policy Statement. It clearly details the aims and objectives of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in our school, its relationship to the vision and mission of the school.
• In line with Priority Action Area 2 in the ESD to 2030 policy, DSP has been transforming learning environments by fostering a whole school approach to ESD through its Forest School program for the last ten years. 
• DSP recognises Education for Sustainable Development as a cross-curricular theme.
• Opportunities are identified to introduce and address sustainability in the classroom, across all subjects. Our school has carried out a self-evaluation of our teaching practices in the area of sustainable development and linked it to the SDG goals
• Our school is a member of the Irish Schools Sustainability Network. https://www.issn.ie/joinus
• Our school keeps up to date with developments in ESD including by being registered for the quarterly ESD Newsletter https://www.gov.ie/en/collection/a1d6e-education-for-sustainable-development-newsletter/

Environmental sustainability

• Our school is part of the Green Schools Programme. Green-Schools 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.
• Our school was awarded a Green Flag award for Water in 2024.
• Our school is currently working towards achieving a Green Flag award for Travel
• Our school has a Green School’s committee compromising of staff and students whose role it is to: implement green school’s initiatives; communicate between the committee and the rest of the school community; ensure signage is up to date and clear; organise initiatives such as Big Travel Challenge and Green School poster competitions; create informative Green School Assembly; runs regular litter picking sessions
• Our school is at the forefront of environmental education in the provision of Forest School sessions for every child throughout primary school. This helps develop connection with and empathy for our natural world and has ripple effects far into the community and into the future. 
• Our school engages with SEAI Education & Youth Programme’s curriculum linked energy Resources, pupil Workshops and teacher CPD  Schools | Community Energy | SEAIhttps://www.seai.ie/community-energy/schools/
• Our school engages with the SEAI Energy in Education resources and energy management tools in order to monitor and report energy consumption.
• Our school has a recycling policy in place, and uses recycled and recyclable materials whenever possible.
• Our school resources are procured and utilised taking into consideration their impact on the environment. We use scrap paper throughout the classes where possible. We limit laminating resources.
• Our school environment clearly displays information on sustainability and sustainable practices in prominent and accessible places.
• Our school actively promotes and fosters an attitude of care and responsibility towards the natural environment. 
• Our school promotes and facilitates outdoor learning, through gardening, Beach School and Forest School sessions.
• Our school promotes and facilitates biodiversity through bug hotels, planters and a pond.
• Our school promotes sustainable transport including where possible, walking and cycling to school. Our School partakes in the Big School Travel Challenge.
• Our school is going through the steps to engage with the Safe Routes to School programme.  https://saferoutestoschool.ie/
• Our school engages with programmes that support and promote Environmental education such as Climate Literacy programmes from Education for Sustainability.  
• Our school is involved in promoting Nature Based Learning to all primary schools using DSP as a case study through the Scaip project – Nature based learning  www.naturebasedlearning.ie

Social Sustainability

• Our school ethos recognises the importance of and is sensitive to issues surrounding gender equity. 
• Our students are provided with opportunities to develop and use their skills to participate in the solving of community problems at local level.  https://enoughforeverychild.ie/
• Our school ethos strives to prepare students for life as citizens of a global community.
• The needs of all students in recognition of differentiated physical or learning abilities, are taken into consideration and accommodated. https://enoughforeverychild.ie/
• All school staff are provided with training in the area of conflict resolution, in order to support and affect positive student behaviour.  We use restorative practice as our base for conflict resolution.

Economic Sustainability

• A non-competitive ethos of co-operation and sharing of resources is modelled in our school’s allocation of its resources. Maths resources; Art supplies; PE equipment; Class readers; Ethical Education resources are all stored in communal and accessible areas.
• Students are involved in the decision-making process on resource allocation within our school.
• Students are provided with opportunities to learn small business skills such as at our Spring market. 
• Our school’s fund-raising activities reflect and actively demonstrate ethical and sustainable principles. Recent fund-raising includes a spring bulb sale to raise funds for the Garden Club.

Cultural Sustainability

• Our school ethos aims to foster students’ self-esteem, along with a mutual regard and respect for fellow students, and positive social interaction and relationships.
• Our school ethos, in tandem with the curriculum, strives to prepare students for life in an increasingly multicultural society.
• Our school demonstrates a commitment to community engagement, and encourages the community’s involvement with the school.  https://www.educatetogether.ie/news/dsp_50th_anniversary/
• Our school has an active role in supporting cultural diversity both within the school itself, and in the wider school community.

Teacher Competence

• Our Teachers are supported in building their own capacity in the area of ESD.
• Our Teachers engage in Professional development regarding ESD, including courses related to Forest School, Restorative practice, Sustainability in the Classroom Teacher, Sustainable Maths Teacher, Development Education in the Primary Classroom.
• Our staff are familiar with the 17 SDGs and linkages across the curriculum.  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JVlkEmLOcgwmGavYnr48cxQSVEZwOoZJU-KpGZzP53E/edit?tab=t.0

Student Competence

• Our students are encouraged and supported to participate in peer to peer learning activities
• Our students are encouraged and supported to undertake action oriented projects through garden club and Enough for Every Child and the Scaip Project. 
• Our school has a Student and Changemaking Council and a Green Team who are actively involved in decisions aimed at reducing the school’s environmental footprint, promoting eco-friendly practices, implementing effective recycling programs, and fostering a more inclusive and socially responsible school community.

Goals for 2025/2026 Academic Year

General School Goals

• Organise CPD for staff on actions that can be taken to create a more sustainable classroom.
• Organise workshops for the Green Schools Committee. This newfound information can then be passed from the Committee Members to their schoolmates, fostering whole-school involvement in sustainability within the school community, and allowing for peer-to-peer learning.
• Continue to move towards more to more reusable and recyclable resources within the school, including procuring recycled paper, refillable whiteboard markers, etc.
• Reduce use of blue roll by 50%.
• Improve signage around the school to encourage our school community to ‘Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle’
• Organise and engage in regular litter picks of the school grounds, and local community.
• Complete an audit of waste disposal within school e.g. availability of compost bins etc.
• Assess the impact of our transition to Hot School Lunches on waste production, and on the health of our students.
• Appoint waste, energy and water monitors in each classroom to regularly monitor wastage of all forms.
• Complete regular “Power Hours”, reducing our use of electricity, and our fossil fuel consumption.
• Conduct a self-evaluation of school activities and sustainability, establish a benchmark, and identify target areas of need.
• Organise and take part in “Green Day”, promoting whole-school involvement in sustainability. Activities to include games, awareness campaigns, clothes swaps, seed planting, etc., run by the Green Schools Committee.

Goals Related to Transport, Our Next Green Flag

• Promote sustainable and active transport to school through initiatives such as Walk on Wednesday, Cycle Safety Workshops, Walking Bus, Staff Step Challenges.
• Complete an audit of the school grounds to assess the availability of sustainable transport infrastructure, including bike and scooter storage.
• Conduct a survey among staff and students to assess current modes of transport used when travelling to school.
• Engage with Bike Week 2026.
• Organise visitors to the school to learn more about travelling safely and sustainably, including members of An Garda Síochána, and the Road Safety Authority.
• Contact local groups to organise bike clinics, to ensure our bikes and scooters are safe, and to learn how to complete simple repairs..

Implementation and review

This Statement will be implemented in June 2025. To ensure our school strives to improve its work within sustainability and climate action, the Statement will be reviewed annually.