In P5 we have been learning about Fairtrade. We were very lucky to have Mrs Brown visit us to talk about Fairtrade, social justice and the work that goes on in our Parish. Inspired by this, we have created Fairtrade boards for the main entrance to the school. We created posters and pieces of work that illustrate and advertise Fairtrade Fortnight. Come in and have a look OR visit the Tuck Shop where fantastic Fairtrade products are available to buy! Go on take a step towards Fairtrade in 2013!
Primary Four participated in a litter picking morning in St. Gabriel’s School and Church grounds. We surveyed the types of litter we found in our school grounds and created pie charts and bar graphs which can be found on our school ECO board. We all thoroughly enjoyed the morning. A big thank you to all the parent helpers and Lee Bryant from Preston Lodge High school who were a big help on the day. It was great practice for our Beach Clean on the 19th of April.
Miss Murphy
Eco Committee Meeting 5.12.11
In attendance:
Miss Murphy – Eco Coordinator and Eco Working Party
Mrs Murray – Eco Working Party
Mrs Hood – Eco Working Party
Claire Baillie P7
Caitlin Burnett P7
Abbey Morgan P6
Roma Aitken P4
Mrs Aitken – parent
Discussion Points:
1)Discussion about the role of the Pupil Eco Reps:
-Taking ownership of eco board
-Promote 3 whole school topics :
Term 2: Litter, Term 3 Waste Minimisation (Reduce/Reuse/Recycle), Term 4: Health and Wellbeing
-To go round classes to remind of litter evidence and collect any examples
-To go round classes to take photographs of the 2 eco warriors per class
-Ask other children about their ideas to link in with the wider community
-Adding to the eco page of the school website
-Take photos of the eco assembly
-To remind teachers and playground supervisors to award house points for picking up litter.
2)Wider Community – Mrs Murray offered to help Eco reps one lunchtime to write an email to PL to find out more information about their eco work/competition details.
3)Miss Murphy informed us that we need to carry out an Environmental Review for the school.
4)Need action plan for the three whole school topics – Miss Murphy to look into this.
5)Wider Community – Beach clean “Adopt a Beach” – still to hear back from PL student (Mrs Aitken informed us of a beach clean her and Roma had done previously where they did it in front of the Gothenburg).
7)Mrs Aitken informed us that Kirk street church have a group that go out once a month and choose an area to pick up litter in. Council provided litter picking equipment.
8)Mrs Aitken suggested possibility of asking CDT department in PL if they could make bird feeders?
9) Mrs Murray suggested an area of the Grounds that could be adopted as an “eco area” – bug house, log piles etc – cross-curricular links
10)P6+7 have recently made a vegetable patch next to P1+2 playground
11)Abbey suggested doing a mini project related to vegetable patch/eco area.
12)Caitlin suggested getting a bird bath.
13)Mrs Aitken informed us that a lady who is a member of Friends of the Earth has recently moved to Prestonpans – to look in to possible visit to the school in the new year.
14)Next Meeting: Monday 6th February at 3:30pm
All of Primary 1 got the chance to become a member of the litter patrol at the beginning of November. They had great fun clearing the playground of any litter and using our fantastic new litter patrol bibs and litter pickers to help them with their task. Well done P1 were fantastic at helping to keep St. Gabriel’s clean and litter-free.
All of the classes are being given the opportunity to make an effective contribution to our whole school eco-schools litter project! We have a weekly class rota system and P1, P2 and P3 so far have had the opportunity to use the special litter picker equipment and wear the Litter Patrol vests.
In School we are starting to develop a Forest School programme. Forest School is a student led, educational process that promotes and supports the social, emotional and Physical development of young people in an outdoor woodland environment.
We will be going out to Musselburgh lagoons every Thursday afternoon for six weeks, the first group will be made up of eight pupils from Primary 6 & 7. The children will develop group work and individual skills through problem solving, games and discussion.
They will be introduced to responsible risk taking through the use of small hand tools as well as shelter and fire building, caring for the woodland setting we are using is also key to learning.
I would love if we had an interested parent helper to share this, so that we can develop our Forest School team base. Any parent helper could get involved as much or as little as they are comfertable with, but we will be going out regardless of cold or rain so any volunteer would need to be prepared for this, you don’t need to have a child in Primary 6 or 7 to get involved.
If you are at all interested or just want to know a bit more please get in touch with Mrs Adams.
Primary 4 have begun their new topic of RECYCLING. They have begun to explore the importance of recycling and what we can do to become more eco-friendly. They have created posters so far and have come up with the slogan: “Recycle, recycle, do it now! Then you can take a very big bow!” 