Towie Primary School & Nursery Eco-School Club
At Towie Primary School & Nursery, we started our journey towards gaining our Green Flag Award in August 2020, where the P1-3 class took up the mantle to set up and lead the Eco-School Club. The Green Flag Award is an internationally recognised achievement for schools and nurseries committed to Learning for Sustainability. In October 2020, new committee members were elected from the P1-4 class and P5-7 class, and we also have a parent representative, Fiona Banks, who has valuable expertise as a woodland ranger, which is a great support to the work of the committee.
The aim of our Eco-School Club is to develop our pupils to be responsible citizens who are able to make informed choices and decisions; evaluate environmental, scientific and technological issues. Research suggests that increased involvement in outdoor learning activities has a positive impact on wellbeing, with a subsequent positive impact on progress and attainment in Literacy and Numeracy. It also provides opportunities for our pupils to develop leadership skills and our group offers opportunities for parent involvement.
Pupils retain full ownership of their committee with adults supporting and guiding. The elected chairperson leads the meeting and the secretary records the minutes.
The committee has carried out several steps on the journey towards achieving the Green Flag Award, including:
- Sharing information about the Eco School topics in an assembly;
- Engaging in a litter walk as part of the Wriggley Litter Less Campaign (a £200 grant as part of this campaign allowed us to purchase litter pickers and gloves)
- Planting seed potatoes and being responsible for looking after them so they could grow, before harvesting them.
- Conducting an Environmental Review
The results from the Environmental Review form the basis of our Eco School Action Plan in which we have identified the two topics that we will focus on over the next two years in addition to the core topic of Litter.
During our time setting up the Eco-Committee, the pupils have been finding out about not wasting things, working together, and exploring our school through different learning activities. They have enjoyed learning about litter through story books, spending time doing outdoor learning and going on walks to our woodland school.
We have now agreed the areas for our Action Plan – an improtant step as we continue our journey towards being accredited with the Green Flag Award, whilst learning more about sustainability and making a positive impact on our local community.