In the Autumn Primary 3 in Park Primary School undertook an interdisciplinary study on The Tropical Rainforest and as part of this they compared the local temperate rainforest, Dunollie Woods, to the tropical Amazon Rainforest. As a final outcome for their learning the whole class took part in an informative assembly at the end of November which was performed in front of the other children as well as any family members who wanted to come along. At the end of the assembly donations were collected and have now been used to protect an acre of the Rainforest through the Rainforest Concern Organisation.
Category Archives: Forest Schools
Tobermory High School & Primary School Celebrate 2nd Green Flag
Tobermory High School 3-18 Learning Community are celebrating being awarded their second Eco Schools Green flag. The eco committee worked hard over the last 2 years to minimise waste, improve the school grounds and keep on top of litter across the campus. The Eco Schools assessor was impressed with the collaborative approach the school has adopted to tackling eco topics, working in conjunction with the Forestry Commission, Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust and the Mull and Iona community Trust.
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School Grounds Day at St Joseph’s
Friday 22 November 2013 was a fantastic day at St. Joseph’s in Helensburgh as parents, pupils and staff joined forces to clean up and plant new life in the school grounds. Everyone from Pre-5 children to adults was involved in various activities throughout the morning. The Pre-5 and infant children were involved in sweeping leaves, picking up litter, weeding and planting flowers and trees whilst the eldest of these children (P3) cleaned up the outdoor classroom and got involved in raking and creating hanging baskets.
Rothesay Primary enjoy visit to Mount Stuart
P2/3 and P3 of Rothesay Primary visited Mount Stuart to find out more about Autumn. They enjoyed a beauitiful frosty, bright day. They made pictures using the natural resources found around the grounds. Thanks to Mount Stuart Staff for help and hospitality.
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Eco Week at Luss Primary
The pupils at Luss Primary have recently had their Eco Week. During the week the children took part in many activities which all the pupils thoroughly enjoyed. The activities ranged from finding out about beavers, making dams, taking cuttings from plants, having an eco picnic and going into the local woods. One of the activities they did in the woods was to use materials around them such as moss, leaves, grass, etc. to build a home for a mouse that would keep as much heat in as possible.
The Green Man at North Bute
Primary 4/5 have been busy working on a science topic of plants. As part of that topic, we went on Thinking Walks, copying the idea from Charles Darwin. He went on these walks regularly to think about his discoveries. We did this too and collected specimens and pressed them to study them more. On one of our walks, we collected leaves that had fallen from the trees and that were beautiful autumn colours.
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Outdoor learning at its simplest!
We often reflect on how fortunate we are in Argyll to have a rich outdoor environment on our doorstep. At Dalmally Primary this is literally true- yesterday 28 pupils from P3-7 took their bikes for an adventure in the forest. We cycled from school through the forest, stopping for lunch on the way finally making the summit of the Duncan Ban MacIntyre (Gaelic poet) monument. At the top we managed to find a geo cache and as you will see the children had great fun jumping from a rock down the hill!
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Small Isles visit Glasgow
As part of their work about Crofting Connections, the P5-7 at Small Isles Primary school had a very exciting day when they went to the Kelvingrove museum in Glasgow on Tuesday 17th September. They went to attend a party to open their exhibition which was about crofting in the past, present and future on Jura. Lots of people who had connections with Jura came to see it too. The P5-7s also took part in a Rainforest Explorers work shop which was great fun. They looked around the museum all day long and had a VIP guided tour around it. Continue reading Small Isles visit Glasgow
Felting at Benmore Gardens
On Thursday 5th September P5 and P7 spent an amazing day at Benmore Botanical Gardens with their teachers and support staff. On Friday 6th September P6/5 and P7/6 also enjoyed a fabulous day at Benmore. Cath and Katie from the Education Service in Edinburgh’s Botanical Gardens were the superb instructors during the visits. Each class got the fantastic opportunity to make felt, incorporating an image of a plant or greenery. These had been freshly picked from the gardens to provide inspiration for the felting project.
Total Green School Awards 2013
The pupils and staff at Lochdonhead Primary School are delighted to hear that they are the winners of the Totally Active category for Scotland in the Total Green School Awards 2013. Our entry was about all the work we have done in our school grounds over the last year. We had to decide what we wanted to do with our grounds, work out how to achieve it, and we have ended up with a ‘story glen’ based on an old Gaelic tale ‘Iolaire Loch Treig’.
Forest School Sausage Sizzle @ Kilmartin
The children in P.5-7 at Kilmartin Primary School finished off their Forest School activities for the year with a sausage sizzle in the woods around the campfire. The children also made damper bread on sticks and cooked them over the fire before dipping their tasty treat into cinnamon and sugar. The older children have had a wonderful environmental experience this session, learning about the native plants and trees throughout the seasons, building a den and making wooden toys as well as developing teamwork skills.
Cardross Primary Green Day
The Cardross Primary Green Day took place last week. The event was planned by our Eco teacher Mrs Girling to incorporate the whole school focus this term on the Rainforest. The pupils were taking part in rainforest and eco themed activities all day. Some of the highlights were; Amazon Micro-Parks, Rainforest Story Sticks and Smelly Cocktails.
GARELOCHHEAD PRIMARY SCHOOL – Awesome Ardroy Adventures!!
Last week pupils from Garelochhead Primary went to Ardroy Outdoor Education centre, Lochgoilhhead for a residential trip.
Working towards their ‘John Muir’ award, they focussed on the adventurous discovery and exploration of wild places, and actively conserved areas of woodland.
Other outdoor activities included gorge walking, abseiling, night orienteering and negotiating their way through a labyrinth.
It was a super weekend, thank you Ardroy Outdoor Education Centre! Continue reading GARELOCHHEAD PRIMARY SCHOOL – Awesome Ardroy Adventures!!
Ulva School make Flowers in the Forest
The children and staff from Ulva Primary School had a brilliant time making big flowers and ‘planting’ them in the woodland at Calgary Art in Nature.
We were pleased to see the sun was shining on Friday as we headed off to Calgary with our waterproofs packed in our bags. When we arrived we met Symon and Kim from Vision Mechanics who were going to show us how to make the flowers. We had a lovely walk around the woodland looking at the Giant Heads and the other sculptures in the Forest.
Barcaldine Keeping Scotland Tidy
Barcaldine Primary School went along to Sutherland’s Grove to take part in the National Clean Up Scotland initiative. The children enjoyed the glorious weather to delve into the forest in search of rubbish! We were very pleased with our fairly empty black bags – the forest was very clean!! We did manage to find one peculiar piece of rubbish as one pupil seems to do every year – a rolled piece of tin!
Come and Play Week at the Stramash Outdoor Nursery
It’s been a busy week at the Stramash Outdoor Nursery, with over 60 parents and carers joining the children in the great outdoors. Lots of seeds and flowers have been planted, as well as making flower pots out of recycled cans. Parents have been involved in storytelling and some have even been climbing the trees with the children and making mud stew in their outdoor kitchen.
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Sky Rainforest Rescue School Challenge
Lochdonhead Primary schools upper class have just completed a rainforest challenge. There were 3 challenges to choose from. We chose Food We Eat. It was very, very fun and exciting. We had to do a survey of before and after the challenge and had fantastic results: Continue reading Sky Rainforest Rescue School Challenge
Bat Boxes at Ardrishaig Primary
On possibly the wettest day of the month Brian and Laura from SNH and the Forestry Commission visited Ardrishaig Primary to tell the eco-committee all about bats!
Brian and Laura hold special bat handling licenses and they explained that you need a licence to legally look into bat boxes or to relocate bats. They told the committee about the work they do in Argyll to protect bats and also about the work he and Laura do to help people who find bats in their houses.
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Furnace P5-7 Rainforest Presentation
The children in P5-7 at Furnace gave a presentation of the work they had been covering on their inter-disciplinary topic on the Rainforest to friends and family this week. Some of the children explained to all who came along about the animals and plants that were on their wall display explaining about the different layers of the Rainforest.
Strone Primary Parents Evening – Strone Gallery Opening
Strone Primary School had a very successful Open Evening last week. It was a chance for the children to showcase all their hard work over the past term. We were also able to give parents a wee taster of our Friday afternoon skills clubs. We have been learning ukulele, and keyboard skills and we also had a Forest and Beach club that went out each week, taking the curriculum outdoors.
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