Luss Primary is this year’s Scottish champions In the Total Green Awards, sponsored by the Total Oil Co. and the Young People’s Trust for the Environment.
34,000 children took part in the competition. Over the past five years Luss has won the Totally Clued-up Category three times and on a fourth occasion we were awarded a Total Special Award created especially for them because the work submitted was of such a high standard.

This year’s award was for the project ‘Working With the Loch Lomond Fisheries Trust’. Throughout the school year pupils had visits from Fisheries representatives to give workshops about the fish in Loch Lomond. This centred around the school’s on-going work to try to rescue the dwindling powan population in Loch Lomond. Over the past six years Luss pupils have cared for powan eggs in their classroom until they hatch, to prevent them being eaten in the Loch. In total they have released over 600 fish into Loch Lomond.

This year pupils redesigned the tank as they had raised concerns about eggs caught in some of the fittings. Waitrose Community Fund provided the money for the new tank and new equipment less likely to damage the eggs.
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Pupils also looked at the importance of the powan in the Loch’s food chains and learned about the eels and rare brook lamphreys dependence on them. Pupils visited the smolt traps put out by the Fisheries Trust to monitor fish migrating down the rivers into Loch Lomond and saw a demonstration of electric fishing. Having stunned the fish, the children could then weigh and measure the migrating fish to help the Fisheries Trust record and monitor their numbers.

Their prize as the Scottish champions this year is £1,000. The whole school will fly to London for the day to go to the presentation ceremony at London Zoo. Pupils will have the chance to tour the zoo and will be treated to lunch before flying home at night. Many of the children have never flown before so the whole day will be a big adventure and everyone is very excited.