This week, St Andrew’s Primary School’s pupils and staff were delighted to be awarded their fourth Eco Schools Green Flag. Eco-Schools is the largest sustainable schools programme in the world and is designed to encourage whole-school action on sustainable development education issues. The Green Flag Award is an internationally-recognised symbol of excellence in sustainable development education.

Our Eco Committee, made up of pupils from all year groups, lead the way in our Eco School involvement. Some highlights of our recent Eco Journey include the installation of playground equipment made from natural materials and our involvement in national initiatives including ‘Waste Week’ and ‘Switch-Off Fortnight’. We have also harvested the fruit and vegetables from our allotment and garden to make soups, chutney and apple crumble. The Eco Schools themes are integrated into our pupils’ curriculum work- including learning about the importance of bees in sustaining our world, finding out about the water cycle, exploring how water is purified and investigating alternative ways to generate power. Working with local partners has enhanced the learning experiences of our pupils. This has included a beach marine project with GRAB Trust, a potato growing experiment with local archaeologist Paul Duffy, exploring biodiversity in our school grounds and Mount Stuart Estate with Woodwatch Bute and planting trees with Fyne Futures. As always, the families and friends of St Andrew’s Primary have supported us by giving up their time and sharing their expertise. Thanks to everyone who has been a part of this!