We had a marvellous day today.

We have all been focusing on Water today.

We started the day with an assembly which encouraged us to save water.  See the ‘Let’s Go Save Water Song’ here.

We also had a visit from the Flood management Engineers from Aberdeen City Council who awarded prizes for the Water Safety Leaflet competition that was held for P3-P7.

The winners are pictured with Calum and Will.

Classes then set off to do different activities:

P4 went pond dipping at the Burnie.  We were supported by Jen the Country Ranger and  a group of parents who were fantastic at pond dipping! They had a great time in the Burnie!

Jane, our Eco Parent Rep, joined us for all of the pond dipping sessions which was a huge support for the children and the teachers – thank you.

Some of the children made Nature Art too!  Can you see the Stick Man and The Crocodile?

 

Cordelia Menmuir from SEPA Floodline came to play the Flood Game with P5/6, P6 and P7.  The children had to decide on the areas that would be prone to flooding and decide where things would be in a town that floods.

P5/6 were awarded the Puddles mascot for putting in so much effort into the activity – well done P5/6!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Primary 1 and the Early Learning Classes had fun exploring with water today.  They were splashing, pouring, sinking, floating and best of all – learning!

 

Primary 5 also went out Pond Dipping to the Burnie.  They were fantastic at finding all the wee creatures that live in the Burnie. They also created a Nature Art Gallery and Museum!

 

Primary 3 went with Jen the Countryside ranger in the afternoon.  The Burnie had filled up with all the rainwater but they still had fun and found lots.

On Friday our parent Eco rep, Mrs Jane Dickson, came in to catch up with us and have a big group photograph. It is very exciting because we need this photograph to put on our green flag application form. We have been waiting for two years to apply so we were all super excited to be able to apply at last. Mrs Dickson was pleased with all the work we have been doing and told us to keep up the good work. She is really looking forward to our Eco day of Action in June.

Our Eco reps, Molly and Teigan, went along to the 5 a day Friday tuck shop to see what goes on and interview the volunteers.

They were working hard when they got there. The stall was all set up and they were starting to serve customers.

Teigan took the photographs while Molly asked them three questions.

1. What do you do on 5 a day Friday?

You have to bring fruit to school so you can have a healthy snack.

2. What do you sell at the tuck shop?

We sell breakfast biscuits, popcorn, pancakes, fruit and drinks. Most things are about 30p.

3. How do you earn a certificate for your class?

If you have fruit or  a healthy snack from tuck shop for your snack then you are counted and the class with the highest number of children having healthy snacks on a Friday gets the certificate.

On the 27th November 2015 we were lucky enough to be chosen to host the launch of Green Santa as last years winners. Once again we were looking at collecting waste electrical items however this year the focus was on old computers and mobile phones.  Unfortunately the title was taken by Mile-End Primary this year but there is always next year.

REDUCE   REUSE   RECYCLE

As we all know, it is good to recycle items of plastic, paper, glass and clothing by using the kerbside service, going to the recycling area at Tescos or using our clothes recycling bin at school.  BUT, did you know that there is also a fantastic facility at Hazlehead where you can put items to be REUSED.  An article about Grove Household Waste Recycling Centre appeared in Aberdeen City Council’s  Green Times Newsletter recently.

A new reuse container at Grove Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) in Hazlehead is being well used by residents. More than eight tonnes of goods have been donated to the facility since it opened in April.  Too many good quality items end up in landfill when they could be reused and given a second life. The new container at Grove HWRC makes it easy to pass on good quality items or reuse. If you are updating furniture or having a clear out, you can take any unwanted items along to the recycling centre.  You can donate:

furniture

household items,

bikes and sports equipment

at the container, although no electrical items can be accepted.  Local charity Blythswood Care collects all donated items, and either sells them on in its network of shops or gives them directly to  people in need. Reuse is an environmentally-friendly option and increasing reuse will help to meet the goal of Aberdeen becoming a zero waste city.

 

Grove HWRC is open from 10am until 7.45pm Monday to Friday and from 9am until 7.45pm at weekends.

For more information, visit www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/wasteandrecycling

The Eco Committee decided that our ECO Rap needed to be livened up a bit as it had no illustrations to catch people’s eye.

We asked everyone in the school to illustrate the rap and the winning entries would be used around the school.

The winning entries were:

Neetu P7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kiera P7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hanna P7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SO look around the school to see if you can spot them.

Primary 3 made bird feeders out of old toilet roll tubes.  They made them using lard and mixed bird seeds.

They had great fun making them and hanging them in the trees around the school.

It’s been a while since we’ve updated this page but we have been very busy!

LITTER

We carried out a survey to find out if we have a litter problem in our school.

We asked Mr King, our janitor, to stop picking up litter for a whole week and each day a class went out to pick up litter to see how much litter was being dropped each day by pupils at break time.

It was quite a surprise for us to learn that we do have a litter problem as nearly 2Kg of litter was collected over the week, most of it plastic bottles.  This also showed us that Mr King does a fantastic job cleaning up litter.

The Eco-committee met on 21st September and came up with an action plan to lessen the litter in our playground.

1. Create posters to remind people to put their rubbish in the bin or recycle it.
2. Appoint litter monitors to remind people and monitor the litter each week
3. Provide some additional bins for plastic bottle recycling.
4. Do another week of litter picking next term to see if has improved.

 

SCHOOL GROUNDS

We have been awarded £500 from The Aberdeen Greenspaces Board to create a wildlife garden in our grounds.

This will be created over the next 3 terms with an official opening in June 2016.  We hope this will be an area that will provide a rich learning area as well as providing wildlife with a home in our grounds.

If any of you have expertise in gardening, building, landscaping etc please contact Mrs Walker as your help would be greatly appreciated.

Next term, we plan to hold a grounds afternoon and invite parents to come along and help us to create pathways in the garden area.  So look out your wellies and spades!

TRAFFIC & TRAVEL

There have been safety issues before and after school regarding parking.  The Parent Council, Mrs Webb, the community wardens, the ECO Committee and the Staff and pupils from Holy Family School are all going to work together to find a solution to the parking problems.  They will be creating a leaflet for parents to advise them on safe parking and also to provide them with information on Park & Stride options around the school.

The recent Hands Up Survey showed that we still have high levels of healthy travel to school.  Last session we found out that P6 came 3rd in Scotland for cycle journeys  to school over a selected week.  This was fantastic news!

We are also hoping to get an additional cycle shelter for the senior end of the playground – we are waiting to find out if our application has been successful.

 

HEALTHY SCHOOLS

5 A-DAY-FRIDAY

On a Friday we encourage everyone to bring in a healthy snack.  The numbers in each class are counted and the winning class is announced each week in assembly.  The winning class also gets an extra playtime!  It’s easy to have a healthy snack – we have a healthy tuckshop in school every Friday before 9am.  Come along and see what we have to offer!

Primary 4 are taking part in an exciting project to build a greenhouse out of plastic bottles. They will need 1500 two litre bottles. The bottles need to be round in shape like these ones.

 

In assembly Mrs Webb helped us work out that if each child brought in about 6 or 7 bottles each this would be enough. Please wash them out and take them to the Primary 4 classroom or the technology space behind the stage. Our greenhouse will look like this when completed.

We also have new bins in school for recycling our plastic bottles at breaktime. These will be just inside the doors for both playgrounds.

On the 1^st of December ,we are encouraging all pupils to bring in anything electrical to school for example; a fridge , a computer , an i-phone. These will be collected by Green Santa and recycled by WEEE. Please have a look around at home and see if you have any broken or unwanted electrical items that you could bring in. They accept anything big or small, broken or fixed as long as it has a plug or batteries it is accepted. You would be helping the environment and Fernielea School by supporting our Green Santa Campaign.

Many Thanks,

The Eco Committee.