As part of our topic work this term the P7s have been looking at some issues linked to sustainable living. We looked at the topic of pollution and climate change.  As part of this we looked at the impact that climate change is having on communities around the world. We discovered that people in Bangladesh have adapted to flooding by creating floating gardens. This week we used some simple materials and had a go at creating our own floating gardens growing cress seeds. We quickly encountered a few design problems that were solved by some quick thinking because our soil was being washed away and our seeds got flooded. We will see over the next week if we can grow and harvest our crops in flood conditions.

These are some of the photos of P7 making the frames for their gardens

We thought about where our food comes from and the advantages and disadvantages of intensive farming v organic farming. With the last two weeks of term we are designing the ultimate sustainable city using all of the knowledge we’ve acquired over the last 8 weeks. Each team will create a 2D plan and present a powerpoint on why their sustainable city should be built.

Well done to Kris and Struan from the Eco Committee. They came up with the great idea of writing to B and Q to ask for replacement bird feeders for our broken ones in the wild life garden. Today we had the generous reply from B and Q. Along with a lovely letter they sent Kris and Struan 2 squirrel proof bird feeders, some bird food and a £30 gift voucher. Kris will now be thinking about how to spend the £30 and looking forward to a visit to B and Q.

Mr Mundie used last weeks assembly as an opportunity to reveal how much the school raised in our Eco bring and buy sale. Altogether the total came to a whopping £470, which will go towards repairing the fence around the wild life garden. Thank you to everyone who contributed.

On Friday, the 1st of February, the Eco Committee and the P7s organised a bring and buy sale to raise money to repair the damaged fencing around the wild life garden. We asked the rest of the school to donate unwanted books, games and toys, so that they could be reused by others who would love using them again. We had a great response and we would like to thank everyone who gave so generously. The primary 7s helped to organise and set up the sale on Thursday afternoon. On Friday all the classes visited the sale and were served by the eco-committee and P7s. As well as our toy and book stalls we had a guess the teddy bears birthday and some cakes for sale as well. The day was a great success and there was very little left at the end of the day. The eco-committee and P7s did an excellent job with serving their customers and we were proud of their outstanding effort. Here are some of the images from the day.

On Tuesday we had our second eco meeting this term. The eco committee viewed entries for the design a car park safety banner challenge and selected their favourite design. Here are the committee hard at work choosing and our design winner was Phoebe from P7.

Mrs Miller has been exceptionally busy and she is on to her next eco mission; organising a bring and buy sale to raise funds to repair the wild life garden fence. So look out for the letters and bring in your old, good quality books and toys.

One of the big whole school projects the Eco Committee have been organising this year is a mural to decorate one of the walls at the infant end of the playground. Before Christmas a local artist worked with all the classes to create images for the mural. Last Friday the Eco Committee met at lunchtime and went through the images created by their classmates to select their favourites to inspire the artist in the mural design. There were lots of excellent pictures created by pupils and it was not easy to choose, but finally we ended up with a great selection of images. These now go to the artist so that he can create some designs for pupils to have a look at and choose their favourite.

The keen gardeners at Scotstown have been dodging the poor weather recently as we get ready for the next growing season. We have been adding compost to the raised beds, planting potatoes and we have seeds growing into delicious vegetables in the greenhouse. We were also delighted that Kristoffer (Miss Hay’s right hand man) and staff in room 14, have made a scarecrow to replace one that was damaged last year. Kristoffer named the scarecrow Bob, and Bob was planted in one of the raised beds last week.

On Monday, the 4th of December, the P7 class went out to the local park to plant spring bulbs. Everyone worked hard through the afternoon to get all the bulbs planted in a window of mild and dry weather before the next rain/snow storm. We are all looking forward to seeing the beautiful spring crocuses outside the school in the park and knowing that we contributed to making the local community a more attractive place to live.

This week was busy for the Eco Committee. On Tuesday we had a whole school community litter pick helped out by the local council (who provided the equipment) and staff from the local McDonalds. We were lucky that the day was sunny and we had a productive day of making the community a better place.

Here are some of the photographs from P2,P6, P5/6 and P7.

On Wednesday, Nursery completed their section of painting for the friendship circle and Mrs Miller is organising the paint for the rest of the classes.

On Friday we had a rag bag collection.

At this weeks assembly Mr Mundie announced the winners of the deign competition on behalf of the Eco Committee. We are now waiting for a sunny day to get going with the painting.