Author: Y. McBlain

Introducing our Litter and Waste Education Enforcement Officer

Ella Gorman is our Falkirk Council Waste Services and Litter Education Enforcement Officer. She can support learning about litter and its impact on our communities for Primary and Secondary schools. This includes lessons on litter, recycling and overall waste reduction (virtually or in person when possible). Ella has currently worked with 10 primary schools and 2 high schools to create their Litter Prevention Action Plan and to support local litter picks. Ella has compiled the following information about how she can help and she can be reached via this link.

 

Say no to litter!
Litter is dangerous, disgusting and damages our Falkirk communities. The environment is something we need to take care of and keeping Falkirk clean and tidy has never been more of a priority.

Falkirk Council has a 5 year Litter Strategy and Litter Prevention Action Plan to support recycling, litter and waste reduction (click here to view). It outlines the steps we want to take to encourage a joint responsibility over Falkirk’s streets, towns and green spaces so that everyone can enjoy their local environment. Litter ruins the environment and our local communities, and we want to work with schools, businesses, community groups, landowners and individuals to take pride in their communities and keep Falkirk litter free.

Waste Services are currently working with schools to spread the slogans ‘bin it’ and ‘take litter home’. By supporting the creation of artwork, giving litter presentations and helping to organise litter picks we encourage pupils across Falkirk to respect and value the environment and their local community.

 

How can we support you? We can: 

  1. Deliver lessons about litter and waste
  2. Support litter picks
  3. Loan litter pick equipment
  4. Get involved with waste and recycling projects
  5. Help create your school Litter Prevention Action Plan
  6. Help define your Litter Prevention Action Plan actions

Use the contact link here to see how we can help support your school in the fight against litter.

 

Carronshore Primary Pupils Visit COP 26

Staff and pupils at Carronshore PS have been learning about climate change recently. A group of pupils were lucky enough to go to Glasgow and attend a session at the Science Centre during Cop 26. They shared their experience with their whole school at assembly, and this blog post is written using their words. Click here to watch their Twitter video.

Oliver explained that there was a virtual experience at Cop 26.

“We put on a virtual reality headset and saw lots of children. There was a lot of litter on the floor. It was showing what is happening to our planet and our environment. They were carrying a lot of bags and they were full of crisp packets, cans, plastic bottles and clothes.
We need to take more care of our community and area. Rubbish was blasting through the air, going into the ocean.
The children left the rubbish and went away because the rubbish bins were full. We need to get more bins and continue to keep picking up rubbish and recycling it.
I also learned about sea levels rising because the climate is changing rapidly. This is because of ice falling into the seas and melting in the water. This is causing floods and islands are getting swallowed by the rising seas.”

Liam told everyone about the tree of promises.

“At Cop 26 we added our very own promises to the tree of leaves. Jordan promised to walk more. Ava promised to recycle more. Lila promised to use less energy, and Ben promised to park+ stride more.
All the promises were taken to the blue zone to let the global leaders know what promises we want them to make and keep. That gave us an idea. We think each area could make their own tree of promises. We want to see you all getting involved.”

Lily May told everyone that “Tim Peake the famous astronaut was visiting Cop 26 a few days later. There was a chalkboard where we could leave some questions for him. I asked if climate change affects space. Some of our pupils told a news reporter what Cop 26 means to them. You can see them on our Twitter feed.” LInk here.

Jamie thought “at first that we wouldn’t be able to do it but if we start now we can work together. We might be able to do it by 2023. If the adults get rid of the buildings we don’t need, the young ones can grow plants which will absorb the CO2.”

Corey shared that “Since I have been at Cop 26 I have thought about how the world has started to go green and battle climate change. It is also good that the world leaders are starting to listen to lots of young people. At Cop 26 there were lots of people trying to make a change which is very good to see and gives us lots of hope. Even though one person can’t make a change, a lot could.”

Staff and pupils at Carronshore use regular Talking Circle meetings to think about what their Cop 26 legacy could be. At the last Talking Circle they discussed how they could make a difference at Carronshore, and identified these three focus tasks:

1. Meat Free Mondays
2. Recycled Water Bottles
3. Waste free packed lunches.

The assembly closed with the following call to action for everyone at Carronshore PS 

“We are hoping that each area will take on one of these campaigns. Our Captains, Prefects and P7 Assistants will be on hand to support you in making a difference. Working together we can do our bit NOW to help protect our planet for the FUTURE.”

 

Introducing our Falkirk Council Climate Change Team

What is the latest international data on climate change and how can it be accessed?

The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) published the technical report on the impact of humans on climate change on 9th August 2021 (headline statements available here). As part of their 6th International Assessment Review of climate change, they have shared their data via an interactive digital atlas available here.

Why did Falkirk Council create a Climate Change Team?

Globally the aim is to maintain a limit to the temperature increase that the planet will undergo as a result of emissions into our atmosphere. The best-case scenario is limiting this to 1.5 degrees to mitigate the worst of a systematic collapse of our ecosystems.

The Paris Accord agreement was ratified at the last Climate Conference of Parties (COP 24) in 2013 and established a carbon budget amount of emissions required for each country to meet this 1.5 degree limit. Falkirk Council received a carbon budget to last until 2050, but (as the largest emitter in Scotland) exhausted this in 2020.

The Climate Change Team

Mari-Claire Morgan is the Lead Climate Change Officer for Falkirk Council working with a 5 person team on all issues relating to energy efficiency and climate change/adaptation. The climate change team work with all services across the Council, but here are some of the ways in which they may be able to support Children’s Services, your school/setting, and you as a practitioner or senior leader.

  1. acting as a valuable resource to help practitioners, ELCCs and schools directly with projects, information and support.
  2. working directly with us/you to find ways to reduce the council’s/your school’s/centre’s impact of emissions
  3. helping us/you to find ways to embed climate change ideas and actions into daily life/routines
  4. connecting us with our community partners in the Falkirk Area.
  5. providing practical support with planning and resourcing related teaching and learning
  6. developing policies and strategies and making sure these relate to national education policies and corporate Council requirements.
  7. showcasing the ways in which your school/setting/pupils and staff are working to reduce your emissions impact.

Jane Jackson and Yvonne McBlain, education support officers with Falkirk Children’s Services were delighted to meet with the team in June 2021. They are currently exploring how collaborating further could enhance our Falkirk Learning for Sustainability Framework and the ways in which teaching and learning can be linked to COP 26 in Glasgow in November 2021 (see our COP 26 support post here).

How are the team already engaging with education staff and pupils?

The Climate Change Team engage regularly with staff and young people from our secondary schools in the Climate Change Action Cross-party Working Group. Elected members of our Council attend these meetings to ensure that pupil’s thoughts and opinions relating to climate change initiatives are built into Council policy. This work connects with UNCRC and pupil participation/voice developments within Children’s Services and the Children’s Rights and Engagement Group (more information about this work here). Jane and Yvonne are working with colleagues and the climate change team to align and streamline these very similar workstreams to integrate UNCRC and pupil participation/voice across our service and council.

Some of the other ways in which the team can help:

  • Look at curricular materials for students (primary and secondary)
  • Deliver various themed engagement workshops (All levels of teaching/ primary and secondary pupils)
  • Be part of school events such as ‘World of Work Week’ ‘Earth Hour’ ‘Climate Week’
  • Help with energy audits (in a similar version to ECO Schools)
  • Assist with Eco School objectives
  • Present energy use in buildings (both to pupils, as well as, teachers)
  • Work with schools to look at reducing their emissions impact both in terms of occupancy behaviour and energy consumption

Comment below or find out more by emailing: yvonne.mcblain@falkirk.gov.uk or jane.jackson@falkirk.gov.uk

 

News, Updates and Preparing for COP 26 in Falkirk!

This blog post collates information from the national Learning for Sustainability network for practitioners and senior managers working in Falkirk education establishments. It shares exciting new materials and information about the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties which takes place in Glasgow between 1st -12th November 2021 (known as COP 26 – click the image to visit the official site).

The five themes of this international event are:

  • Nature
  • Clean Transport
  • Energy transition
  • Adaptation and resilience
  • Finance

This link will take you to a Tweet and video clip from the organisers of this event in which David Attenborough explains how vitally important its outcomes are. The Scottish Government commitment to the goals of COP 26 is shared via its Net Zero Scotland campaign which you can learn more about here.

Some of the many education resources for use with pupils connected to COP 26 may already have come to your attention. The links below take you to key national support and teaching materials which you can use as part of your usual curriculum content, or for any new subject-specific or interdisciplinary learning contexts you feel will engage your children and young people and contribute to their development of the four capacities of Curriculum for Excellence.

BIG NEWS 💫 The #CountdowntoCOP learning materials developed by Education Scotland are now live and can be accessed here . These will enable you to engage your learners with the big #COP26 themes of nature, energy, transport, finance, adaptation and resilience.
These include:
• A COP26 Wakelet collection – bringing together some of the best COP26 resources from partners around the world
• Early Years – See Dug’s Discovery Den ThingLink resource and eBook of Dug’s visit to Arran
• Primary – A ThingLink resource for learners covering all five COP26 themes and accompanied by a practical guide for teachers
• BGE Secondary – Countdown to COP resource for learners in S1 to S3.
• New! – We’ve also now added COP26 challenges to encourage learners to develop creative and innovative solutions to climate change.

Between 3-11 November the New York Times is taking over the SWG3 building on the Clydeside – right next to the official COP26 Green and Blue Zones at the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow. Their Climate Hub experience will be the biggest fringe event outside official UN COP26 negotiations. It will bring together citizens, scientists, inventors, academics, delegates and journalists from around the world to answer the most urgent question of our time: How do we adapt and thrive on a changing planet?

Click here to register for the New York Times Educate on Climate day on Friday 5 November, for free! Don’t worry if you can’t join live on the day – catch up recordings will be available once you’ve registered so you can watch the sessions at a time that suits you. This one-day event has been designed by educators for educators and will seek to tackle some of the biggest challenges in education. What world will our learners inherit, and how can we prepare them to thrive in it? How should we nurture the next generation of climate leaders? How do we empower students to think critically about the challenges facing our planet, and how can we work hand-in-hand with young people to help shape climate solutions?

Countdown to COP Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) Live sessions being run by Education Scotland in partnership with Founders for Schools and e-Sgoil.  Click here to find out more about these live and recorded sessions which provide an insight into a wide variety of green jobs linked to COP themes. Live sessions are running Fridays at 11:00am through to the start of COP26.

Scotland’s Assemblies – click here for more information about these live and recorded assemblies which are a great way to introduce learners at First and Second Level to COP themes.

Education Scotland is asking every school and setting to build a lasting legacy for the COP26 conference by ensuring that all learners in Scotland receive their entitlement to Learning for Sustainability, an entitlement that is embedded within Scotland’s curriculum. Find out about the wide range of resources and professional learning support available through the following pages:

• Learning for Sustainability summary page
• Outdoor learning summary page
• Climate change in Scottish education briefing

To view the recording of the 10.6.21 Education Scotland professional learning session about COP 26 please click here.

To view the Wakelet of resources and ideas created by the Education Scotland LfS team relating to COP 26 click here. 

To explore how you can combine COP 26 learning contexts with your pupils’ development of STEM skills, click here

To explore the professional learning and education resources provided by our Scotdec partners click here

Learn more about the Children’s Parliament Climate Change group, vision and aims by clicking here.

The EIS are offering a series of twilight professional learning webinars looking at the clinate emergency and the role of education and trade unions in tackling this – click here for more information.

Click here to learn more about the BBC Scotland Climate Tales writing competition for children and young people aged 5-16.

Click here to view an example of the data available about our planet from the NASA website. There is powerful data evidencing the current twin emergencies of climate change and loss of biodiversity including a range of satellite images comparing the same locations over time.

Argyll and Bute Council are hosting their first ever Education Climate Summit on 27th and 28th October – click here to find out more.

 

Education Scotland colleagues have set up a GLOW Learning for Sustainability Practitioner Network in MS Teams for practitioners/leaders with an interest in LfS and COP 26. Please use this code o4sj08j to join the network. This Glow LfS MS Teams space will be used to host drop-in sessions, provide support and signpost information/resources. This will also be a space for practitioners to connect with like-minded practitioners and share resources, ideas and practice.

Ian Menzies, senior development officer for Learning for Sustainability has created this power point presentation (narrated) which is a wonderfully broad overview of Learning for Sustainability and can be used by whole staff groups in education establishments to refresh and review LfS within their curriculum. Ian and colleagues are encouraging practitioners and senior leaders to use the LfS self-evaluation tooklit (click here ) to inform school improvement planning and help with this process.

And finally – for anyone in need of inspiration to do something about climate change – including those with a passion for sport – take a look at BBC Sport 2050 resources here. These include powerful video clips which explore how predicted impact of climate change will affect the sports we are most passionate about AND how sport is already being affected!

 

 

 

 

 

This blog post is the first of a series which will share specific Falkirk education establishment COP 26 teaching and learning. Please comment below or email jane.jackson@falkirk.gov.uk or yvonne.mcblain@falkirk.gov.uk to let us know what you are planning or what we can do to help!

Involving Falkirk Bairns – Building the rights of our Children and Young People into planning and processes

Falkirk Children’s Commission – Children’s Rights and Engagement Group are recruiting staff, children and young people to help create our Falkirk Council and Partner organisation Integrated Children’s Services Plan. We are doing this partly because the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, Part 3 – Children’s Services Planning and Part 1 – Rights of Children,  requires Local Authorities and Health Boards, alongside their community planning partners, to improve outcomes for all children and young people in Scotland by ensuring that local planning and delivery of services is integrated and their rights upheld. However, we are also building this Falkirk Children & Young People’s Planning Team because we believe it is essential that pupils’ voices shape their education and life experiences, and because research shows that their participation in decision-making improves their academic performance and life chances. Learn more about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC – recently passed into Scottish Law) by clicking here or by visiting the pages of the Children and Young People’s Commissioner for Scotland here.

We will work with interested staff colleagues and the children and young people to create this plan and to design the processes needed to make the group and the work sustainable in the long-term. The children and young people joining this group will also plan and co-ordinate other tasks and initiatives. Our main aims are to:

  1. Connect and co-ordinate pupil council and leadership groups in schools, across our health board, community and third sector organisations
  2. Involve children and young people in shaping their own education, lives and communities through integrated organisational processes via our Members of Scottish Youth Parliament
  3. Ensure that our group and processes are truly representative, inclusive and diverse
  4. Establish processes which build children and young people’s voices and participation into all layers of our organisations without adding to bureaucracy.

To help staff in our early learning and childcare centres and schools connect this work with their curriculum, we are making it part of our wider Falkirk Learning for Sustainability Framework (click here for more information about the framework). Children’s Rights and political literacy are already built into the experiences and outcomes of Curriculum for Excellence and our framework includes plans and professional learning which early years officers and teachers can use. The work of the Falkirk Children & Young People’s Planning Team will be supported by Julie Williams our Rights Respecting Schools development officer alongside Fiona Malcolm, Faculty Head of Humanities, Braes HS. Fiona and Julie will liaise with schools and centres who are working towards Rights Respecting Schools Accreditation (click here for more information about this) and education support officers Yvonne McBlain and Jane Jackson will offer professional learning and co-ordinate the development of safe online collaboration via a Microsoft Team in Glow.

Please leave your comments below or email yvonne.mcblain@falkirk.gov.uk or jane.jackson@falkirk.gov.uk for more information or to help with this exciting work.

Sustainability Partnerships – The Future Speaks Event for Young People

Callum MacLellan of Sustainability Scotland is helping to organise online events in the 8 electoral areas of Scotland where S5/6 school pupils ask questions of local representatives from the five main political parties. Climate change is the most important issue that faces humanity and it is vitally important that politicians take it seriously. On Friday 2nd April at 5pm young people from Central Scotland high schools will be quizzing local representatives from the 5 main political parties about climate change at an online event. You can watch this live by registering here , to stream live from Facebook click here and you can also watch later via YouTube here.

Please do what you can to spread the word so that as many people as possible (young and old) are aware of this opportunity to question political leaders about their views on climate change. Sustainability Partnerships would be happy to pass on urgent questions about climate change to the main Scottish political parties. Send these to: howard.beck@sustainabilitypartnerships.org.uk

 

January 2021 Professional Learning Opportunities

Upcoming professional learning in Falkirk:

LfS 6-2021 9th February 2021 3.30-5 pm – Building LfS into your curriculum – introducing the Falkirk LfS framework and exploring how it can support your integration of LfS within your curriculum and the broad general education

LfS 7-2021 4th February 2021 3.30-5pm – An Introduction to Learning for Sustainability for practitioners and senior managers who are at the beginning of their LfS journey and would like to explore how the Falkirk LfS Framework can help

Professional learning information and opportunities available nationally – shared by Ian Menzies, Senior Development Officer, Education Scotland:

AimHi virtual sessions – climate change and the biology curriculum – Education Scotland is partnering with AimHi to deliver three inspiring virtual sessions on LfS/Biology themes for learners and their families. The AimHi Team have delivered sessions to many thousands of viewers in over 100 countries and we’re delighted to be working with them to develop exclusive sessions specifically for the Scottish Curriculum. These have excellent guests  are not to be missed and there is still time to access 2 sessions (ideal for those interested in/studying biology) which focus on the future of food and farms and re-wilding in Scotland. The sessions are targeted at learners and their families, link to our national STEM focus,  and run at 7:00pm on the 27 January and 3 February 2021. Click here for details.

New LfS Guide – GTCS has launched a new Learning for Sustainability guide for teachers in partnership with Learning for Sustainability Scotland. The guide aims to help teachers understand their responsibility to embed Learning for Sustainability in their practice, inspiring and motivating learners to address the challenges of learning to live within the environmental limits of our planet and to build a just, equitable and peaceful society. A professional learning module is to follow – click here to to view the guide.

Food, STEM & Sustainability Online Teacher Training – The Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET), The Rowett Institute, Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Scotland and Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) are offering teachers and educators online training opportunities highlighting the importance of food. The online training (endorsed by Education Scotland) covers four main subject areas – Technology & Engineering, Health & Wellbeing, Maths (Big Data) and Food & Climate. Click here to register for online sessions and webinars – the online training site will go live in February.

Creative Thinking Qualification Pilot Programme – Working alongside Edinburgh Napier University and Edinburgh College, Daydream Believers has created a SCQF level 5 and level 6 award in Creative Thinking. The award provides a valuable framework for a wide variety of themes including STEM and Learning for Sustainability. Click here to register for the workshop on 29 January if you would like to know more about piloting the award in the 2020/2021 academic session.

Carbon calculators and resources – Two new online tools to support learning about sustainability and UK progress towards its net zero ambitions:

  • My 2050 – click here to explore this interactive online resource to help learners create strategies towards the UK’s 2050 net zero target:
  • MacKay Carbon Calculator – Click here to explore this more detailed model of the UK energy system and potential pathways to decarbonisation, including net zero by 2050

Learning for Sustainability Update – November 2020

Yvonne McBlain and Jane Jackson have liaised with partners to build a programme of professional learning and resources for the next few months. This programme will be sent to all Falkirk establishments in November via our Children’s Services Weekly Communication email, and regular updates will follow. We hope it supports colleagues with their ongoing development of curriculum during this unusual school session.

 

Learning For Sustainability – CLPL and Resources – The following sessions can be accessed on CPD Manager:

 

LfS 3-2021:  26th November – Developing Social Enterprise in Education as part of your schools LfS

This session is being run by one of our LfS partners Social Enterprise Academy and will introduce this exciting project that could see your pupils taking part in a Dragons Den!

 

LfS 4-2021: 1st and 15th December – Outdoor Journeys

Find out how local area journeys can enable young people to find out about the people and place in which they live in a fun and engaging way.  Keep Scotland Beautiful will be facilitating this session with links to how Outdoor Journeys can be part                                                              of your wider outdoor learning and LfS curriculum.

 

LfS 7-2021: 4th February – An Introduction to LfS

A session aimed at practitioners with limited knowledge of LfS.  As well as finding out what LfS is all about you will get resources linked to a Falkirk LfS framework that is being developed.

LfS 6-2021: 9th February Building LfS in to your curriculum

Aimed at practitioners with some prior knowledge of LfS this session will explore the Falkirk LfS framework and associated progressive IDL ‘bundles’.

 Other LfS CLPL opportunities

Scotdec are delighted to share with you professional learning opportunities around Learning for Sustainability for November and December 2020. All courses are free and take place online.

Secondary teachers

The future we want – a series of subject focussed webinars for secondary teachers wanting to explore how and why a global citizenship approach can add value to your teaching.

  • Active citizenship through maths – 3 December, 14 January and 11 February 5 – 6.30pm

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-future-we-want-active-global-citizenship-through-maths-tickets-128563515937

  • Active citizenship through modern languages – 8 December 5 – 6.30pm

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-future-we-want-active-global-citizenship-through-modern-languages-tickets-128565780711?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch

All teachers

Speak up! Race, bias and my classroom – a digital workshop series for teachers interested in exploring Anti-Racist education – for more information see attached fliers.

  • Edinburgh’s Black History –  24 November 4.30 – 6pm
  • Towards and Anti-Racist classroom  – 25 November and 2 December 4.30 – 6pm

Teaching for the Sustainable Development Goals – a series of webinars focussing on specific SDGs and how to engage young people with key global issues. Follow the links for more information and to register.

  • SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Fairtrade – 19 November 4 – 5.30pm

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sdg-12-responsible-consumption-and-fair-trade-tickets-126257689147

  • SDG 16: Young people, democracy and political literacy – 2 December 4 – 5.40pm

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/young-people-democracy-and-political-literacy-towards-sdg-16-tickets-125152800395?ref=estw

  • SDG 13: Climate Action – 3 December 5 – 6.30pm

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lfs-and-sdg-13-climate-action-tickets-125152431291

 

Support for Learning for Sustainability during Covid 19 School Closures

This post is designed to collate the many Learning for Sustainability teaching and learning resources available to practitioners during school closures as a result of Covid 19. Obviously most of these sources will still be relevant and accessible when we reach “the new normal”. Jane Jackson and Yvonne McBlain, curriculum support officers compiled these links and wish you and yours well during these challenging times. Please contact jane.jackson@falkirk.gov.uk with any queries you have and click as directed below to access each resource.

Click here to open the Sway presentation created to give you an overview of Learning for Sustainability as part of your whole-school curriculum – this presentation also provides links to key reading about LfS.

Click here to open the Sway presentation created by Yvonne and Jane to share the LfS bundle planning they are working on with practitioners in a few Falkirk schools. We will soon add a link to a new Learning for Sustainability Team where Falkirk practitioners and senior leaders can access these new plans and help us develop this key curriculum support.

Click here to browse outdoor learning specific support from our Outdoor Learning Blog

Click here to access a new Sway presentation which Yvonne has prepared to collate reading and policy documents about pupil voice, participation and empowerment. Pupil voice, rights, participation and citizenship are all part of Learning for Sustainability.

Education Scotland have a summary of all LfS support materials in the National Improvement Hub here.

 

 

 

 

Click here if you would like to take advantage of the British Council/UKAid CLPL opportunity for training in Learning for Sustainability- offer closes 30th April 2020

This link will take you to the support page of Keep Scotland Beautiful, and you may already have spottted their message regarding Green Flag/Eco Schools award submissions which you have pending.

Scotdec have a brilliant range of teaching and learning support materials available by clicking here. 

 

 

Social Enterprise Academy also offer resources and support online by clicking here and are exploring how their popular Dragons’ Den events can happen virtually and some of you may have been due to attend their awards ceremony – watch this space. Jane and Yvonne will update this post with further information – get in touch with any additional links or sources please.

Bantaskin Primary School Eats Sustainably

In August 2017 Alistair Findlay, acting principal teacher at Bantaskin PS began to work with primary 5, 6 and & 7 pupils on a “Good Food” project. This project developed from recommendations in the Better Eating, Better Learning document and was instigated by findings from the Healthy Living surveys which take place each year. Evidence from the 2017 survey showed that only 30% of primary 5-7 children were eating fruit daily, and only one fifth of pupils ate vegetables daily.

Alistair therefore saw potential to improve healthy eating habits across the school and the decision was taken to appoint a food technologist to support this aim. Alistair worked with a RACI group of colleagues to plan and teach a series of lessons which included:

  1. Learning about why it is important to have a balanced diet
  2. Learning about the Eat Well plate and recommendations
  3. Developing a range of skills for life including cooking & food preparation, horticulture and growing healthy ingredients for our cooking from seeds, etc.

A kitchen classroom was created within school to facilitate all of this learning and ensure that the new Food and Health experiences and outcomes and benchmarks could be addressed fully. This project extended to enabling parents to become involved in developing their cooking skills and cooking healthy, affordable meals within the school, gradually gaining a REHIS Elementary Cooking Skills Certificate. Susan Kennedy, NHS, supported Alistair and the group in designing this elementary course for parents. Jennifer Robertson from Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) also supported the school by cooking with parents one afternoon – a tasty beef stir fry resulting from this collaboration. Both parents and their children took a trip to Bonnyhill Farm to see where their food came from and gain a deeper understanding of the impact of food miles. This visit was supported by collaboration with RHET (Royal Highland Education Trust).

The project involved other partnership working, including Jamie Stevenson from Torwood Garden Centre who donated plants for the evolving “Growzone” – the name pupils gave to their school garden. The school also registered with the Royal Horticultural Society and within a single academic year, has achieved levels 1, 2 and 3 of the Gardening in Schools RHS Award.

A team of gardening parents and grandparents now maintain the school orchard as well as helping pupils with heavy labour required in their Growzone.  The success of the Growzone also benefits from weekly input from gardening volunteer Lorraine Milligan.  These collaborations have all extended pupil opportunities to develop skills beyond school and to gain a broader understanding of skills for work. In addition they have developed the ethos and life of their school as part of its community.

These collaborations have all extended pupil opportunities to develop skills beyond school and to gain a broader understanding of skills for work. In addition they have developed the ethos and life of their school as part of its community.

Yvonne McBlain popped in to get a flavour (no pun intended) of the impact all of this excellent work was having. She very much enjoyed seeing the school displays and awards gained, and meeting Gail Henderson, the school’s food technologist and the pupils she was working with. Primary 4 pupils had chopped & cut to make a cucumber and mint dip with the herbs from their garden. Throughout the school pupils look at and talk about their plants and garden during lunch times and breaks, they look after the garden well, pointing out when plants need water. They are also excited about harvesting their current crop and turning these into delicious meals and snacks.

Alistair and colleagues will harvest crops which mature over the summer and preserve these in the school freezer so that pupils can use these later in the session. Plans for next year include the building of a polytunnel so that children can sow and grow their  crops earlier and perhaps expand the range of things they can cultivate.