Tag: holistic approach

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.”

 

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.

What is Learning for Sustainability?

Wordle Education Scotland defines Learning for sustainability (LfS)  as: “an approach to learning, life and work. It enables learners, educators, schools and their wider communities to build a socially-just, sustainable and equitable society. An effective whole school and community approach to LfS weaves together global citizenship, sustainable development education, outdoor learning and children’s rights to create coherent, rewarding and transformative learning experiences.”

All of the recommendations of the December 2012 Learning for Sustainability Report (click to view) were accepted by the Scottish Government in March 2013. (click to link to doc) The Government response says:

The approach recommended supports a whole-school approach, encompassing the curriculum, campus, culture and community of the school and is intended to complement and strengthen wider changes in education.

Language around learning for sustainability is consistent with the new GTCS professional standards and highlights the value of a holistic approach to sustainable development, global citizenship and outdoor learning. The Group has defined Learning for Sustainability as:

A whole school approach that enables the school and its wider community to build the values, attitudes, knowledge, skills and confidence needed to develop practices and take decisions which are compatible with a sustainable and equitable society.

The report contains 31 recommendations, including the 5 overarching recommendations below:

  1. All learners should have an entitlement to learning for sustainability
  2. In line with the new GTCS Professional Standards, every practitioner, school and education leader should demonstrate learning for sustainability in their practice
  3. Every school should have a whole school approach to learning for sustainability that is robust, demonstrable, evaluated and supported by leadership at all levels
  4. School buildings, grounds and policies should support learning for sustainability
  5. A strategic national approach tosupporting learning for sustainability should be established

The wordle image above communicates all of the elements of learning and teaching which could be involved in Learning for Sustainability.