Dear Parents/ Carers,

Having gained our 5th Green flag award in July, we now set out on a new Eco journey over the next two years to work towards earning our 6th Green flag award. We now have our new Eco Committee which includes members from P1-7. The P4-7 pupils had to complete a job application form if they were interested in applying to be members of the committee. From these we selected those pupils who demonstrated a keen interest in helping the planet and showed that they would be dedicated members of our committee.

We have now completed our Environmental review from the Eco Schools Scotland website which helps us to determine what we need to prioritise in our Eco work over the next two years. This helps us to formulate an action plan to address areas that we want to work on.

Every two years we work on 3 of ten topics from the Eco Schools Scotland website. Litter is mandatory every two years as it is our responsibility to ensure our school grounds are kept free of litter. Failure to do so can incur a fine. The other two subjects we have chosen to work on for this journey are Biodiversity and School grounds. These are closely linked under the Sustainable Development goal Life on Land.

We hope to ask for your involvement this year as we tackle these subjects. We would like to undertake community litter picks involving children and parents and would welcome any ideas for fundraising as we wish to replace our old and rotting raised beds in the school Eco garden with new ones. Our aim is to have one for each class to grow their own plants in either for Science topics or for cooking purposes which can link to Literacy and Maths work in a fun and enjoyable way.

One of the ways we have been successful in raising funds so far is through recycling old clothes with the Rag Bag company. You may have noticed a large green recycling bin at the entrance to the infant playground on Maxwell Drive.  Please feel free to deposit old and unwanted clothes, paired shoes, belts and bags in there. When the company collects these we are sent a cheque which us paid into our Eco fund and this provides us with much needed means to donate to charities, purchase gardening equipment, pay for buses to take pupils to environmental education events and to improve our school grounds especially for nature for example by purchasing nest boxes and bird feeders.

Thank you

Miss Brooks and the Eco Committee of St. Albert’s Primary.