During your eight serial days, you should spend the equivalent of three days gathering this information, by observing, speaking to class teachers and other colleagues, interacting with learners, reading school policies, and any other appropriate activities. The tasks will be explained in greater detail in relevant sessions during the module.

 

• Mapping of school grounds/area.

During my time on placement, I communicated with the school office staff, my mentor, as well as the eco-coordinator, however none of the above members of staff were able to provide me with a map of the school grounds. However, having visited the school for a number of times already, I am aware of the school surroundings. The school is situated in a quiet area surrounded by fields and farms in a very small village. The village is very clean and friendly and the school is situated away from the main road, in amongst a cul de sac. The school has a fairly large area for children to engage with, as well as a newly built garden area for the nursery.

• Evidence of existing engagement with sustainable education within the school such as garden area, recycling bins, litter picking ‘wardens’, bird boxes, and so on.

The school has an eco-committee which consists of two children from each class within the school. They have already achieved a green flag and are working towards another, however in order to do this they abide by the guide from the environmental checklist which helps the eco committee get a clear view of the current environmental state. From this, they made an action plan which considered aspects such as health, litter and food. For example, in terms of health they want to introduce the fruity Friday challenge which allows children to earn personal points for bringing a healthy snack to school on a Friday. For litter, they plan to do a litter survey around the village to identify “litter hot spots” which they need to concentrate on to stop litter in certain areas.

• Consideration of actual play space for children and its suitability.
  • What opportunities are there for exploration, development, challenge etc.?
  • How is this space used?

The playground is not very big, however within the playground it is very open and children are allowed to use it freely. The older children are given responsibility to walk through the lane to get to the shop during lunch time, therefore can explore the village further. There is a lot of wooden equipment which has been built for nursery children use which allows them to be challenged whilst playing and develop their outdoor abilities and skills such as climbing for example.

• Discussion with children on these aspects of sustainable education.

I discussed aspects of sustainable development with two children in my class who were part of the eco committee within the school. They gave me a lot of information in terms of what they are expected to do to engage with sustainable development. I was made aware that recycling and litter bins are very important within the school and children from the whole school go outwith the school to tidy the surrounding areas. There are also bird boxes which feed the birds, as well as a rabbit which comes into the playground which they take care of. The playground has more spaces to play on the concrete and the children told me that they are advised not to play on the grass in the winter which is a restriction issue, and I was given the impression that the older children were jealous of the nursery children’s play space.