Since i was a child, i grew up in a small town called Erskine. Erskine is a town in the council area of Renfrewshire. The town lies on the southern bank of the River Clyde and connects the town to Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire. It is known for being a commuter town and it borders Bishopton to the north and Renfrew, Inchinnan, Paisley and Glasgow Airport to the south. Throughout the years, the town has expanded and developed. The population increased to over 15,000 and in 2014 it was rated one of the most attractive postcode areas to live in Scotland.
This task required me to go out and really focus on my urban environment. I was surprised to see how much there was in my environment when i really focused on it. I looked at the aspects of community spaces, transport, physical characteristics, recreation spaces as well as industry and work.
Even though Erskine is a small town, there are many community spaces. We have 4 primary schools in the area, one of them being a catholic primary school and we have 1 high school. We also have two community centres. There is Erskine Community Sports Centre which is a larger allotment and we also have Bargarran Community Centre. As a child, i spent the majority of my childhood in these centres. Erskine Community Sports Centre has a range of sport activities, play groups, extra-curricular clubs, a gym and a hall to hold parties. Me and my friends used to spend a lot of time here playing badminton, basketball, football and many other sport activies. Bargarran Community Centre holds many clubs for children to get involved in. I spent a lot of my time here for my dance and drama club that i was part of for 5 years. There is also many functions for the older generation such as bingo, tea and coffee events. There is also a small doctors office in this centre as well as a music room for any inspiring artists. On reflection, I never fully appreciated the use of these centres until i looked back at how much of my childhood was spent there and the fond memories i have at these places. As well as these centres we also have a community library which is located next to the community swimming pool. The library was used very much throughout my younger years as in school we often took trips down to the local library to explore the range of books on offer. The swimming centre was also a place where i spent a lot of my childhood. I would go every Friday night for ‘fun night’ with all my friends from school and it was a great way of making new friendships and it was a good form of exercise. Aswell as going in my free time, in Primary 6 we went every Tuesday to develop and enhance our swimming abilities.
In Erskine, there isn’t a lot of transport facilities. We have various bus stops located around Erskine, where the bus service Mcgills is used through the town. There is a range of buses to take us to various locations such as Glasgow, Paisley, Clydebank etc. The bus service in Erskine is effective nine times out of ten, although they do often run late and have a tendency to drive past a bus stop without stopping. We do not have a train station in Erskine, there is one nearby in Bishopton but its difficult to get to unless you drive. We have a taxi service that runs through Erskine and that is normally reliable unless you phone in a busy period. Apart from the services i mentioned there isn’t really any other transport services. The roads are planned out very well for if your a driver and it is easy to get to most of the areas in Erskine.
When it comes to the physical characteristics of my town, most of the houses in my area are semi-detached, they are quite run down houses as they were built around the 1960s. A lot of the houses in my street are getting done up to make them more modern and efficient. However, there are many areas of Erskine that have been recently built and so are more up market, nicer, better built and bigger. Around my area there is a lot of green space than what I originally thought. We have a big green field where i often go and walk my dog, we have a beach with a lot of green space around it and woodland walks to go on. There is numerous swing parks with grass all around where you can play ball games or even just games like hide n seek or even tig with your friends. The road conditions in Erskine are alright, they are often getting fixed and updated due to there being more cars on the road and bus routes being made.
The industry and work field in Erskine is quite good, there are numerous retail jobs as we have a Morrisons nearby with many job opportunities, play centres for children such as pandamonium, cafes, food shops and many others. We have an industrial estate nearby where there are various factories and offices. We have a community farm where that is an agricultural place for children to visit and see some of the animals, as well as volunteering opportunities.
From completing this task, it has opened my eyes to how important our urban environment is to the making of a community and how we as educators need to allow children the opportunity to experience and learn about their urban and natural areas and how they impact upon our physical environment. It is crucial that children are given the chance to learn about what their urban and natural environment and there is various ideas that us as educators could use to allow the children this opportunity. The Curriculum for Excellence (Scottish Government, 2004) can be used as a resource in order for a lesson plan to be devised. Teachers could take the children on a walk through either their urban or natural environment to allow the children to see the different community spaces that their area have (SOC 2-10a). When they return to the classroom they could create a poster or even a picture book of the different places to live, work and relax in their area. They could also even do a follow up lesson where they could take a trip to the local farm to see how they have an impact on the environment. If its an activity for the natural environment, a good idea would be to take the children through an area with a lot of green space and they could take rubbings from tree bark or even leaves that they have seen.
Therefore, it is important that we as educators take our knowledge of our environment and allow the children that we teach, the opportunity to gain the same knowledge of the environment that they live in and the elements that create an urban area.
References:
Scottish Government. (2004) Curriculum for Excellence [Online] Available: https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/social-studies-eo.pdf [Accessed: 22nd September 2017].
Renfrewshire Leisure. (n.d.) Erskine Community Sports Centre [Online] Available: http://www.renfrewshireleisure.com/erskine-community-sports-centre/ [Accessed: 22nd Spetember 2017]
Erskine. (n.d.) Erskine [Online] Available:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erskine [Accessed: 22nd September 2017]
