The first picture was the school in 2015, before it was refurbished and an extension was added on. The second picture shows what the school now looks like as well as showing its surroundings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the school was refurbished due to high income of pupils in surrounding areas, a huge amount of the land had to be taken away to make space for the 17 classrooms and nursery. The grass areas were covered in tarmac to allow the extension to take place which has left the new senior playground as complete concrete. The infant playground is separated from the senior by a fence and it also concrete but has small grass patches around the edge.  I feel that the space given for the playgrounds could have been bigger and more educationally focused, rather than just a concrete space but due to the extension not much could have been done. Children are given chalk in the infants to draw on the ground but other than this, they are confined to their imagination in the small space. As for the senior playground, they have benches to sit and talk but nothing else.

The school I attend for placement show a lot of interest in sustainable development . The school are green Eco flag holders due to the work of their Eco committee. It consists of 17 children, one from each class in the school. The school is very focused on their recycling and it shows through the amount of recycling bins they have in the classroom, halls and outside. Every morning 2 primary 7 children would go round every class and empty the recycling bins The Eco committee created a litter picking rota, where a child from senior and junior sections will buddy and clean the playground. The school held a trashion show, designing, making and modelling fashion items using a rubbish only, to show how rubbish can be reused in fun ways. The school also participates in ‘walk to school week’ every year, promoting children to walk to school rather than using cars. The school also have a new composting bin set in place for all foods that they have been recently been learning about.

When I discussed with the children about what their school does, they were fast to shout out with many answers, it has shown that the school is very interested and involved in keeping not only their school but their environment clean.

The pupils told me how they have created signs for every light switch in the school to remind people not to waste electricity. They have also introduced monitoring of the energy usage. To do this, the janitor monitors the energy usage and reports back to the school to allow them to make any changes needed. This has been the schools most recent project .

Even though there is a proof of a lot of aspects of sustainable development, I still feel the playground space lets the school down. Maybe allowing a small garden to be put in place where children can plant and water their own flowers or vegetables, or allowing an insect hut or something similar to make the playground more education.