I have attached above the school that I am on placement at. As you can see, I have clearly labelled the main items that relate to the learning of sustainable development. As well as this, the school promotes sustainable education in many other ways. This includes an eco-committee that I will talk more about later on. There are many recycling bins throughout the school although I noticed that in the staffroom there is not which is resulting in a lot of food going to waste.
As identified in the picture there is an astro-pitch available for the children to play in at break and lunchtime as well as during teaching time as part of outdoor learning. This can be classed as green space for the children to play in, to prevent them playing on grass and getting covered in dirt. The school playground is very large with fencing all the way around it to keep the children safe. There are a few benches for people to sit at but not enough for a full class to participate in outdoor learning sitting at these benches. In discussion with the teachers of the school about this situation they agreed that they don’t usually take their classes outdoors to teach but take them outside to play as a reward. After talking to the children they said that they very rarely go outside and when they do its for short time and they only get to play with skipping ropes or chalk to draw on the ground with. I feel that this reflects teacher’s levels of confidence and the stress or trouble they could have when outdoors. However, I feel that as a future educator we need to stop thinking of the barriers to children’s learning and start thinking of new, interactive ways children can experience their learning such as outdoors learning.
I spoke to two pupils in my class that are part of the eco-committee and asked them how they help the school. The pupils didn’t seem very enthusiastic about the subject and didn’t know much information or knowledge to do with the committee.This primary school has an eco-committee set up to support sustainable development. The committee meets up once a month to come up with new strategies and ways of being environmental friendly. The school has previously set up bird feed boxes that hang along the fence at the rear of the school, these boxes are designed to help feed birds throughout the winter and give the birds a habitat. I particularly noticed that these boxes have been designed for small birds that might not be able to source food as well as bigger birds. The eco committee has also started a litter picking campaign for any volunteers from primary 1 to primary 7 to litter pick around the school grounds after school once a month. This campaign has been made to prevent pupils from littering around the school as well to promote the dangers of litter dropping and how this can affect the environment we live in.
Following on from this to protect the children as well as climate change which is a major factor within sustainable development, the school has recently ran a competition for pupils to participate in. Each pupil in primary 4 to 7 had to create a poster promoting road safety or cycling to school. After asking pupils about this, the feedback I received was that cycling to school can help the environment as there bikes do not produce harmful gases and cars do which eventually pollutes the environment.
Another major factor I noticed about the school was every light switch within classrooms or corridors in the school had small green bits of card stuck above it reading ‘Switch off!’. These cards are put here to not only remind children to turn off the lights but to remind any adults to switch off the lights when leaving the classroom. I feel that this strategy is extremely effective as it gives a small reminder to everyone to save energy that in turn will save additional costs within the school.
Recycling bins is another aspect that this school uses to promote sustainability. Each classroom within the school is provided with a blue and brown bin. The blue bin is used for paper and the brown bin for general rubbish. I noticed that each child is aware of these recycling bins and know exactly what should go in each. I was informed that these bins get emptied everyday for recycling.
Following on from this, it is clear that this school offers many opportunities of sustainability however I feel that a lot more can be implemented in different ways. After discussing with the pupils and the teachers within the school, it has came to my attention that a lot of them are unaware of sustainable routes within the school and I feel that this is something that needs to be addressed a lot more.
