To help educate people about the dangers of “flushable” wipes to our environment and sewage systems, we have been designing informational posters. Help spread the word!
Category Archives: Eco Schools
“Flushable” Wipes?
In response to recent reports in the news (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37772399), pupils designed and conducted their own fair experiment to test where or not “flushable” wipes really are suitable for flushing. According to the voluntary code that guides manufacturers, wipes should break down in the water system within 3 hours, but the sooner the better, so as not to block pipes and sewage systems.
After 3 hours, we found that only the toilet paper had broken down:
After 1 WEEK, the only “flushable” wipe to break down to any degree was Andrex, the rest were ripped in places but almost whole.
Lucy(P7) reports: “After 3 hours only the toilet paper broke down but after a week Andrex broke down too.”
Maya (P4) reports “Out of the wipes the Andrex was the best and the least best was the Kirkland Signature.”
Ellen (P5) reports: “I learned to not flush wipes down the toilet even if they say “flushable” on them”.
Apple & Plum Crumble Bake
When some of the trees in our orchard were damaged, we picked the fruit from the broken branches to stop it from going to waste. The apples we picked were a little too bitter to eat raw, so we decided to use the apples and the pears we picked to make crumbles. We learned food hygiene, knife safety, measuring and baking skills.
Bird Box
Anna (P3) reports:
“In the school’s bird box the mum has been making a nest. When the nest was finished the mum got cosy and the dad came in to feed the mum. Then a little bit later the mum had eggs. In a week or so the eggs hatched. There were seven eggs but now only two chicks are there. Now is there only going to be one?”
Lucy (P2) reports:
“We have a bird box in our playground and we attached it onto a camera so we can see what is happening inside. We had 7 eggs this year but only six of them hatched, then it was down to four, now it’s two.
The male gave the female food and some for the babies.”
Big Bird Watch
Abernyte Primary is now in it’s 10th year taking part in the RSPB’s Annual Birdwatch.
Lucy (P2) reports:
“We were watching birds. We saw crows, lots of robins and blue tits.”
Molly (P7) reports:
“Abernyte Primary School does the Big Schools Birdwatch annually. This year our teams were The Green Mossy Chicks and The Stripy Red Snakes. The people in The Green Mossy Chicks were Lucy6, Ellen, Anna and I. The people in The Stripy Red Snakes were Cara, Layla, Bea and Lucy2. This year was the 10th year Abernyte School has done the Birdwatch. Because it is the 10th year we made a big Robin and a Bluebird out of our hands.”
Eco Tidy-Up
In September the pupils of Abernyte got eco-friendly with a tidy up of the local area. We tidied up our school grounds and tattie crate planters and cleaned up the nearby wild flower meadow – even finding the odd wild frog!
C. Macintosh Essay Winners
On Tuesday 2nd December, pupils from Abernyte Primary attended the Charles Macintosh Memorial Essay Children’s Lecture where prizes were awarded for the best essays.
This year’s essay title was “Consider Your Enviornment”, with pupils having to consider different and contrasting types of environment; changes in our environment which cause damage to it and ways in which the environment could be improved.
Due to the fantastic effort from all pupils this year, everyone from Abernyte was awarded a prize, with additional prizes going to the overall winners in each section. Congratulations to Joshua, Ellen and Lucy MD for writing the best essays in their category!
Ground Force Tidy Up
On Friday 21st of March, the whole school got together for the annual Ground Force Tidy Up of the school grounds to get things ready for Spring. Pupils were busy weeding, turning the soil, planting, sweeping up leaves, composting, readying the flowerbeds and identifying areas that need attention or where new trees could be planted.
RSPB Big School’s Birdwatch
From the 20th of January to the 14th of February, pupils from Abernyte took part in the annual RSPB Big School’s Birdwatch. Following previous inputs from The Tayside Swift Survey, pupils spent time learning about their local winged neighbours and the important role of conservation.
Pupils worked together to make their own bird feeders which were hung up and learned how to identify different species from their calls or their physical shape and markings. Groups of pupils worked to spot, identify and count birds seen in the playground over a set period of time and all information was collated and sent to the RSPB to be fed into their nationwide data where it is used to keep track of bird numbers and identify any possible declines in species populations.
Green Flag Award
Abernyte School is delighted to announce that it has successfully renewed its Green Flag status. Eco Schools Scotland’s Lead Assessor, Alastair Davidson, indicated how very impressed he was at the high quality of answers to his many questions directed at the children. He pointed out that the work being done at the school enhanced the local environment and was the foundation of a legacy that would be enjoyed for years to come – when the current learners would then be the parents of the children at school! Mr Davidson found our extensive display, evidencing the projects carried out over the last two years, to be an excellent record of all the hard work that has taken place. Very special thanks must go to Mrs Legge, our Eco Schools Co-ordinator, for the huge, multi-faceted input she has made towards this splendid achievement.
