• The Eco Committe took part in the Big Clean. We made Bridge of Weir clean again by picking  up messy litter. We want to protect animals and stop plastic getting into the oceans.

By Neve

Primary 5-7 pupils designed a greetings e-card that showed some environmentally-friendly Christmas behaviours and traditions.  Here are the best entries that have entered the competition.

Katie Stevenson 5b

The winning entries will feature in the 2017 Christmas card for Maurice Golden MSP.  Winners will also be awarded a ‘Plant a Tree’ experience.

Winners will be announced by Friday 8th December.

Good luck everyone!

Agenda

Monday 4 December 2017

• Assessment
• Environmental Review – litter, energy, sustaining our world
• Eco Code – and the winner is…
• Litter pick
• Eco Christmas card competition P5-7
• Suggestions
• AOCB

Minutes

• This school year we will be assessed to renew our Green Flag status.  Mrs Simpson will be meeting with the committee members from the upper school this Wednesday at 10.45am to discuss the application process with them.
• Thank you to all classes who helped to complete the Environmental Review of the school.  This school session we will be focussing on energy and sustaining our world as well as litter.
• Thank you to everyone who submitted an entry for our new eco code.  We can now share that the winning entry is from P4a.  Well done!
• The best entries from the Eco Christmas card competition are shared on the blog.  Thank you to all who took part.
• Litter picking has seem to fall off the radar recently so there will be an extra special focus on this over the coming months.  Beth Robertson and P6a created a timetable for all classes – this will be distributed soon.
• Primary 6b enjoyed learning about Remembrance Day and hope to create a memorial garden with poppies in the school grounds.

Thank you to everyone who donated old mobile phones during Recycle Week.  We have collected 30 so far!

A selection of the phones we collected.

Our Eco Committee celebrating a job well done!

St Vincent’s Hospice will still accept any donations you have.

Thank you

Here are the Bridge of Weir Eco Reps for this session:

Chloe Turner – 1a                   Niamh Ferry – 1b           Skye Kandyba – 1c

Tabitha Marshall  – 2a        Maia McKillop – 2b         Millie Connell – 2c

Oliver Kerr – 3a                       Neve Anderson – 3b

Sophie Barros – 4a                    Charlie Johnson – 4b

Jason Bogle – 5a                     Connie McLeod  – 5b

Beth Robertson  -6a                Katie Peters – 6b

Lorcan Kane – 7a                   Jamie Crawford – 7b

Agenda

Monday 2 October 2017

• Welcome to new committee members
• Role of the Eco Rep
• Eco Blog
• Recycle Week
• Environmental Review
• Eco Code
• Photograph of committee
• A.O.C.B

Minutes

• Eco Reps to remind classes to take photographs of all Eco projects and post to the blog to share their learning.
• Recycle Week was a success, we have collected 18 old mobile phones for St Vincent’s Hospice.  Thank you all for your donations.  Please continue to bring them in if you still have some at home.
• The Environmental Review will be distributed to classes to help inform our action plan for this year.  We will cover litter plus 2 other topics to develop within the school.
• It is now time to renew our Eco Code.  We are looking for a new rhyme, poem or statement for the school.  This can be done in class as a writing lesson or sent home as a piece of homework.  The code can be written individually or with a partner or group.  It should include reference to as many of the 10 Eco Schools topics as possible (litter, waste minimisation, energy, water, transport, health and well-being, school grounds, biodiversity, sustaining our world, food and the environment).  Time to get creative! Please pass all entries to Miss Sweeney by Friday 3rd November.
• Thank you to P7a for your suggestions:  Miss Sweeney will look into the den building equipment so it can be used with classes.  The Eco Committee agreed that they would like an ‘Eco Week’ this year and the opportunity to wear eco colours to make it special.  Miss Sweeney will ask Mr Wilson if there is anything we can do to turn down corridor radiators as they can be too hot at times.   P7a  would also like a ‘no electricity’ day which Ms McLintock suggested might be suitable for the summer term and a ‘no food in the bin’ day to help reduce food waste.  We will look into including these into the school year.
• Thank you to P3b for your suggestions: all classes are free to sow seeds and grow vegetables within their classes throughout the year.  If you would like to use the allotment to grow vegetables, please speak to Mrs Matthews.
• Mrs Matthews would like to remind all children to be kind to the trees and not break branches off of them as they are still alive and growing.  Please play with the branches that have already fallen off the trees.
• Next meeting: Monday 20th November

A huge thank you to everyone who donated shoes to the second hand shoe sale. We collected over 100 pairs! You will be pleased to hear that we raised £59 for Sal’s Shoes. We hope to donate the surplus shoes to charity.

Well done to Primary 3b for completing the mammoth task of sorting the shoes for our Bridge of Weir customers.

The Eco Committee worked very hard in assisting the children with their purchase.  They helped them look for shoes in their size as well as making sure the shoes fit them.

Last week, Primary 5b were visited by the ladies from LEAP.

LEAP are an energy charity working across rural Renfrewshire including the communities of Lochwinnoch, Kilbarchan, Bridge of Weir, Houston, Brookfield and Crosslee to help people access a more sustainable way of living.

They taught us how to make socks animals out of odd socks.

First we had a go at stitching a straight line, a curved line and a back stitch. We used a needle and thread.

We then had a go at stitching a curved line onto our sock.

Next, we turned the sock inside out and stuffed it.

After that, we decorated our animal sock puppets.

Don’t they look cute!

Primary 5b then decided that they wanted to create a puppet show.

It was great fun!

So if the “sock monster” ever comes to your house, come and ask P5b how to create your very own sock animal.

A big thank you to everyone who took part in No Packaging Day!

We were so pleased to see many of you bringing a piece of fruit for your snack instead of crisps or biscuits – it is the healthier option after all.

1a

1b

2a

3b

6b

7a

Miss Sweeney spotted lots of children in the dinner hall enjoying their no packaging lunch.  It did help to cut down on the amount of rubbish in the bin.

1a

Great work Jamie and Mirren!

No packaging here!

2a

Jennie is very proud of her lunch!

3/2

Super choices!

3a

Eco Rep Oscar is pleased to show his lunch.

3b

 Eco Rep Dexter with his no packaging lunch.

4a

Great lunchboxes!

5a

Girl power!

5b

It is clear to see Findlay had no packaging!

6a

             Fantastic tubs Erin!                                             Well done girls!

7a

These lunches look very healthy too!

Some of the children liked no packaging day so much that they wish it happened EVERY Thursday.  This is something we will consider for next session.

Playing the “Netball Numbers” game in pairs

Where map reading and numeracy comes together!

Completing the different courses as fast as possible gives your group extra points!

Well done everyone for your team work!

A big thank you to all of you who brought in old shoes for the sale.  We collected 128 pairs so our sale can now go ahead!

The Second-hand Shoe Sale will take place at lunchtime on Wednesday 21st June in Mrs Fox’s classroom.  Children should go at 12:15pm unless their lunch sitting is at this time, these children can come afterwards.  Pairs of shoes will be priced at £1 and all of the money raised will be going to Sal’s Shoes – a charity that helps children around the world who cannot afford shoes.

On Thursday 1st June our Eco Committee is hosting a ‘No Packaging Day’ to help reduce the amount of waste collected in school.  Please help us by doing the following things:

• choose a simple snack that has no packaging like a piece of fruit
• choose your packed lunch carefully and bring food that can easily be put into reusable containers or a lunch box

All school lunches will be served on a plate or bowl and as much as possible there will be no packaging.  Any packaging that must be used for health and safety reasons will be reused or recycled.

Remember: we do not want to find crisp packets or yogurt pots in the bin.

Thank you for taking part, we look forward to seeing your snacks and lunches!

We have been out in the school grounds learning how to identify different trees. We have been thinking about what they need to grow, including care and attention. We each chose a tree and gave it a hug to show we care.

The Gardening Club have been working hard in the school grounds.  Look what we have been up to.

We are pulling out the weeds on the allotment so we cant plant  new crops – broccoli and cabbage.

      We planted Polyanthus  and Sweet Peas in front of the portacabin to brighten up the walkway.

We have been hard at work in the Imaginarium:

We are planting lots of different herbs – they all smell lovely!

We have lifted some slabs to help create different areas in the Imaginarium.

Arran and Matthew are planting bamboo next to the seating area.

Agenda

Monday 8^th May 2017

• Second-hand shoe sale incentive
• Progress of the Imaginarium
• New water butt update
• Reducing packaging day
• Litter picking
• Remember to take photographs for wall display and blog
• Suggestions
• AOCB

Minutes

• We have received very little donations for the second-hand shoe sale.  We are now offering an extra playtime as an incentive to the class that contributes the most shoes by Friday 26th May.
• The Eco Committee were very interested to see and hear about the progress of the Imaginarium.  They are very much looking forward to using it when it opens.
• Mrs Matthews plans to attach the new water butts that were donated from LEAP onto the downpipe where the boiler is stored.  This will provide easy access to water the allotment.
• We will be hosting a ‘no packaging day’ on Thursday 1st June to help reduce the amount of packaging that is brought into school.  All school meals will be on plates or in bowls except food that must be in packaging for health and safety purposes.  All packaging that the kitchen uses is made from recycled materials.  Where possible, all packed lunches should contain no packaging – have a think about what is best to bring on that day.
• All classes will be given an opportunity to pick up litter in the playground to help keep it as clean as possible.  Please remember to put your litter in the bin! Week beginning: 8th May – P1; 15th May – P2; 22nd May – P3; 29th May – P4; 5th June – P5; 12th June – P6; 19th June  – P7.
• A big reminder to all classes and teachers to take photographs of all your Eco projects! Please pass them onto Miss Sweeney to display in school or share them on the website.  Thank you.

What a beautiful day we had to release our brown trout into the River Gryffe!
We have been looking after the fish eggs and hatched alevin for 5 weeks now. We had to keep the water cold by putting in ice bottles.
After a few mishaps and a few extra donated fish we had plenty to go and release into the Gryffe.
We learned loads from Lesley the scientist from the Clyde River Foundation and it has been an interesting journey.
Now the fish’s journeys have begun!
After a few

The RSPB Big Schools’ Birdwatch is an educational activity that gets your class closer to nature.

Primary 5 joined in by traipsing outdoors around our fabulous playground to spot various types of birds.

The children had to look out for specific birds in the school grounds and see how many different types they could see. Some were harder to spot than others!

They used a “Spot it” Bird ID sheet to help them record what they found.

The children recorded seeing magpies, seagulls, black birds, ducks, robins and even a heron.

Martha and Siobhan were able to get very near a robin.

Can you see it hiding in the tree?

Eco Committee Agenda – Monday 20th February 2017

• Welcome to Community Committee Members
• New water butts (LEAP)
• Scottish Water
• Second hand shoe sale
• RSPB Big Schools’ Birdwatch
• The Imaginarium
• Litter
• Reducing packaging
• Suggestions – 7a
• AOCB

Please ask your Eco Reps to give you feedback from the meeting.

The second hand shoe sale that was scheduled for 2nd December, unfortunately had to be cancelled due to lack of  shoes to sell.  The Eco Committee would be very grateful if you can donate any pairs of children’s  shoes that you no longer have a use for.   Please send them to Miss Sweeney.

A new date for the shoe sale will be announced when sufficient donations have been received.

Thank you very much for your support.

This weekend (28-30 January) is the Big Garden Birdwatch.

Keep your children busy for an hour by taking part and recording the different types of birds that you find in your garden. Miss Sweeney would love to see your results!

Here is a chart to help you to identify the birds.

If you find that birds don’t visit you very often, why not make a bird feeder to attract them to your garden.  They would love it!

Happy bird watching!

Can you guess  how many Christmas cards there would be if we all sent everyone in our class one?

In a class of 33 we would send 32 each.

To find the total we would multiply those numbers

That means there would be…

1056 Christmas cards!

The Eco Committee thinks that is too much! We are asking that we all just write one card to the class. These will be put on a display and then recycled when we break up for Christmas.

Bridge of Weir eco team are having a second hand shoe sale on Friday the 2nd of December. The shoes are £1. Extra shoes will go to Sal’s Shoes. Eco team are collecting second hand shoes now, please send them to Mrs Simpson’s room. We are selling the shoes to stop extra waste.

Primary 3 have been helping to improve our school grounds and biodiversity by planting some birch, holly and cherry saplings. 

The gardening club alongside Mrs Matthews and Miss Sweeney were very busy at the start of the new school session.

We planted bulbs in the roundabout.

Watch out for some beautiful flowers in the Spring.

We dug space for a border to prevent the wild flowers being damaged when the grass is being cut.

We cut back the sweet pea plants that we grew last year.  They are getting very unruly!

We transplanted poached egg plants.

We potted up baby spider plants.  These are going to be distributed around the school and classrooms.

Gardening Club will resume in the Spring.  We look forward to seeing you then!