Second Green Flag for Kirkhill Primary

Pupils and staff at Kirkhill Primary are celebrating achieving a second Green Flag for their school by hosting a special school assembly and flag raising event tomorrow (Tuesday 5th April).

The school was visited by assessors from Eco Schools Scotland at the beginning of February. The pupils had prepared a Power Point presentation to show the work the Pupil Eco Schools Committee had done since receiving their first Green Flag award in June 2008. This was followed by a tour of the school and school grounds with a question and answer session.

There have been some exciting new developments at Kirkhill Primary.  A wild life pond and a wild flower meadow have been created and the children also have a new playground hill built from the spoil from the pool excavation. A new traversing wall is well used and a refurbished tepee has become a popular meeting place in the extended and improved school garden area.

Solar panels had been fitted on the roof to cut electricity costs and reduce the carbon footprint of the school and monitoring equipment in the school means the children and staff can record and assess their energy use.

Increased recycling facilities include a Blytheswood bin to collect clothes for reuse or resale by the Highland-based charity to raise funds to feed African children. This outreach work also includes curricular work on Fair Trade issues, rain forest depletion and eco diversity reduction as well as investigating local food production and food miles. The P5 and 6 pupils even started up a successful enterprise project running  a Fair Trade Tuck Shop at school and community events.

In their report the assessors said that they were very impressed by the whole school approach to the eco-work and had greatly enjoyed their visit.  “Staff and pupils were all knowledgeable and enthusiastic about a wide range of environmental issues. Pupils on the Eco Committee were extremely skilled and confident at managing and co-ordinating the eco-work in the school. We felt the school works very strongly with the community and parents which has allowed it to successfully undertake ambitious projects and make plans of the protection and improvement of the beautiful environments around Kirkhill.”

Head teacher Christine Ford said she was very proud of all the hard work everyone had put in and delighted with the school’s success.  “The ethos of our school is to promote care for the environment and care of one-another. In working towards our second Green Flag award pupils had the opportunity to develop healthy living skills and look closely a many  issues surrounding how we feed ourselves such as food miles and fair-trade.

All the pupils had great love of our school grounds which we use for outdoor learning and forest school.  We are all enjoying our garden and new pond and watching the wonderful wildlife which is being encouraged to make a home in our grounds.”