Currie Eco Code

CCHS Eco-code

Thought I'd remind everyone about our Eco-code. Don't forget...
Be Keen, Be clean, Be Green!

Africa Week Book

Two copies of a book have been created to celebrate our successful Africa Week. One copy will remain in the school and the other will be sent to our partner school in Chogoria. You can see an online version of the book by clicking below.

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Decking revamp starts

We're planning to improve the decking around the pond in the Quadrangle to make it safer. We've got some money from the Outdoor Learning Fund for wood preservative and chicken wire, and one of the JASS groups is going to do this when the weather is better.   Yesterday Charlie Posnett of S6 started the process by power washing the decking after school.

Funding Successes!

We've had two Eco-related funding successes this week. We heard we got £176 from the Central Scotland Green Network Orchard Grant Scheme to buy 8 new fruit trees for our fledgling orchard.  We hope to plant these in early spring in partnership with Woodlands School next door.   

We also heard this week that we were awarded £500 from the Outdoor Learning Fund. This money will be used to make the decking around the pond in the Quadrangle safe (it needs cleaned, treated and covered in chicken wire), make a new gate and buy a set of new pond dipping equipment. All S1 and S2s will then be able to explore the life within our school ponds as part of our new Science curriculum.  Two lots of good news in one week!

Wreaths ready for the xmas fayre

The S3 xl group have finished the christmas wreaths they've been making to sell for charity at the Currie Christmas Fayre this sunday.  They made the wreaths from willow and red dogwood harvested from around the school grounds. The wreaths are decorated with ivy and yew foliage from Roley's Wood and some nice ribbon and baubles.  

Big Eco Ideas Meeting

The Eco Committee have decided to focus on three topics for our Eco Schools work over the next two years. These are Food & The Environment, Sustaining Our World and Litter.  At today's Big Eco Ideas meeting pupils and staff shared ideas of projects we could do for these three topics and prioritised them.  The Eco Committee will then try to make the most popular ideas happen!

Planting bulbs in S4

Mrs Roberts' Intermediate 1 Biology S4 class have started going out in pairs once a week to get hands-on experience of working with plants. They will be working with Rachel Avery, our Eco Coordinator, to grow plants in the greenhouse and elsewhere in the school grounds.  Today Jordi and Damian planted autumn onions in the vegetable beds and some daffodil bulbs in the Peace Pole garden.

Waste Audit Results In!

Last month 2K2 and 2K1 did a waste audit to see how much we throw away as a school every day.  We sorted through the contents of exactly the same 50 bins as other classes did last November, so we can analyse the difference.  The results are now in and the good news is the audits show that the amount of rubbish we throw away as a school is down by 13%!    The number of plastic bottles being thrown away is down an amazing 58%!   So congratulations to everyone who is using our red recycling bins for cans, bottles and cartons.   This is all good news for the environment as it means less rubbish is being thrown away and ending up in landfill sites. We still need to do more to reach our target of 25% reduction in the amount of waste we produce as a school.  The Eco Committee will be working on some ideas to make this happen. 

A graph by Louisa, Hannah and Robyn of 2K1 who analysed the results as part of a spreadsheet project in Computing, and then did presentations on the importance of recycling, particularly of electronic equipment.

Climate Change Education

The S1s have been learning about climate change in their new Sustainable Development Education course and have made some great posters about what they've learnt to share with the rest of the school.

school newsletter

Africa Week features on the front page of the most recent school newsletter. Click below to read this online.

S2 litter pickers

Our S2 pupils were out with their S6 leaders for positive change as part of the JASS programme. They're going to be regularly picking litter in Roley's Wood and elsewhere in the school grounds. They filled 4 black bags with litter this week.

CurriEco Tip of the Week!

Water Consumption

Even though we have an abundance of water in Scotland, there is a lot of energy required to clean it for your use. Please try to save water in these ways:

ü       Each time you turn on a tap use the lowest pressure necessary. Keep the water turned on only while it is needed.

ü       For drinking water, keep a jug in your refrigerator so you don't have to let water run to cool every time you need a drink.

ü      Also, fill a bottle with tap water and store it in the fridge overnight for school the next day. This saves money and energy!

 

Pond clear out!

Lots of work is taking place all over the school as part of the new S6 Leaders of Positive Change initiative.  Yesterday after school one group were out doing a litter pick of Roley's Wood, and another group donned waders and wellies and gave the school pond a thorough clean out for the first time in years. All S2s involved in the scheme are working towards their Junior Award Scheme Scotland (JASS).

Ben, Josh, Connor, Marshall, Kenny and Robbie of S2 getting stuck in to the bailing out

Litter survey by S1

Two S1 maths classes have been surveying the litter dropped in the foyer and the playground over break and lunchtimes.  They will make graphs and tables of their findings and let the whole school know the results, as part of our campaign to reduce littering in the school. 

Litter surveyors hard at work out in the school grounds

Africa Group meeting

The Africa Group met today to evaluate Africa Week. Feedback suggests that it was very successful and should be repeated again at some time. A curricular audit is being sent out to departments to build up a picture of all the activities that took place that week.

Paper recycling by 1L1

The fantastic 1L1 collected a massive 113kg of paper from around the school today. At this rate, over 4 tons of paper will be recycled by the school during the year.

Chogoria Girls Show Support for Africa Week

As part of our school's Africa Week, the girls at Chogoria High School showed their support by taking a photograph of themselves proudly displaying the Scottish Saltire alongside the Kenyan national flag.

Making use of the willow coppice

The S3 XL Princes Trust group were making good use of the willow coppice to make some items for sale at the School's Christmas Fair. Here Reece is holding one of the Christmas wreaths he made. Now to decorate it...

Reece and his fantastic willow wreath

Leaders of Positive Change

We have a new initiative at the school this year, Leaders of Positive Change. S6 pupils who’ve signed up to the scheme practice their leadership skills by coordinating a group of S2s in a project of their choosing that is of benefit to the school or the wider community. The S2s involved will gain their ‘Me and My World’ section of the JASS (Junior Award Scheme Scotland). One of the Positive Change groups, led by Charlie Posnett, is tackling our overgrown Quadrangle, bringing it back into use as a space for teaching and relaxation.

Our new Sustainable Development Education course

We've been piloting a new SDE course for our S1s which we hope is more fun, engaging and relevant. The first block of lessons is full of activities helping pupils understand different aspects of sustainability and how the lives we lead impact the world around us. In the second block of lessons pupils will work in groups on a practical project to help improve the environmental footprint of the school.

1L1's recycling poster, made of recycled materials!

1L1's class statement on why sustainability is important

Eco Art Wall - Completed!

Back in May 2011, 1H2, 1W1 and Mrs Steel completed their fantastic Eco Art Wall panels. Mr Hermiston has now mounted these panels onto the wall in the Green Garden next to the feature pond. Pupils who use the Green Garden can now enjoy the lovely surroundings and Miss Paton has a great view from her office window! Here is some of the proud (now) 2H2 with their Scottish wildlife-inspired artwork!

Africa Week

Africa Week has been a great success! The pupils loved the African drumming and dancing from Suleman and Sammy and were enthralled by the Osiligi Maasai Warriors. We have lots and lots of photos and videos of the events that took place during the week - watch this space!

Waste Audit

Today we did a standardised waste audit to see how much, and what type of waste the school produces in a day. S2 computing classes will use the data collected to make a comparison with an audit we undertook a year ago to see what progress we have made. Thanks to Mr Jefferies, Mr Campbell, Mr Pache, our S6 helpers and 2K2 and 2K1 for all their hard work sorting through the contents of 50 bins for the audit!

Maasai Warriors Come to Currie

Advert emailed to parents of CCHS

As part of Currie Community High School's Africa week, our parent body, PIP, have organised a performance of the Osiligi Maasai Warriors for Wednesday 28 September.
As well as singing and dancing, there will a presentation about life in Kenya.

'Crown lifting' with S3 XL

Pupils from the S3 xl group were out in the sunshine this afternoon pruning some of the lower branches of trees in the Millennium woodland strip. The cut branches were made into habitat piles by the base of trees - and might be used by hibernating hedgehogs or frogs this winter.

Eco Art Wall completed!

The art panels produced by 1H2 for the Green Garden have now been put up to form a fantastic frieze.

Veggies!

Mrs Dobbie's Intermediate Biology class harvested some of their own-grown veg this week on our return to school and took their produce home to cook up and enjoy.

School Grounds Sketchbooks!

Here are our summer holiday "Headstarters" with their finished sketchbooks! We tried out watercolour, charcoal, chalk, pen and pencil drawings of different parts of our lovely school grounds. Lots of fun!

Headstart!

Yesterday and today, some upcoming S1 pupils have popped into school to try out a couple of subjects before August. They have made tasty cupcakes with Mr Murray, done some fun group work with Mr Varney and today are doing some Art & Design and Chemistry experiments. This morning, Mrs Steel and Mrs Kirkwood led the group around the school grounds where we tried out different drawing techniques before making our drawings into a sketchbook.

Eco Banner Painting!

Mrs MacCulloch and some senior pupils are enjoying silk painting four huge banners for the long corridor between the PE block and the Assembly Hall. The banners were designed last year by a group of S3/4 pupils - they designed one on the theme of Sport & Fitness, one the Natural Environment, one Climate change and one about Our Carbon Footprint. They should be finished some time next session along with two textured wall hangings ...

Thanks from Chogoria girls

The school received letters of thanks from Winjoy Karendi, Dorkin Mkiende, Betty Kendi Maina and Iradukunda Giselle for helping to pay their fees through Chogoria Girls High School.
Without the generous support of the school community these girls would not have been able to attend secondary education.

Some quotes from the letters include:

“thank you for the significant impact that you have made on my life”
“I really want to express my gratitude to you for your help in my education”
“I promise you that what you have done for me, I will also do it to someone else when I grow up”
“My pleasure in writing this letter is to thank you for the support you have given me and also your kindness and generosity. You have really changed my life.”
“I am very grateful and pleased for your whole heartedness and kindness towards me.”
“Thank you for paying my fees. My mum passed her great appreciation.”

Eric Melvin, former Head Teacher of Currie Community High School recounts how our link with Chogoria Girls High School was established and has developed.

Sitting here looking out at our garden on a rather cool and windy May morning, it is hard to believe that just a few weeks ago I was all those many miles away in Africa. At times it seems almost like a dream that I was actually there in Kenya and teaching at Chogoria Girls High School. However the memories are very clear and I have some photos to prove that yes, Lynda and I were actually there, staying in the Hospital Guest House and enjoying once again the warmth of the Kenyan sunshine and the friendships that we treasure so much.

So how did it all start? My first ever contact with Chogoria came in the summer of 2003 when a small group of Kenyan educationalists, including Margaret Riungu, the then School Principal of Chogoria Girls, and David Mbae, the Principal of Chogoria Complex Primary School, visited Edinburgh and were brought to Currie Community High School. I will never forget the sight of Margaret arriving in the school dressed in her beautiful flowing Kenyan costume. That visit was followed up in November when Purity Muthoni, the Head Girl of Chogoria Girls came to Edinburgh as one of the 2 Kenyan delegates to the Commonwealth Youth Conference. I can remember sitting in my office before the start of school and hearing a buzz of excited murmuring from the Foyer outside. I went out and there was Purity with Wilson the other Kenyan delegate from Chogoria Boys’ High School standing there in their school uniforms surrounded by a crowd of curious Currie pupils. My first encounter with that famous school uniform!

With the help of the Education Department of the City of Edinburgh Council and the British Council we established a Global Schools’ Partnership between the two schools. This has resulted in a programme of exchanges and curricular links that has brought considerable benefits to both schools. One of the benefits of course has been the opportunity for Lynda and I to return to Kenya to work as voluntary teachers in Chogoria.

My most recent visit was 8 weeks spent between January and March of this year with Lynda joining me for the last 3 weeks to help at the Complex Primary School.

So what have been the main impressions of this most recent visit? I certainly came much better prepared than on my previous visit in 2009. I arrived this time armed with a copy of my timetable and a syllabus summary sent to me in advance for the classes that the school had assigned to me. So I was able to start teaching right away accompanied by my box of chalk as there are no modern teaching aids in the classrooms. There you are with your chalk, a blackboard, a text book and your class. So no technology; worksheets or group work, just good old traditional classroom lessons with constant interaction between you and your class.

One obvious difference between Kenyan and Scottish schools is class size. Both of my Form 2 classes had 47 students while my Form 1 class had 50. My senior Form 4 class though had only 24 students.

Given the size of the classes and a failing memory – a clear sign of advancing years – I hit upon the idea of giving each student a card on which they wrote their first name. The idea being that when they wanted to answer a question, as well as holding up a hand, they also held up their own name card. That way at least I could refer to them by their names. A lot of learning in Kenyan schools is done by memorisation. I had discovered on my last visit that when a student answered a question, her answer came straight from the memorised text of the course book. So I tried hard to get the girls to show me that they really understood the information that they were giving by asking them “can you give another example?” or “can you explain that in your own words?” With a bit of prodding I managed to get some discussion going as well.

I was particularly interested to see how much common ground there is between the Kenyan National Curriculum and what is taught here in Scotland. The ‘History and Government ‘ syllabus that I was teaching to my senior class, 4X, included the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions; the Transport Revolution; the ‘Scramble for Africa’; The First World War; the Russian Revolution; the League of Nations; Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany; the Second World War; the United Nations and the work of the Commonwealth. Assuming that there are similar overlaps in other curricular areas then there are real possibilities here for the partnership links between the 2 schools to move to a different level.

Once again I found the students to be hardworking, enthusiastic, unfailingly cheerful and exceptionally well-behaved. During my 8 weeks at Chogoria Girls I never once had to check misbehaviour. The students were also very concerned about my welfare. They made sure that the board was clean and if I broke my piece of chalk or bumped into a desk, then they would apologise. “Oh sorry, Mr Eric,” as though my carelessness was in some way their fault. So I was certainly well looked after.

I was well looked after too by all of the staff who were unfailingly kind, thoughtful and courteous. It must have been a bit unsettling to have this visitor parachuted into their staffroom. However I was made to feel most welcome and was very well looked after particularly by Douglas Gitonga, the Head of Maths, who was my ‘minder’ and with whom I shared an office; Joseph, Moffat and Grace of the Links’ Committee, Mrs Kinuti, my Head of Department; Rozna and Catherine of the support staff and so many others. I think that we should be adopting the Kenyan practice of going out of your way to shake the hands of your colleagues when you greet them first thing in the morning. And talking of mornings, my goodness what a long day for the girls! I wonder how many of our students would manage with getting up at 4.45am and working a very full day until lights out at 10.00pm?

Given the importance of the Kenyan National Exams (and Kenyan students sit National Exams from their first year of Primary School!), it is understandable that so much time is spent on assessment – far more than in Scotland. The senior students carry 8 subjects into their final exams – and they are examined on what they have learnt during their 4 years of secondary education. A very heavy burden.

My previous visit from August – October 2009 took in the tense last weeks before the final exams. Arriving in January, this visit took place during the first weeks of a new session, so there wasn’t quite the same pressure. Indeed this allowed me to experience a feature of life at Chogoria Girls that I hadn’t really seen before- the girls could dance, sing, act and play very competitively at sport. (Strangely, for such a creative and athletic people, these subjects are not part of the Kenyan National Curriculum). So I had the real pleasure of accompanying teams from Chogoria Girls to 2 all-day sports’ festivals. Having just assumed that the girls only had time for academic work, I was very pleasantly surprised and impressed to see the girls put out teams for basketball, handball, hockey, volleyball, football and even rugby. And my goodness they played very hard to win. I found myself appointed as the rugby coach. When I suggested that at our 1st practice they should play touch rugby, (arguing that the ground was very hard and that several of them were playing in bare feet), I was greeted with hoots of derision. So it was full bodily contact as they piled into rucks and flung themselves into tackles. I am still amazed that no-one was injured. One lovely memory is driving home from an all-day sports’ tournament in the school bus (‘Apollo 11’) enjoying a beautiful sunset with the girls singing us back to school.

Now I knew that Chogoria Girls could sing and dance a bit as on our 1st visit in 2004 we had been entertained by a production of singing and dancing in a show called ‘The Link.’ Somehow this had been written, cast, costumed and rehearsed during our 10 day stay. The show was the creation of Mr Ephantus Nkonge, the then Depute of the school. (He is now the Principal of a school in Nairobi and we had the great pleasure of having supper with him and some other close friends on our last night before returning home.) This time Lynda and I were able to accompany the school entries for the District Festival of Music, Dance and Drama. This was held over 2 days in a nearby High School. Under the direction of another old friend, Phares Mwangi of the English department, the girls had been rehearsing until late in the night – we could hear them in the Guest House. The school had entries for several categories including dance, drama and solo verse. As with the sport, the girls put everything into their performances. The dance in particular was a riot of colour, singing and movement. While the drama production bravely tackled some serious contemporary issues including abortion, alcohol abuse and rape. I was delighted to learn later that the dance and drama entries had won through to the National Finals in Nairobi. A tremendous achievement.

What can you say about ‘Kenyan Time’? I think that here in Scotland we are perhaps over-concerned about punctuality. Kenyans though seem to have a very laid-back approach to time. To be fair though school assemblies and timetabled classes always started on time but on other occasions, time was a very elastic concept. So for example, at short notice I was asked to deliver a Powerpoint presentation on ‘Administration in Scottish Schools’ to a large conference of Divisional School Principals being held at Chogoria Girls. The organiser from the Education Department requested a 2 hour presentation to be followed by questions and discussion. The talk was scheduled for 0930 in the morning. Everything though was running late from the day before and continued to run late. (Lunch set for 1.00pm was not taken until 3.00). I eventually got started at 3.30 but was told to cut my presentation down to 1 hour and with no time for questions and discussion.

There are some particular highlights worth recording:

· the early morning walk from the Guest House up the dusty lane to Chogoria Girls with the sun just rising. Passing on my way children going to the Complex Primary School, all in their school uniform and with the youngest wearing blue balaclavas as for them it was cold first thing.

· those whole-school assemblies in the Academic Square with the rising sun catching the top of the teaching block and the beautiful singing reaching up to the clear blue sky with the swallows swooping and diving overhead.

· the cheery enthusiasm of the girls both in and out of class.

· meeting the 4 students sponsored by Currie Community High School and appreciating what this funding has meant for them.

· the friendliness and commitment of the staff – both teaching and support.

· an unforgettable motor-bike ride hanging on for dear life behind Catherine, who in turn was hanging on to our driver, as we roared up a dirt-track road to visit her daughter’s school in the hills above the tea factory.

· an equally unforgettable matatu trip back from Meru with Lynda. At one time there were 22 passengers crammed into the clapped-out vehicle designed to take 14. With no seat belts, passengers hanging on outside and a driver with an apparent death-wish we were very relieved to reach Chogoria without hitting another vehicle or coming off the road.

· the school trip to the Rift Valley – the flamingos at Lake Bogoria; the pelicans of Lake Nakuru and standing very early one morning with Lynda and David Mbae on the rim of the famous Menengai Crater after bumping our way up the narrow dusty track in a tiny tuc-tuc.

· teaching 4 Scottish Country dances to the girls from 4x. Practising with them on the grass outside the Guest House and watching them with great pride as they danced in front of the whole school at the farewell Concert.

· watching Lynda and a group of 12 pupils from the Complex School perform ‘The Hokey Cokey’ at the Farewell Concert and getting the whole school to join in.

· walking back home to the Guest House at the end of the school day and sitting enjoying a coffee on the veranda watching the sun go down behind the ancient Flame tree – a survivor from the original forest of Mount Kenya.

· standing outside the Guest House before going to bed and looking up at the star-filled African sky.

So some wonderful memories to share and to enjoy. My wish is that the partnership link with Currie Community High will continue and that others will enjoy the same experiences as Lynda and I.

It’s certainly an exciting time for Chogoria Girls High School. The hard work and achievements both in and out of class have now been recognised as the school has been selected to join the elite group of Kenyan National Schools. This is a great honour and is a credit to all those associated with Chogoria Girls. Can I conclude by wishing them well as they embark on this new chapter in the school’s history. Under the excellent leadership of Virginia Gitonga and her Deputy Lucy Nyaga I am confident that the school will rise to this challenge.

Green fingered pupils....

The vegetable boxes planted up by pupils in Mrs Dobbie's Biology Int 1 Class are coming on nicely. We weeded them today and planted a few more seeds in areas where there were gaps. The onions, carrots, beetroot, lettuce, beans, peas and other vegetables will grow happily over the summer and should be ready to harvest when we come back in August.

Smallest newts in the world....

It was our last John Muir Award group meeting this afternoon. We celebrated by taking part in Pond Conservation's Big Pond Dip 2011.

Our tadpoles have started to grow legs and look a bit more like frogs

We also found some tiny newtpoles in one of the Quadrangle ponds

Fair Trade tuckshop today!

We've started a new tuckshop selling Fair Trade snacks every second Friday breaktime. Today we took in over £50. Any profit we make goes to supporting the pupils we sponsor in Chogoria High School, Kenya.

Africa Week plans for September

Plans are afoot to have an 'Africa Week' in September to promote Global Citizenship throughout the school. A highlight of the week will be a performance by an Osiligi Maasai Warrior Troupe. Watch this space!

Meadow coming away nicely

Our new wildflower meadow in the Green Garden is establishing well, and several of the 20 native flower species in the turf have started flowering already. 

Ragged robin in the new meadow

Some of Ms MacBean's XL class who laid the wildflower turf.  NB no pupils were harmed during the taking of this photo.

The Eco-Artists Celebrate!

1H2 and Mrs Steel celebrate having completed our excellent Scottish Wildlife inspired friezes. Looking forward to seeing them installed in the Green Garden very soon...

Eco Art Wall Progress...

Today, 1H2 began arranging their finished, varnished panels into an order to create two horizontal friezes. We worked together to get them looking fabulous!

The trees of Roley's Wood

The John Muir Award group has met every second Friday afternoon throughout this session. If it happens to be wet we've been working on a display about the different trees growing in the school grounds and Roley's Wood.  We collected leaves from each species and laminated them for the posters. We also included information on how to identify the tree and interesting facts we found by researching in the LRC. We finished the display on Friday and its now up and looking fantastic in the LRC.

Finishing work on Eco Art Wall Panels!

Today, 1H2 and Mrs Steel began making finishing touches to our Eco Art Wall panels. We peer-assessed each other's outcomes and suggested ways that we could improve them before they are ready for display! They should all be completed and varnished very soon...

Joint Spring Clean in Roley's Wood

Around 20 willing volunteers from S5 and S6 at Currie joined forces with pupils at Woodlands School for a joint litter pick of Roley's Wood, as part of Keep Scotland Beautiful's National Spring Clean.  We filled 17 black bags with litter and collected lots of cans and plastic bottles to recycle.

Pupils from both schools with some of the litter collected

Calum our Head Boy and others negotiating the tricky
terrain under the bridge

Together with some posters by the John Muir Award group encouraging people to use the new bin at the entrance to the wood we really hope we'll make a difference.

Tadpole update!

Our school tadpoles are developing nicely. They'll start to grow their legs soon!

Going wild for our new flower meadow

With generous financial assistance from Currie Community Council, we've been able to lay a new wildflower meadow in the Green Garden and in the Quadrangle. The wildflower turf contains 20 species of wildflower and 4 species of grass and will grow to become a beautiful meadow appreciated by everyone at the school. It will also be fantastic for biodiversity, as a habitat and food source for many insects and other wildlife.  The S3 xl group and volunteers from the John Muir Award Group helped to lay the meadow, with expert technical assistance from Mr Hermiston.