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.