Our Eco Initiatives
in Term 1 and Term 2
Harvest 2022
Refreshing our Recycling at CK!
The City of Edinburgh Council has pledged Net Zero by 2030 and, in order to achieve this, has rolled out a new scheme for waste collection across all its schools. New bins and stickers were delivered to us in school in June, and this term we have been getting to grips with the new scheme.
Older classes were taught first, and then they taught younger classes. Staff were also taught too. The new waste scheme is working, and the Eco Schools reps plan to carry out an audit the rubbish of the bins sometime soon.
WE HAVE OUR 7TH GREEN FLAG!
On the 12th February Eco Schools emailed us to tell us that we had been awarded our next green flag. It is our 7th flag!
We got this flag for all our hard work with our Eco topics. These were Litter, Biodiversity and School Grounds.
Well done for all your amazing hard work everyone!
Eco Schools and Coronavirus
With our First Lockdown and now with Covid restrictions, the way we run Eco Schools at Carrick Knowe has changed. Nevertheless, we still have lots of good practice going on across the whole school community.
During the First Lockdown, pupils emailed lots of good examples of Eco work going on in their own homes.
And lots of super Outdoor Learning is taking place, covering Biodiversity and using school grounds for other areas of the curriculum.
Eco progress with our new topics
The Eco Committee took our three new topics back to their class and their buddy classes, discussed them, and came back with lots ideas about what we could for each one. Then we compiled a huge list and sent it to the class teachers asking that each class take on at least one initiative this school year. Classes have been very enthusiastic and we have a good variety of initiatives across the school.
Raising the flag and our new topics
Our new Green Flag has arrived and we’ve raised it on our flag pole.
We’ve also chosen our three new topics. These are Litter, School Grounds and Biodiversity. For the next flag, we had to picked a Sustainable Development Goal, so we have picked Life on Land, as it seemed to fit well with our new topics.
Carrick Knowe Primary Awarded Our Sixth Green Flag
Carrick Knowe Primary School has been awarded its sixth green flag by Eco Schools Scotland. The flag hasn’t actually arrived yet, but we were phoned on the 19th February and told the good news.
Each flag focuses on different topics within Eco Schools (listed above) and this flag was awarded for all our hard work connected to Litter, Transport and Health and Well-being.
Well done to the whole school for the part they played but we must also say a special thanks to Ms Pincock for leading the charge – fabulous work!
“The Eco-Schools programme is an international initiative designed to encourage whole-school action for the environment. It is a recognised award scheme that accredits schools who make a commitment to continuously improve their environmental performance. The aim of the Eco-Schools programme is to make environmental awareness and action an intrinsic part of the life and ethos of the school for both pupils and for staff, and to engage the wider community.”
The 7 Elements
| Elements | Carrick Knowe Achievements |
|---|---|
| Eco Committee | Each year Primary 4 to 7 classes vote an Eco-representative to join our Eco-committee – run with the help of Ms Pincock. They meet on a regular basis to discuss progress and next steps. These older pupils also act as buddies to the P1 to 3 classes.
Other pupils from all classes also support the work of the Eco Committee via the Eco pupil voice group. |
| Environmental Review | Carried out by our Eco Committee in 2017. The outcome of the review was used to form our Action Plan. |
| Action Plan | Action Plan 2016 to 2018 was written. At the end of each academic session the Eco Committee evaluate progress to ensure the action plan has been implemented. Also at meetings throughout the year the Committee monitor progress and decide on next steps. |
| Measuring | For Eco schools activities we need to measure to find out if our topic and goal work is successful. |
| Link to the Curriculum | Each class learns about different aspects of our school, local and global environment. Specific attention is paid to show how we can improve our world. |
| Involve the Wider Community | Parents/carers, volunteers and even soldiers have all helped us in their own special way from giving up their time to donating equipment. We are always looking for people and opportunities to help us or help. |
| Eco Code | ‘Take care of the little things. Be part of the big picture’ August 2011 |
The 10 Topics
Litter
Waste Minimisation
School Grounds
Biodiversity
Energy
Transport
Health and Well-being
Food and the Environment
Water
Global Citizenship
There are ten topics that Eco-Schools Scotland have outlined in order to achieve a Green Flag. Thankfully we do not need to cover all ten topics at once. For each flag we need to cover three. Litter is the core topic and must always be one of those chosen in support of the national ‘Clean Up Scotland’ campaign. The other two topics need to change with every new flag, so this time, at Carrick Knowe Primary School, we have chosen Transport and Health and Well-being.
Transport will link in with our Park Smart initiative at Carrick Knowe and all the fabulous work of the JRSO.
Health and Well-being will link with the City of Edinburgh Building Resilience programme we are involved in, all our great Growth Mindset work, Fit in 15 and our recent Healthy Snack week where we got to use the change 4 life food scanner app.
