ECO FRIENDLY
Pupils at St Mary’s Primary in Larkhall hosted their ECO Day of action in order to maintain their Green Flag Award status.
The Eco Committee started the day off with a ‘whole school,’ walk to school.
Some children were not able to walk the whole way to school due to distance and the ECO Committee helped them to take part by setting up a park and stride scheme.
The children also upcycled glass jars. Instead of throwing them away, the parishioners of St Mary’s Church donated their old jars and, with the help of the Machan Trust, the children turned them into ‘one- of- a kind,’ tea light candle holders finished with twine.
The committee also held a Litter Free Lunch, when pupils were invited to bring a packed lunch that did not involve any litter.
Two representatives from South Lanarkshire Council were also invited to show pupils how litter prevention improves the environmental quality of the school and its neighbourhood.
They also helped the children identify and categorise litter into glass, plastic, metal, paper and cardboard.
Following the council’s advice, pupils embarked on a whole school litter pick on land between Home Bargains and Asda armed with their litter pickers and wearing hi-vis vests.
A school spokesperson said: “With the help of a local gardening club, the children have been very busy developing the school grounds and raised almost £200 planting begonias in pots and selling them on Eco day.
“The Eco Committee’s main focus for development this year has been increasing Outdoor Learning in the school grounds.
“At the end of the ECO school day, each class composed and performed an Eco Code song for the “Eco-factor” competition.
“Entries had to make reference to all three of the key eco areas the school had decided to tackle (Litter, School Grounds and Transport). The primary 6/7 class won the competition with their Eco rendition of ‘Litter Litter!’ The whole day was a huge success.”